Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited has announced two senior appointments to the company's management team.

Kelvin Wickham, currently the president for the Greater China market, will assume the newly created position of managing director of global ingredients on August 1. Johan Priem, currently a member of the Office of the CEO, will take over Wickham's role.

Wickham has more than 25 years of experience in the dairy industry, which includes expanding Fonterra's overseas markets, customer relationships and partnerships. Hepreviously held senior global sales, marketing and optimisation positions in Fonterra and the NZ Dairy Board.

Prior to leading the Chinese business, Wickham played a key part in developing sustainable co-operative performance.  Earlier, he was Fonterra's managing director of global trade, overseeing the launch of the GlobalDairyTrade auction platform. From 2005 to 2007, he was the director of sales and operations planning.

Johan Priem, the upcoming president for the Greater China market, has held two senior Fonterra leadership positions in Asia.  More recently, he has contributed to developing the company's approach to food safety and quality as well as corporate social responsibility and sustainability."

Before joining Fonterra, Priem was on the board of management at Royal Friesland Foods.  He had hold responsibilities over branded consumer businesses in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and West Africa. He was also involved in corporate marketing.

In addition to Wickham and Priem's appointments, Fonterra's current director of global sales, Tim Deane, will assume the position of managing director of Fonterra Brands NZ on August 1.

Said Fonterra's chief executive, Theo Spierings, "This year, one of our top business priorities is to optimise our global ingredients and operations footprint so we can better manage price volatility and increase value, while ensuring a total focus on food safety and quality, and our customers' needs."