Tough choices had to be made

IT has been a turbulent few weeks for Jerry Henchy. In an unexpected announcement he was told at the end of January that his services as chief executive of Dairygold were no longer required.

He departed from the role immediately but remained on as chief executive of Reox Holdings, a spin-off of Dairygold.

Mr Henchy first took the helm at Dairygold in March 2003 at just 37 years of age when he joined from Kerry Group.

In two years at Dairygold he reduced the workforce from about 3,400 to 1,700, outsourced the transport division and rationalised Dairygold’s network of stores by closing 13 smaller ones.

He then sold two beef plants to Dawn Meats and Tyrone Meats, resulting in 250 job losses.

After three years with Dairygold, plans were announced to split the group into two independent operating divisions.

Dairygold Co-op would retain the milk and agri-trading operations with consumer foods, 4Home and Alchemy Properties to be transferred to a new company — Reox Holdings.

Henchy took the role of chief executive of Reox and continued to hold his position at Dairygold.

He is the son of John Henchy, a dairy farmer and former chairman of CMP Dairies.

The family grew up in Ballincollig, Co Cork, and he attended Presentation Brothers College, studying dairy science at UCC.

He then was employedby Kerry Group where he held a number of positions in areas such as technicaldevices, sales and R&Dbefore moving to Brazil and taking control of operations in Latin America.

He lives in Grange, Co Limerick, where he farms a herd of award-winning Angus cattle.