Genus plc announced that Jorgen Kokke has been appointed by the Board as Chief Executive Officer Designate with effect from 2 May 2023. This follows the announcement made on 23 February 2023, that Stephen Wilson will retire on 30 September 2023. Jorgen will become Chief Executive Officer of Genus from 1 July 2023.

From that date, Stephen Wilson will step down from his role as Chief Executive Officer, but will remain actively involved in the Company to support the smooth transition of responsibility. Stephen will deliver the full year results in September and continue in his role as an executive director until his retirement on 30 September 2023. Jorgen has deep experience in the international food and agriculture sectors having spent the last 14 years in global business leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Ingredion Incorporated, a leading food and beverage ingredient solutions company,listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Most recently, Jorgen was Executive Vice President & President Americas with responsibility for all operational and strategic management decisions across its $6 billion North and South American businesses, driving growth by leveraging research and development led innovation and commercial and operational excellence. Prior to his time at Ingredion, Jorgen worked at CSM NV, another global ingredients company, where he was Vice President of Food and Nutrition and prior to that, at Unilever.