Tate & Lyle upheaval continues

19th May 2009 15:02

The top two positions at sugar and sweeteners group Tate & Lyle will be occupied by new faces by the end of this year, following today's announcement that Javed Ahmed will be leaving Reckitt Benckiser to take over as Tate's new CEO.Ahmed is currently Executive Vice President, Europe for Reckitt Benckiser and a member of the detergent maker's Executive Committee. He has held a number of senior leadership roles within the group over the last 17 years in both Europe and North America. He will take up his new post on 15 November, replacing Iain Ferguson, who has led the group through a difficult time during which the company lost its patent infringement case relating to sucralose, marketed by Tate & Lyle under the brand name Splenda.Ferguson's departure follows a bleak period in the first quarter when it issued two profits warnings in the space of ten weeks.Tate & Lyle reportedly started looking for a replacement for Ferguson back in April. Ferguson became chief executive officer at Tate & Lyle in May 2003, having previously worked for consumers goods and foods group Unilever.The new appointment continues the trend of upheaval at the top of the management tree at Tate & Lyle; current chairman Sir David Lees is to be replaced by Sir Peter Gershon at the end of this year, while back in December the group named Tim Lodge as its new finance director after the previous incumbent, John Nicholas, stepped down from the board in November 'by mutual agreement'.A statement from Reckitt Benckiser wished Ahmed well in his new position and said his replacement would be announced in due course.