Fonterra Co-operative has appointed Bhavesh Morar as Commercial Director, COO following a global executive search conducted by SEQEL Partners.

As New Zealand’s largest business, Fonterra is a significant dairy co-operative bringing together 9,000 farmer owners and around 20,000 employees globally.

Bhavesh is a senior executive with extensive experience in financial, commercial and governance functions gained from complex businesses in Australia. Most recently, he was the Regional CFO, Australasia for Intertek, a £4 billion multinational provider of insurance, inspection, product testing and certification services. The majority of his earlier career was spent with the Australian multinational mining and metals business, BHP, and global professional services business Deloitte, where he spent time in London and Sydney. Roles of note include Head of Finance (Divisional CFO) for BHP’s standalone Nickel West business where Bhavesh led an extensive turn-around of the distressed entity. He was later promoted to Head of Functions Strategic Alignment, as part of the Global Functions Transformation project, and drove change to improve effectiveness, efficiencies and ways of working for over 6,000 employees.  

Bhavesh holds a Bachelor of Economics from Macquarie University and is a Chartered Accountant. He commences with Fonterra in October.