Board of Directors

Close-up of nut mix in a bowl with cocoa-covered coffee beans, highlighting quality ingredients
Niall Fitzgerald, Chair of the Board at ofi
Niall FitzGerald KBE DSA
Chair and Chair of the Nomination Committee

Date of Appointment: 9 September 2021

 

Niall was Chair and CEO of Unilever for 8 years and an executive board director for 18 years. During his 37 years with the company, Niall served as Finance Director, Foods Director and Detergents Director and during his Unilever career he lived and worked in the UK, the Netherlands, Ireland, the US and South Africa. Niall is Chair of The Leverhulme Trust, Chair Hakluyt International Advisory Council and Patron British Irish Chamber of Commerce. 

 

Niall has chaired a broad range of companies and public bodies including Reuters, Brand Learning, British Museum, Nelson Mandela Legacy Trust, International Business Council and the Advertising Association, and has also served on several Boards, including Bank of Ireland, the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum, International Policy Council for Agriculture and Trade and was President of South Africa’s International Advisory Council.  

Shekhar Anantharaman, Executive Director and CEO at ofi
A. Shekhar
Executive Director & CEO

Shekhar was appointed CEO of ofi in January 2020 upon its creation following the reorganization of the Olam Group. Shekhar joined Olam in 1992 and has been an Executive Director and a member of the Group Board since 1998. Shekhar held a variety of roles in the Olam Group, he was previously Group Chief Operating Officer, Executive Director – Finance and Business Development, and prior to this he incubated and managed various global businesses including the Nuts, Spices and Packaged Foods businesses, where he led many of the Company’s organic and inorganic growth initiatives. 

Rishi Kalra, Executive Director and CFO at ofi
Rishi Kalra
Executive Director & CFO

Rishi was appointed CFO of ofi in January 2020 upon its creation following the reorganization of the Olam Group. Rishi began his career with Olam in 2000 and during this period has served as CFO India, CFO West Africa, and President and Global Head of Corporate Finance. He is a founding member of the first Circle of Practice in Asia of The Prince of Wales Charitable Project, Accounting for Sustainability (A4S). A4S inspires action by finance leaders to drive a fundamental shift towards resilient business models and a sustainable economy.

Patrick Coveney, Non-Executive Director at ofi
Patrick Coveney
Non-Executive Director

Patrick Coveney became CEO of SSP Group plc in March 2022. Prior to this he was CEO of Greencore Group Plc, a position he held since 2005 and during which time he led Greencore’s transformation into an international leader in value-added convenience food. Prior to joining Greencore, Patrick worked for nine years at McKinsey & Company in Europe and North America. Patrick is a Non-Executive Director of Glanbia plc and Chair of Core Media.

Nancy Cruickshank, Non-Executive Director at ofi
Nancy Cruickshank
Non-Executive Director

Nancy started her career in marketing and advertising roles with Conde Nast, before progressing to a range of general management and transformation roles with BSkyB, VideoJug, Telegraph Media Group, Weve, and until 2021 Nancy was the Chief Digital Officer for Carlsberg.Nancy currently serves as a Non-Executive Director on the boards of In The Style Group plc, Oodle Finance Ltd, Allegro EU SA and Flutter Entertainment plc.  She was previously a Non-Executive Director at Bango plc, Carlsberg Group A/S, On-Mobile Global Ltd and Telecity Group plc.

Nagi Hamiyeh, Non-Executive Director at ofi
Nagi Hamiyeh
Non-Executive Director

Nagi is a Non-Executive Director of Olam Group Limited.  He brings more than 28 years of experience in strategy, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, growth equity, private equity and public investing in multiple industries across the globe. Nagi is the Joint Head of Temasek’s Investment Group and is concurrently the Head of Portfolio Development.  Prior to joining Temasek in 2005, Nagi was a banker with Credit Suisse First Boston’s Energy Group and began his career at Bain and Company.

