Ornua announces senior leadership appointments

IRELAND – Ornua has appointed Shane Henry as the Managing Director of Ornua Dairy Ingredients and Seán McHugh as the Head of Global Manufacturing and Operational Excellence in line with the ongoing implementation of our new global operating model.

Ornua Dairy Ingredients, the newly established global business unit within the Ornua Group, brings together Ornua’s member relations and services, dairy procurement, dairy trading, and route-to-market activities as one dedicated platform focused on maximising value from Irish dairy.

In his role as Managing Director, Shane will be responsible for the further development of strong, sustainable, and profitable routes to market for Irish dairy products produced by Ornua’s Member Co-operatives. 

Along with a highly experienced team, Shane will lead the development and implementation of Ornua’s route-to-market commercial strategy, strengthening alignment with Member Co-operatives, and driving the global performance of Ornua’s Dairy Ingredients businesses, servicing key international customers across Europe, the UK, USA, and MEA, and the wider Ornua Group.

Shane brings a wealth of senior level experience to the role from over 25 years working in several important management and business transformation and implementation roles at Ornua.

Most recently Shane was Managing Director of Ornua’s Route-to-Market & Member Relations team. In his new role, Shane will report directly to Ornua Chief Executive, Conor Galvin.

Additionally, Sean McHugh has been appointed as Head of Global Manufacturing and Operational Excellence.

Reporting to the Chief Operations Officer, Jason Musk, Seán will be responsible for driving performance across Ornua’s extensive global manufacturing footprint and creating value by establishing a standardised operational excellence programme.

Seán brings extensive experience and deep industry and business knowledge to the new position from his previous 25 years’ working at Ornua, during which time he held a number of highly successful management roles covering operational strategy and efficiency programmes across the Group.

Most recently Seán was Managing Director of our flagship butter production facility Kerrygold Park in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork – the global home of Kerrygold butter. In parallel, Seán was responsible for driving the brand’s innovation agenda as Global Head of Research & Development.

In 2025, Ornua, Ireland’s largest exporter of dairy products and owner of Kerrygold, reported a turnover of US$4.13 billion (€3.5 billion) in its financial results for the 12 months ending December 27, 2025.

Group EBITDA and operating profit grew 3.6% and 4.7% to US$202.05 million (€171.4 million) and $161.02 million (€136.6 million) respectively. Over US$2.12 billion (€1.8 billion) in Irish dairy products was purchased from member cooperatives.

US$87.7 million (€74.3 million) in premiums and bonuses was paid to member co-ops for products supplied in the year (Ornua Value Payment). US$568 million (€481.5 million) in working capital facilities was provided to member co-ops in 2025.

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