Nomination of Véronique Fontaine-Heim, new managing director of the VIVESCIA Cooperative
Following the board of administors meeting of 30 August, Véronique Fontaine-Heim has been appointed managing director of the VIVESCIA grain cooperative, and member of the Group's executive committee from 1 September.
A graduate of AgroParisTech with a specialised master’s degree from ESSEC business school, Véronique Fontaine-Heim has spent her entire career in the food service industry: 25 years at Nestlé in France with successive roles at head office and with its subsidiaries, then the last 10 years heading up functional and executive teams within Sodiaal cooperative group, Sysco France, and Agromousquetaires group. Véronique has acquired solid experience in managing companies with a variety of business models, in diverse channels, while working in a context of transformation and change.
Véronique Fontaine-Heim will oversee all VIVESCIA’s agricultural businesses (1,100 employees; 3.5 million tonnes of grain processed; France’s leading malting barley supplier; over €1 billion revenue) – the Cooperative and its agricultural subsidiaries (Sepac Compagri, Sévéal, Compas, and VIVESCIA transport). She will succeed Jean-Luc Jonet, who expressed his desire to retire at the start of the year. He will leave the company on 30 September 2022.
Véronique and her team will be tasked with ramping up transformation projects started as part of the “Ma Coop 2025” corporate project, launched two years ago, while taking into account our Link strategy and the related challenges of sustainable development.
At a time when the regional agricultural sector is undergoing profound change under the combined impact of volatile climate conditions, changing societal expectations, and the diversity of farmers’ business plans, she will also be responsible for advancing further reflection on the strategic pillars of “Ma Coop 2025”, specifically around our logistic efficiency, agronomic innovation, new models of support, digitalisation, our value chain approach, being in touch with our customers and plotting a course for 2030 with the board of administrators.
“The board of administrators and I would like to thank Jean-Luc for the commitment he has shown throughout his 40-year career with the company, and we would like to hail his deep attachment to VIVESCIA and his work in the service of our region’s farmers.
The arrival of Véronique Fontaine-Heim, with her wealth of experience in change management, her interpersonal and managerial qualities, as well as her fresh perspective, will be a valuable asset in fostering and implementing the transformation of our Cooperative – a process that began in 2019 – in an environment that is undergoing profound change.
Agriculture and our entire food chain are facing significant challenges, and many more lie ahead, from adapting our farming systems to climate change, the issue of competitiveness, and the long-term viability of agricultural enterprises, the agro-ecological transition, and the protection of biodiversity; the VIVESCIA Cooperative must be a source of solutions to these many challenges and an efficient partner for agricultural entrepreneurs on our territories. That is our collective ambition.
Our unique, vertically integrated business model, created more than 60 years ago by our predecessors, our connection between upstream farmers and the downstream food processing businesses of VIVESCIA Industries, must increasingly drive value creation, innovation, and progress for our Cooperative. I know that I can count on Véronique to strengthen these connections.
The board of administrators joins me in wishing Véronique Fontaine-Heim, our Cooperative’s new managing director, a very warm welcome and every success in her role alongside us."
Christoph Büren, President
Autres actualités
