All change in CBH management

With major changes to CBH Group’s State-wide management, the Albany Zone will now be split into four areas and a new zone manager appointed.

Long-standing zone manager Greg Thornton has been replaced by Adam Wray, an experienced chemical engineer who managed the WA operations of BASF’s Performance Chemicals.

Implemented last week, the changes will see Mr Thornton and two other long-term CBH zone managers across the State replaced.

On ABC radio last week, CBH chief executive Jimmy Wilson said he declined to comment on why Kwinana Port Zone manager Adam Mencshelyi and Mr Thornton had “left the organisation”.

“We need to respect the fact that people leave organisations for a number of reasons,” he said. “Some personal, some of them as a result of transformation, some of them just because we are getting the right skills in place.

“What I can say is we have replaced them with people we have interviewed extensively and we are confident they can deliver successfully.”

Mr Wilson, who took the reins at CBH in October 2018 after leading BHP’s iron ore division, said the new managers, including Mr Wray, “brought strong network skills to the organisation” but would need to be “taught grain”, as he had been.

The number of area managers within the CBH network will increase from 12 to 19, including four in the Albany Zone — Chris Poot, Mark Pinney, Haylee Mornton and Kris Morrow.

Kwinana Port Zone, which reeled in a record-breaking eight million tonnes of grain during the recent harvest, has been split into two zones, Kwinana South and Kwinana North.

CBH general manager operations David Capper, who announced he was also leaving the company yesterday, said the structural changes would see the team adopt a simpler model to better serve growers and transform the business. “There will be little impact on our growers and they should expect the same level of service from CBH as they always have done,” he said.