AHDB NEWS RELEASE

15 February 2010

NEW CEO FOR LEVY BOARD

TOM TAYLOR has been appointed as Chief Executive of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) and will start with the levy board early in the new financial year.

Tom is currently the Chief Executive at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust. He is a qualified accountant and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management and has a wealth of senior management and corporate governance experience across both public and private sectors (Full biographical details are in the notes to editors below).

AHDB Chairman John Bridge said: “The Board and I are delighted we have someone of Tom’s calibre joining us. We’re coming out of a period of massive change as we build a new more efficient structure to address our levy-payers needs - his leadership skills and management experience will be critical in successfully completing this process.

“Our industry faces the enormous challenges of responding to climate change and greenhouse gas targets and also playing its part in feeding a growing world population while using less inputs and a finite land area. An efficient and effective AHDB has a critical role to play in helping the industry to meet those challenges and we believe Tom is the man to help us deliver this.”

Tom Taylor commented: “I’m really looking forward to joining the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board. It has a great reputation as a professional organisation with talented people and I want to build on that by providing strategic leadership and vision to take it forward. And, as John says, this is a very important time in history for UK food and agriculture – I love challenges and I believe the team at AHDB can make a significant contribution to the industry’s future.”

Kevin Roberts, who has been chief executive since AHDB became operational in April 2008, leaves to become Director General of the NFU in April 2010. John Bridge said: ”The Board and I are very grateful for the tremendous job Kevin has done in setting up AHDB and bringing it to this point. We wish him well in his new role”.

Richard Lowe, a senior director at AHDB, has agreed to extend his notice period and be Interim Chief Executive during the period until Tom takes up office, before leaving as planned.

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The appointment process

The post was advertised publicly and the appointment was made by the Board of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board.

Biographical Notes on Tom (Thomas) Taylor FCCA

1.  Tom has worked in both the Public and Private Sectors but has spent most of his life in the Public Sector. He worked for 24 years in the Energy Sector, initially for Norweb and the Central Electricity Generating Board prior to the electricity privatisation on which he worked on as one of the Project Directors to establish National Power plc and subsequently Nuclear Electric PLC .

2.  In late 1993, Tom joined the NHS as Finance Director at North Birmingham HA before moving to the former South Birmingham Acute Unit as Deputy CEO/Finance Director where he helped to establish University Hospital Birmingham NHS Trust. During this period Tom was also Project Director for the New Hospitals PFI Project. For a brief period he worked in consultancy undertaking interim Finance Director roles at Shropshire and Sandwell HAs and the three Sandwell PCTs, he was also Finance Director of the Royal Hospitals Belfast Trust for six months before being appointed as Deputy CEO/Director of Performance & Finance at Shropshire & Staffordshire Strategic Health Authority when it was created in April 2002. In May 2004 Tom returned to Birmingham as Deputy CEO/Director of Delivery for Birmingham & the Black Country SHA, becoming CEO of The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust in August 2005.

3.  A keen sportsman having played football and cricket for many years, Tom remains passionate about cricket watching his adopted county of Worcestershire whenever possible and is still a keen Manchester United fan.

Richard Lowe

·  Richard Lowe is familiar with the requirements of being a CEO and Accounting Officer for a Levy Board, having undertaken that role at the former Meat and Livestock Commission, before heading up EBLEX, the beef and lamb division of AHDB, until October 2009. He has agreed to extend his notice period and fulfil the interim CEO role before leaving as planned.

Notes on AHDB

1.  AHDB became operational on 1 April 2008 when five former levy boards were dissolved. It is a Non-Departmental Public Body whose £50m annual programme of work is funded by statutory levies paid by farmers, growers and processors. Its role is to help improve the efficiency and competitiveness of six agriculture and horticulture sectors in parts of the UK representing about 75% of total UK agricultural output.

2.  AHDB is structured with a number of centralised service departments (eg Finance, HR, Market Intelligence) and six sector divisions representing the commodity sectors covered by its statutory remit – pig meat in England (BPEX), beef and lamb in England (EBLEX), commercial horticulture in GB (HDC), milk in GB (DairyCo), potatoes in GB (PCL), cereals and oilseeds in the UK (HGCA). Levies raised from each sector are ring-fenced to be used for the benefit of the sectors from which they were raised.

3.  Six sector boards represent the commodity sectors covered by AHDB’s statutory remit. The sector boards are made up of members, representing their specific sectors, appointed by AHDB. The primary function of the sector boards is to act in the very best interests of the sector at all times. Each board has delegated functions from AHDB giving it the duty to develop the most appropriate strategies to meet the challenges of the sector; to ensure the relevant levy rate is recommended in order to provide adequate funding for the required work, monitor strategy implementation and approve remedies where performance deviates from plan. Strategy is implemented by AHDB and its divisional teams.

4.  There are a number of commercial subsidiaries within the AHDB group, the largest of which is Meat & Livestock Commercial Services Ltd (MLCSL) a wholly owned subsidiary of AHDB. MLCS Ltd is a separate company limited by guarantee supplying services to the meat and livestock sectors. All its costs are fully accounted for within the company and it currently returns profits to the meat and livestock sectors to supplement levy funds.

5.  Further information on AHDB is available at www.ahdb.org.uk

For further information contact Guy Attenborough

T: 0247 669 2051, M: 07887 896082, E:

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