Director Strategy

FrieslandCampina is a global dairy giant that uses its leading position to contribute to a better society. The company stands for better nutrition for the world, a sustainable way of working and long lasting relationships with farmers. To foster their leading position, FrieslandCampina has a Strategy Team that propels the company into the future. The team is composed of senior strategists with the experience to truly understand the challenges and with the gravitas to be a firm sparring partner to the company’s leadership.

SERVING MILLIONS EVERY DAY

Millions of consumers buy FrieslandCampina’s products on a daily basis. The company is home to many well-known consumer brands, like Campina milk, Mona desserts, Chocomel, Fristi, Milner cheese, Friesche Vlag coffee milk and Optimel drink yoghurt. FrieslandCampina is also successful in the professional market. They serve businesses in the hospitality industry and food producers, such as restaurants, hotels and (industrial) bakeries. Professionals value FrieslandCampina’s high quality creams, butters and other ingredients.

FrieslandCampina is one of the largest dairy cooperative in the world. The company employees close to 24,000 people and reports annual turnover of about 12 billion Euro’s.

MORE THAN JUST A COMPANY

FrieslandCampina is not just another company. It’s a cooperative. The 16,000 dairy farmers that supply FrieslandCampina with their milk are not just suppliers, they have an ownership stake in the business. Therefore, both parties are closely intertwined and focused on mutual long-term success. This symbiotic set-up guarantees the dairy farmers a fair price for their milk and secures a constant high quality supply for FrieslandCampina.

“Within FrieslandCampina we value our culture. We stimulate win-win behavior. That means we look for people that are purpose driven and share our values. Who are commercially obsessed and want to move with speed and decisiveness. And people who display an owners mindset. Who act as if the company is theirs, focus on what’s good for FrieslandCampina as a whole, drive impact and are mindful about the resources they spend.” – Hein Schumacher, CEO

NOURISHING BY NATURE

In a time when the world population is growing faster than ever, providing everyone with nutritious food in a sustainable way is a huge challenge. With its purpose ‘nourishing by nature’ FrieslandCampina recognizes this challenge and works hard to contribute to a solution. A key element of that purpose is to make trustworthy, relevant and nourishing dairy products available to people anywhere in the world, now and in the future. Another part is providing a good living for their farmers. The company applies the experience of more than 140 years in the dairy farming sector to help dairy farmers in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe to further develop. FrieslandCampina also puts a lot of effort in sustainability: climate-neutral growth, sustainable purchasing and production, and animal health and welfare are all top of mind.

A beautiful example of how FrieslandCampina acts on its purpose is a program the company runs together with the Vietnam Red Cross around nutrition education and physical development for children in Vietnam. Next year 100,000 students at 160 primary schools and kindergartens will benefit from these efforts.

VACANCY: DIRECTOR STRATEGY

The Director Strategy focuses on the strategic priorities of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board. He/she works in a team of four other strategy professionals, mostly ex-consultants from top tier firms. Together they make up the core strategy team of FrieslandCampina. The team is the center of excellence in terms of strategic capabilities and sets the standard for the rest of the organization.

When working on projects, the Director Strategy can leverage resources from the broader organization to create a dedicated team with the right mix of capabilities and expertise for that particular initiative. Other times he/she will have a more supporting and steering role, with the organization doing the work. The Director Strategy has the flexibility to manage different teams and different people, and to add value in a hands-on and hands-off way of working.

The Director Strategy reports directly into the CEO and the Executive Board, and has significant exposure to the entire senior leadership, e.g. Business Group Presidents, Corporate Director R&D, Corporate Director HR and Corporate Director Supply Chain.

STRATEGIC PROJECTS AT EXECUTIVE BOARD LEVEL

FrieslandCampina just went through the cycle of redefining the overall company strategy for the coming years. The Director Strategy plays a key role in putting that strategy into action. He/she works on projects at multiple levels and across several areas of focus. The Director Strategy works closely with the Executive Board on projects of the highest strategic importance.

The Director Strategy is also involved in cross-Business Group projects that require additional support and a holistic, company-wide perspective. On those projects he/she works closely with the four Business Group Presidents, responsible for Consumer Dairy, Specialized Nutrition, Ingredients and Dairy Essentials. Another element of putting the strategy into action is supporting, monitoring and reporting on the company-wide implementation.

Another example of areas of focus is M&A. The Director Strategy works closely with the Corporate M&A team and the relevant Business Group stakeholders to identify and analyze M&A opportunities.

“Because of the wide variety of topics, a Director Strategy will get to know a lot of people in our organization and become familiar with all the aspects of our business. That makes this role an ideal landing spot to get to know the company and the industry, before transitioning to the business.” – Giacomo Tortora, Director Strategy

EXPERIENCE

• 8+ years of work experience
• Experienced Project Leader or Principal from top tier strategy consulting firm
• Experience in FMCG food or B2B ingredients is a plus

PERSONALITY

• Strategic
• Pragmatic
• Not afraid to get hands dirty
• Team player
• Entrepreneurial
• People manager
• Energetic

FrieslandCampina works with Top of Minds to fill this vacancy.
Contact Roland Vetten at roland@topofminds.com for more information.