Ben Ward is stepping down as chief executive of Lonrho's Food Supply Chain Management (FSCM) division, FPJ can reveal.
In a letter to suppliers this week, director Reto Suter said that Ward and Lonrho's board of directors had 'mutually agreed' that he would leave with immediate effect.
Ward worked for many years in the fresh produce trade, including for international firms such as Capespan and AMC Group, and was recruited by Lonrho in late 2012 to lead the expansion of its agribusiness across southern Africa.
Lonrho, which has central London offices, is a £186 million business operating across a number of markets, with a particular focus on Africa. Its divisions include logistics and infrastructure, as well as a sizeable agribusiness department.
'The Lonrho board of directors are fully committed to the success of FSCM, which is a key part of the Lonrho Group, and a business that we are focused on growing and developing, through organic investment and acquisitions,' Suter wrote.
Suter also revealed that former Nestlé China CEO Roland Decorvet will join Lonrho as its new group chief executive in September, based in Johannesburg and with responsibility for all of the group's businesses.
Decorvet spent 23 years with the confectionery giant, working as head of Nestlé Switzerland, Nestlé Pakistan and Afghanistan, and heading the company's grocery business in Hong Kong.
From mid-2014 he worked as managing director of the Africa Mercy, the world's largest non-governmental hospital ship.
Lonrho did not respond to requests for further comment by the time of reporting.
