Dairygold CEO Jim Woulfe to step down later this year

Limerick native almost doubled revenues over past 12 years

Wed, 07 Apr, 2021 - 08:01

Alan Healy

Chief Executive of Dairygold Jim Woulfe is to retire at the end of this year with a search commencing for his replacement.

The Limerick native has worked at the cooperative for the past 42 years, serving 12 years as CEO. Since 2009 Dairygold has seen revenues almost double from €555m to €1.02bn.

He also led the collaboration with Ornua for the establishment of its Kerrygold Butter manufacturing Centre of Excellence in Mitchelstown, and with Norwegian Co-op TINE for the establishment of its Jarlsberg Cheese factory in Mogeely.

Mr Woulfe said today it has been a huge honour and a privilege to have worked with the Dairygold board, management, staff, shareholders and customers during his term as CEO. "I am very proud of Dairygold today, the strength of the business, its members and the leadership team."

A native of Ardagh, Co Limerick, Mr Woulfe (60) graduated in Dairy Science from University College Cork and joined Ballyclough Co-op in Mallow in 1979, serving in diverse management roles before the neighbouring Mitchelstown and Ballyclough Co-ops merged in 1990 to establish Dairygold. He held a number of senior management roles in Dairygold, including Milk Supplies, Head of Human Resources and Head of Agri-Business, prior to being appointed Dairygold’s CEO in July 2009.

Dairygold Chairman Mr John O’Gorman said: "Jim has provided Dairygold with an outstanding performance throughout his career and in particular as CEO from July 2009 to date, he has worked with the Board and enthusiastically led the business through 12 years of substantial transformation. He has served Dairygold and its members and staff with outstanding vision with Revenues growing from €555m in 2009 to €1.02bn by end 2020 along with the Net Asset Value (NAV) of the society growing from €206m to €388m by end 2020, an increase of over 88% under his leadership.”

The announcement was made today as Dairygold presented its annual results delivering a strong financial performance despite the Covid-19 challenges.

The Co-Op delivered earnings of €53.8m and an operating profit of €26m for the year, along with reducing its net bank debt by €38.7m, reflecting improved performances by its core dairy and agribusinesses.

Dairygold recorded turnover for the year of €1.017bn, generally in line with 2019’s turnover of €1.020bn.