Penny Hughes, Non-Executive Director, Chair of Remuneration & Talent Committee
Penny Hughes
Non-Executive Director, Chair of Remuneration & Talent Committee

Penny’s executive career in the consumer goods industry led to an extensive portfolio board career which spans retail, media, leisure, technology and financial services in both public and private company boards. Penny is currently Chair of the boards of The Gym Group plc and Riverstone Living Ltd and has served as Chair of Aston Martin Lagonda and Chair of the Remuneration and Sustainability board committees for several large cap companies including Royal Bank of Scotland, WM Morrison, The Gap Inc and Vodafone.

Brian May Non-Executive Director, Chair of Audit & Risk Committee
Brian May
Non-Executive Director, Chair of Audit & Risk Committee

Brian’s executive career with Bunzl plc spanned 26 years, including 14 years as Chief Financial Officer, during which period the business underwent significant strategic and operational transformation. Brian is a Non-Executive Director and Audit Committee member for Ferguson plc, a Non-Executive Director, Chair of the Remuneration Committee and Audit Committee member for ConvaTec Group plc, and he previously served on the board of United Utilities Group PLC.

Belinda Richards, Senior Independant Director, Chair of Governance and Nominations Committee
Belinda Richards
Senior Independent Non-Executive Director, Chair of Sustainability Committee

Belinda was a senior partner at Deloitte LLP before embarking on her board career which has a particular focus on the consumer products and financial services sectors. Belinda is currently a Non-Executive Director and Audit Committee Chair for both Avast plc and Schroder Japan Growth Fund plc, as well as a Non-Executive Director for Phoenix Group Holdings plc and Monks Investment Trust plc. Belinda has previously served on the boards of WM Morrison, Grainger and Balfour Beatty.

Amanda Sourry, Non-Executive Director at ofi
Amanda Sourry
Non-Executive Director

Amanda Sourry spent over 30 years of her executive career working for Unilever plc where she gained extensive global marketing and business experience in consumer packaged goods. Amanda was most recently President of Unilever North America, and previously President Unilever Global Foods. She was a Member of the Unilever Leadership Executive from 2015 to 2020. Amanda is currently a Non-Executive Director of The Kroger Co., Trivium Packaging and PVH Corp where she also Chairs the Compensation Committee.

Close up photograph of Carole Wainaina the Non-Executive Director
Carole Wainaina
Non-Executive Director

Carole is currently Senior Advisor to the CEO at Africa50, an investment fund set up by African governments and the African Development Bank to help bridge Africa’s infrastructure funding gap. Carole was previously the Chief Operating Officer since 2017. Her previous executive appointments include EVP & Chief HR Officer at Royal Philips Ltd, and at the Coca-Cola Company where Carole held the roles of Chief of Staff for the Chairman & CEO, as well as HR Director for EuroAsia & Africa. In addition, Carole was Assistant Secretary General for Human Resources at the United Nations. Carole is a Non-Executive Director of Helios Towers Plc.

Yap Chee Keong, Non-Independent and Non-Executive Director at ofi
Yap Chee Keong
Non-Independent and Non-Executive Director

Mr. Yap Chee Keong is currently Deputy Chair of the Board at Olam Group, where he has served for over nine years.  He is also the Deputy Chair of Seatrium Limited and Non-Executive and Independent Director of Sembcorp Industries Limited and Shangri-La Asia Limited, which are companies listed on the Singapore Exchange.  Mr. Yap’s career included being the Executive Director of The Straits Trading Company Limited and the Chief Financial Officer of Singapore Power Ltd. Mr. Yap has also worked in various senior management roles in multinational and listed companies. He was a board member of the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority and a member of the Public Accountants Oversight Committee, the MAS/SGX/ACRA Work Group to review the Guidebook for Audit Committees in Singapore and the MAS/SGX/ACRA/SID Review Panel to develop a Guide for Board Risk Committees in Singapore.

