Cherkizovo Group has appointed John Ross to the newly-created role of chief operating officer (COO).
John Ross joins the Russian meat, poultry and feed company, bringing over 25 years’ operations and management experience in the agricultural sector. Over the course of his career, he headed a number of integrated multi-plant production corporations and has served on the management teams of major international poultry companies. John Ross was most recently president of Arasco Foods. Prior to this, he was at Zacky Farms for over 20 years, working his way up from operations manager to president of the company. He began his career at Cargill.
At Cherkizovo Group, Ross will be responsible for the production functions across the group’s five business segments. Unifying the management of the segments’ operations will enhance the group’s vertical integration capabilities and drive further efficiencies.
Evgeny Mikhailov, chairman of the Board of Directors of Cherkizovo Group, commented: “This newly-created COO role comes at an exciting time in Cherkizovo Group’s development and we are fortunate to have John Ross join our team. His vast international experience in operations management, as well as his excellent leadership skills, will be invaluable in helping to coordinate our operations and further drive efficiency across all our segments.”
Ross will report directly to Sergey Mikhailov, CEO of the company, who, up until this appointment, has been responsible for operations. The redistribution of operational functions to the new COO will allow Sergey Mikhailov to focus more on the group’s strategic business development and global strategy.
