The UK’s largest agricultural purchasing group, Anglia Farmers (AF), has strengthened its senior management team by appointing a new Head of Group Finance.
Grant Lockhart-White brings a wealth of experience at the highest level and the move represents a real step-change for the fast growing group, which has a turnover of £247.5million.
Since qualifying as a Chartered Accountant and spending 10 years with Ernst & Young, Grant has amassed over 17 years’ experience in the fresh produce industry. He has held positions as Group Financial Director with G’s, Emmett UK and Total Produce. Whilst at G’s, Grant was Company Secretary and responsible for the finances of G’s Growers Ltd, a Producer Organisation with more than 20 grower members in the UK and Spain. He currently sits on the Business Policy Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) and was previously the Honorary Treasurer of the St Andrews Golf Club.
Grant is really looking forward to working with the high performance team at AF. Grant said. “I worked with AF as a member when I was at Emmet UK and have always been very impressed with the business, the way it has developed its exceptional customer service and in particular, with the innovative and very useful services it offers. This includes AF Finance, which is a peer-to-peer lending scheme that really helps members with their cash flow, AF Grant Resource which helps members to access available grant funding and their Payroll and HR services.
“AF has now grown to a size where it is essential to have a Head of Group Finance in place and I look forward to the challenges ahead”. In addition to the stewardship of everything financial and accounting, some of Grant’s initial responsibilities will include developing AF Grant Resource’s offering to members, risk management and corporate governance.
Commenting on the appointment AF CEO, Clarke Willis, said: “We are delighted to welcome Grant to AF. Over the past year we have completed a major reorganisation of our senior management team to lay the foundations for future development and I am sure Grant will bring a wealth of experience and expertise to this role.”
