FDBusiness.com

Premier Foods has appointed Alastair Murray (pictured) as executive director and chief financial officer replacing Mark Moran who has decided to leave the company. Alastair Murray’s most recent appointment was as group finance director of Dairy Crest. During his 10-year tenure at Dairy Crest, he helped lead a significant restructuring to simplify the business, creatively address its pension deficit and transform it into an industry leader with brands such as Cathedral City and Clover.

His extensive strategic, commercial, financial and consumer branded experience spans a 30 year career including roles as group finance director of The Body Shop International and earlier with Dalgety and 13 years with Unilever. Alastair Murray graduated from Cambridge University with an MA in Engineering and also holds an MBA from Cranfield Institute of Technology. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

Since joining the business in 2011, Mark Moran has helped steer Premier Foods through the first critical phases of its turnaround, including a major refinancing in early 2012. As the company began planning the next phase of its development, he was asked by Gavin Darby, chief executive, and the board of directors whether he would commit to at least the next three years to continue this transition, a commitment he ultimately felt unable to make.