The board of NWK has announced that Theo Rabe (49), the group's Financial Director since 2005, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer with effect from 5 September 2017. He has acted as Managing Director for the past nine months.
Says NWK chairman, Heinrich Krüger, “The appointment stems from a transparent process that has taken place over several months, and in which external specialists were employed in the recruitment and assessment process. The board is of the opinion that his financial expertise, first-hand knowledge of the group and his agriculture-specific exposure over 24 years, corresponds with NWK's focus on its core business and on future expansion opportunities.”
Rabe is a chartered accountant and boasts more than 22 years of senior management experience. During his career, various divisions and functional disciplines have reported to him, including corporate finance, financing, internal audit, retail, information technology and poultry operations. He was also closely involved in the development of the NWK Loyalty Programme that was recently launched.
Before joining NWK, he was employed by Rainbow Chicken Limited (now RCL Foods Limited) as Regional Financial Manager. Earlier in his career, he was a Senior Accountant at NTK and General Manager Finance and Information Technology at the former NLK.