Niall Fitzgerald, Chair of the Board at ofi
Niall FitzGerald KBE DSA
Chair and Chair of the Nomination Committee
Shekhar Anantharaman, Executive Director and CEO at ofi
A. Shekhar
Executive Director & CEO
Rishi Kalra, Executive Director and CFO at ofi
Rishi Kalra
Executive Director & CFO
Patrick Coveney, Non-Executive Director at ofi
Patrick Coveney
Non-Executive Director
Nancy Cruickshank, Non-Executive Director at ofi
Nancy Cruickshank
Non-Executive Director
Nagi Hamiyeh, Non-Executive Director at ofi
Nagi Hamiyeh
Non-Executive Director
Penny Hughes, Non-Executive Director, Chair of Remuneration & Talent Committee
Penny Hughes
Non-Executive Director, Chair of Remuneration & Talent Committee
Brian May Non-Executive Director, Chair of Audit & Risk Committee
Brian May
Non-Executive Director, Chair of Audit & Risk Committee
Belinda Richards, Senior Independant Director, Chair of Governance and Nominations Committee
Belinda Richards
Senior Independent Non-Executive Director, Chair of Sustainability Committee
Amanda Sourry, Non-Executive Director at ofi
Amanda Sourry
Non-Executive Director
Close up photograph of Carole Wainaina the Non-Executive Director
Carole Wainaina
Non-Executive Director
Yap Chee Keong, Non-Independent and Non-Executive Director at ofi
Yap Chee Keong
Non-Independent and Non-Executive Director

Read ofi news

Press Release Aug 13, 2025
ofi recognized as the most advanced company on living income in the Food Agri and Food Retail sectors

ofi (olam food ingredients), a global leader in naturally good food and beverage ingredients and solutions, has been assessed as the most advanced out of 22 companies in the 2023-2024 Platform Living Wage Financials (PLWF)[i] benchmark for the Food Agri and Food Retail sectors.

 

A PLWF spokesperson said:ofi has demonstrated notable progress in its commitment to living incomes, evidenced by its progression to the ‘Advanced’ category in the 2024 assessment cycle and its target of 200,000 ofi farmer households achieving a living income by 2030.”

 

A living income is a net annual income needed for a decent standard of living[ii]. For many smallholder farmers, this is a major challenge. Roel van Poppel, ofi's Chief Sustainability Officer, acknowledged the difficulty. "A living income is our North Star," he said. "But we know many farmers in our supply chains face multiple challenges.”

 

ofi’s work with Wageningen University & Research[iii] highlights that for many smallholders, cultivating crops like coffee makes good economic sense, but they often lack the minimum farm size and yield levels to achieve an annual living income. “By focusing on improving the efficiency of time spent on coffee farming, we can target interventions that are directly in our sphere of influence, like, training, access to adequate inputs, and hand-held mechanization.” van Poppel explained. "Our approach is to tailor on-the-ground interventions and collaborate with customers and other organizations to help farmers move closer to a living income."

 

PLWF credited ofi’s strategic approach for its ‘Advanced’ ranking. They noted the company’s method of segmenting farmers based on farm size and yield, which allows it to create customized support packages. By 2030, ofi aims to provide this enhanced[iv] support to one million farmers.

 

ofi is already partnering with around 500,000 farmers annually through its sustainability programs. As of 2023, approximately 50,000 households in its sourcing network had achieved a living income[v]. ofi has also made its living income measurement tool available to the broader food and agri sector via the SaaS platform TRACT.

 

"Measuring income gaps is the crucial first step" van Poppel added. "That’s why we’re collaborating with partners like Nestlé and IDH to create a shared approach to help farmers prosper and become more resilient."

