Get to know your new CEO

New Fonterra CEO Richard Allen could not escape university fast enough when he applied for the Co-op’s graduate programme in 2008, beginning an 18-year journey at Fonterra spanning several geographies and business units.

He told farmers gathered at April’s My Connect conference that while university wasn’t for him, he jumped at the opportunity to join Fonterra.

“Their grad programme came up, so I put my hand up and that was the start of a very privileged career.”
 

An early international mindset

Richard’s global outlook began well before his professional life. He lived in Indonesia, then Taiwan until he was 13, an experience that no doubt supported a career that would eventually span New Zealand, China, the US and back again.

Richard’s early roles at the Co-op included being a Product Mix Manager and General Manager for Global Value Chain Optimisation. That work encompassed many things, including the design of the Co-op's asset base and deciding where to put milk across those factories to deliver best value.

From there, he became CEO of MyMilk, a milk-sourcing company backed by Fonterra and created to offer farmers another pathway into the Co-op.

A career across continents

Richard eventually moved into the Foodservice business, spending two years in Shanghai helping grow the Co-op's presence in Greater China.

He then returned to New Zealand to lead Farm Source and connect with the realities of on-farm challenges and opportunities – something he had an early appreciation for given his grandparents were dairy farmers.

More recently, Richard spent two years based in Chicago, leading Fonterra’s Atlantic region. The role covered operations across the Americas and Europe, as well as relationships with some of the Co-op's most strategic global Ingredients customers.

He was appointed President of Global Markets Ingredients in August 2024, with that remit expanding in March last year to include Ingredients businesses in Greater China and Middle East Africa, reflecting the Co-op's shift to a channelled structure.

Along the way, he was named Young Executive of the Year at the prestigious Deloitte Top 200 Awards in December 2024, where his leadership, strategic clarity and contribution to organisational performance were recognised.
 

Another big role

Richard’s world is busy away from work, too.

He and his wife have three children, a 10-year-old and 8-year-old twins, so spare time is limited. But when he does get a chance to slow down, he heads to the kitchen.

"I love cooking – the first thing I did when I left high school was to train as a chef,” he says.

That same hands-on mindset and appetite for creating something great has carried through into his work at Fonterra. 

From Farm Source to Foodservice and Ingredients, and from New Zealand to key global markets, Richard’s near 20-year audition for the role of CEO positions him strongly to lead the Co-op as a B2B business with farmers and customers at its core.