Having guided Fonterra through major structural changes, Miles Hurrell is set to depart the co-op after eight years at the helm. A company veteran who has spent 25 years in the organisation, he steadied Fonterra after a period of expansion, food safety scandals, and financial struggles.
During his tenure, Hurrell set its sights on transforming Fonterra’s grass-fed New Zealand milk into high-margin, high-value ingredients and solutions.
This meant a gradual pivot towards the co-op’s core strengths – generating revenue through B2B ingredients and foodservice. As such Fonterra focused on strategic divestments, selling off its non-core assets, including its operations in Chile and Brazil; China JV farms; stakes in infant formula brand Beingmate and pharmaceutical company DFE; and ice cream brand, Tip Top.
The co-op’s latest move – to sell iconic consumer brands such as Anchor and Mainland, along with associated businesses across MEA and Oceania – solidified its strategic direction from a consumer and commodity dairy business to a leaner, B2B-focused ingredients and solutions provider.
But with Fonterra announcing Hurrell’s imminent departure, who would lead the co-op into its next phase?
We review the likely internal candidates, and what type of leader the board would likely seek.
What leadership profile would suit Fonterra?
When Hurrell rose through the ranks eight years ago, he was perceived as the safe pair of hands who could transition the co-op from a turbulent period into stability.
Long-tenured and well-acquainted with how the dairy industry operates, he was the candidate who understood the organisation and crucially, how the co-op could maximise the value of New Zealand milk, having previously served as group director for cooperative affairs.
His task was to stabilise and consolidate while creating a sustainable baseline for future growth. Fonterra’s pivot is already paying off financially, with the Ingredients and Foodservice businesses delivering good results in the past financial year.
Hurrell’s successor would be expected to continue this momentum while also adapting the culture and organisational structures to fit in with the new business model.
Who is in line for Fonterra’s top job?
Matt Bolger, MD, co-operative affairs
Hurrell was elevated to the CEO role after serving as a cooperative affairs MD. Could his successor follow the same path?
Matt Bolger is the current managing director of the division Hurrell once led. Bolger’s career has veered in and out of Fonterra, making him someone who balances institutional knowledge with external industry experience.
At Fonterra, he has held senior roles where he was responsible for corporate strategy and financial structuring to global sales and manufacturing, and has also led teams focused agritech and sustainability programmes.
Bolger has degrees from several global universities – including Bachelor of Science in Business Administration at Georgetown University in Washington DC, where he majored in International Business with Minors in English and Japanese.
Between 2022 and 2024, he chaired the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand – an industry lobby group that represents New Zealand processors and exporters – likely placing him in close dialogue with policymakers.
More recently, Bolger served as pro vice-chancellor of the Waikato Management School at the University of Waikato at a time when the School launched new education programmes and established the New Zealand Economics Forum, which unites economists and business leaders to discuss pressing economic issues.
He was recruited again by Fonterra in early 2025, when the co-op was already weighing in options to sell its consumer and associated businesses. His current role has a broad impact: ranging from governance and communications to brand experience, sustainability, external affairs, farm support and sustainability.
Andrew Murray, CFO
Andrew Murray reads as another similarly strong potential candidate. He rose through the ranks at Fonterra in a relatively short timespan – joining in early 2023 as commercial director for global markets and then progressing to his current role less than two years later. As CFO, he also shoulders procurement, strategy and IT and transformation responsibilities.
And similarly to Bolger, Murray has a track record of success outside of Fonterra; having spent more than a decade at Mondelez International, including in senior roles with responsibility across Australia, New Zealand, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa.
Finance leadership may be Murray’s bread and butter, but he has also been praised for his “enterprise leadership mindset” by Hurrell himself.
Richard Allen, president, global ingredients
Fonterra’s ingredients division has been the co-op’s primary growth engine in recent years – and the man currently overseeing its strategy is Richard Allen. Hired in August 2024, Allen came onboard just as the co-op set its sights on becoming a B2B solutions-driven organisation.
A Fonterra veteran with 18 years at the co-op under his belt, he has served in several global roles, including president of the Atlantic region – helping to boost performance in the Americas and Europe – as well as transforming Fonterra’s foodservice business in Greater China. Allen may also be familiar to farmer shareholders thanks to his time leading the co-op’s team of farmer engagement and milk specialists.
Anna Palairet, COO
Chief operating officer Anna Palairet is well-versed in the challenges of global trade and what it takes to achieve operational efficiency. In her role as COO, she has helped streamline the co-op’s digital value chain (such as the co-op’s business management software), which is a key cost-saving lever for the organisation.
A graduate in genetics and microbiology, she first joined Fonterra in year 2000 as a market service officer but then left and moved through several different industries, including packaging, timber and shipping.
Palairet worked at Amcor and Carter Holt Harvey and spent 16 years at Air New Zealand, where she held roles including general manager of cargo – including during the COVID-19 pandemic – as well as property infrastructure and head of procurement.
Her return to Fonterra came 25 years after her initial stint, when in 2022 she was hired as director of global supply chain at the dairy major. She then progressed to COO a year later and remains in the thick of improving operational efficiency, handling risk management, and overseeing decarbonisation efforts at the co-op.
Fonterra has never had a female CEO: could Palairet be the first to break the mould?
Whatever happens in the coming months, one thing is certain: Fonterra’s next leader will face a high degree of scrutiny as the co-op navigates an increasingly competitive landscape, driven by market demand dynamics but also a volatile geopolitical scene that’s threatening to put pressure on margins.