 

Mark Birch of IDH praised ofi's partnership, highlighting its role in the Business Action Committee for the Living Income Roadmap: "It is encouraging to see that ofi made its innovative living income measurement tool publicly accessible. Something IDH supported by facilitating an independent external evaluation and participating to guide the ongoing development of the tool" he said. "This year, we're also working with ofi on a pioneering initiative to improve the livelihoods of cashew farmers in Côte d’Ivoire; a sector that has historically seen limited focus in living income interventions.”

 

Valerie Janssen from Wageningen University & Research also commented: "We value ofi's dynamic collaboration, the time and expertise they bring to discussions, as well as the dataset they made available for our latest research paper on living income.”

 

Discover much more about what ofi has to offer at ofi.com

 

[i] The PLWF is a leading alliance of 24 major financial institutions that encourages, supports, and monitors investee companies working to deliver living wages and living incomes in global supply chains.

[ii] ofi adopts the guidance of the Living Income Community of Practice (LICOP) which defines a living income as: "The net annual income required for a household in a particular place to afford a decent standard of living for all members of that household. Elements of a decent standard of living include food, water, housing, education, healthcare, transport, clothing, and other essential needs including provision for unexpected events".

[iii] Return on household labour: a means to accelerate the path to a living income for smallholder coffee farming households’ Authors: Yuca Waarts, Wageningen University & Research; Yves-Pascal Suter, ofi; Piet van Asten, ofi

[iv] ofi defines ‘enhanced livelihood support as: “A package of support combining one or more relevant trainings, and at least one material support including inputs, services, and access to finance and premiums, or infrastructure, designed to improve yields, quality, resilience, or return on investment, as part of a multi-year program.”

[v] 2024 living income data for ofi’s cocoa and coffee platforms will be published in Q4 2025

Press Release Jun 11, 2025
TRACT to lead next phase of living income gap tool shared by ofi and Olam Agri

TRACT, a pioneering SaaS platform dedicated to enhancing sustainability in agricultural supply chains, is taking on an innovative farmer income estimation tool developed by ofi (olam food ingredients) and Olam Agri to accelerate expansion into this essential aspect of supply chain resilience.

 

Developed with Netherlands-based Agri-Logic, on an initial idea created with Rainforest Alliance, the tool uses a minimal set of data points based on the Living Income Community of Practice and theAnker Methodology to estimate farmer income without the extensive data collection often assumed necessary. A scenario modeler shows how interventions like yield improvements, smarter fertilizer use, or price changes can help close living income gaps — offering users actionable insights into what initiatives best drive change.

 

ofi and Olam Agri have deep roots in sustainable sourcing with a track record of working to improve farmer livelihoods across their supply chains and have made sector-leading commitments to advancing farmer income. Their efforts to develop an efficient tool and their willingness to openly share this tool reflects a recognition that cross sector collaboration is a must to see progress at scale on this challenging topic.

 

“We’re thrilled to work with partners that are thinking innovatively about major sustainability challenges, and willing to share their experience for the benefit of the sector,” said Allison Kopf, CEO of TRACT. “This tool will serve as a springboard, helping us get to an industry-aligned and widely used approach faster.”

 

The goal is a streamlined approach that delivers faster, more cost-effective insights into farmer income, allowing companies to focus more energy on creating impact and less on duplicative data collection.

 

This work builds on TRACT’s ongoing work in facilitating pre-competitive alignment on sustainability metrics and methodologies, and embedding those aligned approaches into its platform that enables consistent, practical use across the industry. In this case, TRACT is working in close collaboration with IDH and using the tool from ofi and Olam Agri as a tangible starting point for alignment.

 

Yves-Pascal Suter, Head of Social Impact at ofi said “Understanding living income gaps is the crucial first step in tackling the complex challenge of helping more farmers have a decent standard of living. Together with Olam Agri, we saw a gap in the market for an effective measurement tool. When combined with our deep-rooted presence within farming communities, it has provided valuable insights into the most effective strategies for partnering to address these gaps and progress towards our goal of enabling 200,000 farmer households to achieve a living income by 2030 under our Choices for Change strategy. We hope that by making it accessible to the broader food and agri sector, it will be refined further and help create a shared approach to improving farmer incomes worldwide.”

