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Finn Klostermann is to step down as CEO of Danish Crown Beef at the end of the year, as the Danish meat group moves to a new organisational structure that will bring seven of its eight business units into a shared organisation.
Klostermann, who has been with Danish Crown for almost 20 years and has led its beef division for the past 12, will remain in his role through the end of 2026.
From the start of next year, the standalone position of CEO of Danish Crown Beef will cease to exist.
The beef business will instead become part of a broader organisation overseen by a new global leadership team responsible for shared manufacturing, sales and product development.
Danish Crown Beef will remain a separate legal entity, however, retaining its existing ownership structure, owner services and profit distribution model.
Klostermann said: “I have enjoyed being part of Danish Crown for almost 20 years. But Danish Crown is now on the threshold of a fundamental organisational transformation, and therefore it feels natural for me to step down at this point.”
During his tenure, Klostermann said the beef business had increased its focus on value-added processing and moved further up the value chain through investment in production, branding, business development and commercial execution.
He also thanked Danish Crown's more than 3,000 cattle farmers for their support during his tenure.
Danish Crown Group CEO Niels Ulrich Duedahl said: “Finn has been a driving force behind the development and strengthening of Danish Crown’s beef division, which has more than doubled in size under his leadership."
He highlighted Klostermann's commercial expertise and ability to identify opportunities to increase the value generated from cattle supplied by Danish Crown's cooperative owners. His work with customers has also been a key part of his contribution, Duedahl said, pointing to Danish Crown's recently secured agreement with McDonald's as the latest example.
The group now intends to use the scale and capabilities of its wider organisation to strengthen competitiveness, with greater emphasis on value-added processing, market focus, brands and cost efficiency.
The Beef restructuring forms part of a wider organisational overhaul announced by Danish Crown in June.
Under the new model, the currently independent business units Sokołów, Beef, Industry, Foods, KLS, UK and ESS-FOOD will be integrated into a shared organisation. The group had already begun consolidating its corporate functions as part of the transformation.
The transition is expected to take place over the next six months.
Danish Crown has approximately 3,700 cattle-owning cooperative members. Klostermann will continue to lead Danish Crown Beef until the end of the year, after which the new group structure will take effect.
