Fonterra Co-operative Group has announced the appointment of Jonathan Mason as its new Chief Financial Officer, effective February 16. 

Mason succeeds Guy Cowan, who announced his retirement in early 2008 and will be leaving the Group at the end of February 2009.

Mason is an experienced finance executive and had served as Chief Financial Officer for forest products group Carter Holt Harvey from 2000 to 2005.

He joins Fonterra from US-based company Cabot Corporation, where he has been Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since 2006. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Cabot is a multinational specialty chemicals company, with manufacturing facilities in 18 countries and US$3 billion in annual sales.

Between 1990 and 2006, Mason worked in various roles at US-based International Paper, the world's largest forest products company, rising eventually to Vice President and Treasurer.  His stint as CFO at Carter Holt Harvey was during the period when International Paper owned 50.1 percent of the New Zealand-based company. Earlier in his career, he worked in treasury roles at Exxon Corporation.

Mason holds a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Arts, International Relations, both from Yale University, Connecticut, US; and a Bachelor of Arts, Economics and International Relations from Beloit College, Wisconsin, US.