Sabrina N. Gordon, Business Reporter

Jamaica Producers' corporate offices on Oxford Road, New Kingston. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer

Jamaica Producers Group (JPG), saying it was repositioning for growth, has announced a new top management team to work alongside CEO Jeffrey Hall.

The company has signalled that its new team has to be "aggressive" in going after market share.

The appointment to senior management positions of Paul Bates as managing director of Serious Food Company, Rolf Simmonds and Charles Czerkawski is part of that programme.

Bates will, at mid-year, take up a new appointment as managing director of subsidiary Serious Food Company, replacing Vince Price who has been acting in the post.

The prepared-food component of JPG is the largest operating business by revenue, but the segment suffered losses of $301.9 million in the company's third quarter in 2007.

Man in charge

Price will be in charge of operations at the United Kingdom-based food subsidiary. Simmonds has been named commercial director of Producers Holdings Limited (PHL), effective February 4, while Czerkawski is the new chief financial officer of JPG, having joined the company in late 2007.

Yesterday Hall said he had a fourth appointment pending - at PHL.

"Although there is one gap still to be filled, I am working towards building back the company having suffered badly from the last hurricane that hit the island," he said.

Hall says he was in no rush to fill the slot, saying he was looking carefully at both internal and external sources for a recruit.

The shaping of the new JPG team comes amid a reorganisation to build value in the company, whose losses at October 2007 were just under $236 million.

"Leadership at the management level is substantially complete," said Hall, with a head of the PHL division expected to be named within the next year. Hall will remain divisional head for the other operational areas.

"Given that JP is an international food company operating in multiple jurisdictions and in every aspect of the food chain, it is necessary to put in place leaders who have operated in a high-performing culture and global environment to help develop the major areas of business focus," said chief executive officer.

sabrina.gordon@gleanerjm.com