After presenting itself to the world as a fully integrated global brand, Garra International has been constantly investing in innovation to support its expansion plan. Among the innovations are new products and markets, as well as customized solutions to facilitate animal protein trading at both ends of the business – suppliers and buyers.
Transformational change has also been happening within the Garra International team. The company has been professionalizing its management, hiring well-known market leaders, reinforcing its Board of Directors.
Now, Garra International announces a reshaping of its leadership roles to meet the requirements of its expanding position in global trade. First, another high-caliber professional will be joining the team. Marco Spada, who has 25 years’ experience, will be the company’s new Chief Financial Officer & Corporate Affairs.
Throughout his career, Spada has held leadership positions in well-known agribusiness companies, such as Cargill and Marfrig. In the latter, he was Global CFO and Investor Relations Officer. At Garra he will occupy a strategic position, being responsible for the entire financial area, including fundraising and relationships with financial institutions.
Given its growth throughout the past year, the company also saw the need to create a new department, Global Compliance, Auditing and Information Technology. Leading it will be Sidnei Barros, who has built his career of more than two decades in large companies such as BRF, and has been responsible for Garra’s financial activities since 2019.
Garra also announces the appointment of Carolina Mercadante, who will act as Global Head of Human Resources. With 21 years’ experience, she has worked for companies such as Grupo Pão de Açúcar, Sonova do Brasil, and Cengage Learning.
The Garra International senior management team is completed with: Chief Commercial Officer, Matias Hees, an internationally recognized professional in the global animal protein market, with more than 19 years’ experience working for large meatpackers; Kerry McBreen, current Chief Operations Officer, with 15 years’ experience in trading; and senior advisor Ali Mossalem.
“With these changes, we are creating stronger leadership in the core divisions of our company and greatly increasing the professionalism of our senior management team,” says Frederico Kaefer, CEO of Garra International. “That will allow us to reach both our expansion and financial goals in the coming years, while strengthening our corporate governance practices.”
A joint venture between Brazilian company KIT and New Zealand’s Garra, the company plans to quintuple its revenue as an animal protein trading company, from US$ 200 million to US$ 1 billion over the next ten years.
Currently, Garra trades 120 thousand tons of poultry, beef, lamb, and pork every year, selling to approximately 500 customers in more than 60 markets. To meet such demand, it has teams operating in more than ten countries, including Brazil, the United States, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Australia, and New Zealand.