A leading mushroom supplier has appointed a Polish businesswoman as chief executive.
The decision, by Northern Mushrooms, to appoint Agnieszka Baginska as ceo reflects the increasingly significant role Poland is playing in supplying the UK market with mushrooms.
The move will also see Northern Mushroom’s managing director, John Smith, step down from his day-to-day role with the company, although he remains as chairman.
Smith will remain in place as md and chairman of Northern Mushroom’s award-winning fresh produce marketing and distribution company Greyfriars.
A post-graduate with an MA in economics, Baginska, 33, joins the company from a Polish meat processing supplier and brings extensive project management experience to her new role.
The move follows Northern Mushrooms expansion into Poland with the acquisition of Okechamp SA, creating the first pan-European mushroom producer and marketing structure.
Smith said: “Poland has gained a reputation for producing exceptional quality low cost mushrooms. Northern Mushrooms will continue to be run from the UK with a strategic volume of mushrooms coming from UK farms, but this move recognises the reality of the UK market.”
He added that with a projected turnover for 2005-06 of £22 million, up 100 per cent on 2004, Greyfriars and Northern Mushrooms are now positioned to become one of the industry’s most influential players in the next two to five years
