ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS — Nidera announced on March 16 the retirement of Ton van der Laan, its current chief executive officer (CEO). Laan will retire by the end of June.
 
After deciding late last year to not pursue a partnership with COFCO and Noble Agri (now COFCO Agri Ltd.), Nidera is restructuring its leadership team.

Nidera made several other appointments, Bloomberg reported, including Timothy Lodge as chief financial officer and Rogier Jacobs as chief information officer on Feb. 1. Philippe Huet was also appointed executive vice-president for grains and oilseeds in Europe from March 1. Huet was previously with Cargill’s cocoa business.

Laan will continue his current position as CEO as Nidera begins the recruiting process for his successor. He was appointed as CEO of Nidera in July 2013. He spent the last three years building Nidera’s management team in order to meet future challenges in the global agri trading industry, the company said.

After graduation and military service in the Royal Dutch Navy, Laan joined Unilever in 1981. He held a number of different production, engineering and general management functions in the U.K. and the Netherlands. In 1991 he was appointed chairman of Unilever Czechoslovakia based in Prague.

In 1997, Laan joined Philips as managing director of the Domestic Appliances division. In 2000, he re-joined Unilever as senior vice-president to lead the Customer Development function worldwide and became a member of the Foods Executive.

Laan joined Provimi as chief operating officer in October 2005, and became chairman of the board of Provimi and CEO in June 2007. After the takeover of Provimi by Cargill Inc. in November 2011, Laan joined Cargill, as platform leader for the Cargill Animal Protein & Salt (CAPS).