Rutger Helbing

Chief Executive Officer

Rutger joined Devro as Group Finance Director in April 2016 and became Chief Executive Officer on 28 February 2018.

Experience: Prior to joining the Company, he was Group Chief Financial Officer of Element Six, the global leader in manufacturing synthetic diamond supermaterials. Previously, Rutger held senior positions in finance and general management with ICI/Akzo Nobel and Unilever. He holds a postgraduate finance degree from the Free University of Amsterdam and a degree in economics from the Erasmus University.

Skills: Rutger brings broad experience from having worked in a wide range of international businesses with exposure to food manufacturing, consumer-facing businesses and in business-to-business environments. Having both worked in broad finance roles and in general management he has also wide functional experience.

Rohan Cummings

Chief Financial Officer

Rohan joined Devro as Chief Financial Officer on 1 December 2020.

Experience: Prior to joining the Company, Rohan was Chief Financial Officer of Asahi International, part of Asahi Group Holdings, the Japanese global beer, spirits, soft drinks and food business group. Between 2002 and 2016 Rohan held a range of finance roles with SABMiller, living and working in Italy, Slovakia, Switzerland, Russia, the UK and South Africa. He played an important role in the carve out of the businesses acquired by Asahi Group in 2016 as part of the ABInbev acquisition of SABMiller and is a commercially focused finance leader with a track record of making significant contributions to successful growth initiatives across a number of businesses in both mature and emerging markets.

Skills: Rohan is a Chartered Accountant has an MBA and brings to the Board a broad finance and international background.

Michael Lauesgaard

Group Business Development Director

Michael joined the Company in February 2016 as Group Business Development Director, assuming overall responsibility for end-to-end product management including market insights, R&D, product portfolio and partnerships. Prior to joining Devro, Michael held management positions within business-to-business strategic marketing and business development in Maersk, Novozymes and Chr. Hansen.

Kevin Shoemaker

Group Supply Chain Director

Kevin joined Devro in September 2016 as we transitioned to a global supply chain. He brings over 40 years of international supply chain and manufacturing experience to Devro and is responsible for sourcing, making and delivering products to our customers. Prior to this he was the Senior Vice President of Operations for Purac/Corbion, where he was responsible for 10 manufacturing sites and global supply chain activities. His 15 years in the lactic acid and derivatives industry with Corbion were preceded by 20 years in corn wet milling, the majority of which were spent with Cargill. Kevin is a graduate from Iowa State University with a BS degree in Chemical Engineering.

Peter Whitmore

Global Commercial Director

Peter joined Devro in November 2018 in the new role of Global Commercial Director. He has a wealth of experience in global commercial roles in business-to-business environments, and has worked for companies including Dow, Trinseo and Amcor.

He has overall responsibility for leading our global commercial team to enable the achievement of our growth ambition as part of our 3Cs strategy.

Anton Zawada

Group Human Resources Director

Anton joined Devro in April 2020, bringing over 25 years of experience in human resources from within the FMCG and food industry. Previously, Anton was with Tate & Lyle from 2016 where he was HR Director Global Corporate Functions and also provided oversight of Global Security and Facilities.

Prior to this Anton spent four years with AB Mauri as Regional HR Director for their International Region, 17 years with British American Tobacco in a variety of local, regional and global roles, and three years with Sheffield Consulting, an HR Consultancy in New Zealand. Anton has a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Psychology from Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand.