Vilson Simon has joined Chr. Hansen as Senior Vice President of Animal Health, reporting to Christian Barker – Executive Vice President of Health & Nutrition.
Chr. Hansen is a global leader in the development and production of all-natural bacterial solutions for animal health. In connection with Chr. Hansen’s Nature’s no. 1 strategy, the animal health business has grown in size and importance over the last few years, especially through the acquisition of the Nutrition Physiology Corporation (NPC) in 2016. Simon’s responsibilities will include sustaining high sales growth in the years ahead, capitalizing on the NPC acquisition, ensuring successful launches of our innovations, and further strengthening our route to market in key geographies.
Christian Barker, EVP Health & Nutrition Business Unit, expresses confidence that the right leader has been found: “The market for bacterial solutions supporting animal health in livestock production continues to hold attractive opportunities for Chr. Hansen, and we have an exciting agenda ahead which includes capitalizing on our recent acquisition of NPC, launching new innovations in poultry and swine, and getting closer to customers in APAC. Against this backdrop, I am confident that Vilson’s industry experience, expertise, and passion for both people and for the industry position will serve him well to lead the team.”
Simon brings more than 25 years’ experience from the animal health industry, and joins Chr. Hansen from Merck Animal Health where he was a member of the global Animal Health Leadership Team with responsibility for Global Commercial Operations. Simon has also held several regional general management and business unit leadership positions at MSD, Phibro, Cargill Animal Nutrition, and Schering Plough.
Simon says, “It is a privilege for me to join Chr. Hansen and take the helm of the animal health business. As a market leader, Chr. Hansen is an exciting company. The animal health business plays a key role in supporting the development of better proteins to feed humanity. This is a very noble mission and it was one of the critical factors in my decision to join. Within animal health we are equipped to accelerate the growth through our complete portfolio of solutions that provide our customers the right tools to fulfill the consumer needs in terms of healthier foods.”