 

“This tool has made it easier to understand farmer incomes in our supply chains, enabling us to lift the incomes of farmer households and reduce living income gaps”, added Julie Greene, Chief Sustainability Officer, Olam Agri. “We look forward to collaborating with others across the sector to strengthen the tool and expand its impact.”

 

TRACT is inviting companies, NGOs, researchers, and technical experts to take part in the review of the approach and to contribute to broader alignment efforts on farmer income, in collaboration with IDH which is a leading partner in this space. Together, TRACT and IDH aim to advance industry alignment on farmer income measurement across key commodities and ensure compatibility with related data initiatives.

 

To learn more, reach out to Kumiko Aoki kaoki@tract.eco

 

TRACT is a leading provider of traceability and sustainability data solutions for the global agricultural supply chain. Our mission is to remove the burden of data management and resolve the debate on methodology so that companies can drive meaningful impact as they navigate their supply chains. For more information about TRACT, visit https://www.tract.eco/

Press Release May 13, 2025
ofi opens soluble coffee facility in Brazil, expanding its manufacturing capacity with focus on sustainable innovation
  • Landmark strategic investment in Linhares combines local economic development with ofi’s sustainability strategy
  • New facility complements ofi’s existing facilities in Vietnam and Spain, providing global customer base with high-quality freeze-dried and spray-dried instant coffee

 

ofi, a global leader in naturally good food and beverage ingredients, officially inaugurated its state-of-the-art soluble coffee facility in Linhares, Espírito Santo, Brazil on Friday, May 9th. The strategic investment strengthens ofi's position as a top 3 independent producer in the growing global soluble coffee market, projected to reach $52.2 billion by 2031[1], while creating significant economic impact in Brazil's premier coffee-growing region.

 

Located in the heart of Brazil's Conilon coffee region, the Linhares facility transforms coffee beans sourced from ofi’s coffee units across Brazil into premium soluble products. Serving a global network of customers, the Linhares site has two complete lines of freeze-dried and spray-dried instant coffee, thereby maximizing output and material efficiency.

 

"This inauguration represents a triple win – for local communities, for our customers, and for the environment," said Vivek Verma, ofi’s Managing Director & CEO, coffee. "By processing coffee at the source, we're strengthening our integrated supply chain and farmer partnerships to deliver traceable, sustainable soluble coffee products to our customers. A strengthened innovation infrastructure focusing on value-added coffee products will build growth opportunities in South and North America, while also serving consumption markets in Europe and Asia. I would like to thank the Espírito Santo state government for establishing an enabling business environment.”

 

Brazil is of strategic importance to ofi’s portfolio – with operations across coffee, cocoa and spices having been developed over the past 24 years. The Linhares site was selected due to the abundant Conilon coffee production in the Espírito Santo region which provides approximately 70% of Brazil's output[2] - a potential growth driver for the global supply of robusta coffee beans. The site complements ofi’s existing soluble coffee processing facilities in Spain and Vietnam.

 

Sustainable by design, innovative by nature

 

Sustainability is built into every aspect of the Linhares operation, in line with ofi's "Choices for Change" strategy. It is powered by 100% renewable electricity and biomass boilers that convert coffee production waste into energy, helping to reduce the carbon footprint of ofi and its customers. The beans supplied to the facility are fully traceable and the soluble coffee produced from the facility is certified by the Rainforest Alliance.

 

The facility features cutting-edge technology for producing diverse soluble coffee products, with a state-of-the-art Freeze Dryer that uses energy-efficient methods. It also incorporates ofi's new soluble coffee innovation center, building on an integrated global network of 19 innovation centers – across ofi’s portfolio of cocoa, coffee, dairy, nuts and spices.

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