In 2018 I joined Fonterra in Singapore to become a part of the Global Foodservice team as the Global Commercial Analytics Manager. My role mainly focused on driving more actionable insights in our increasingly dynamic businesses where data is required to cut through noise & inform effective decision-making. Throughout my journey at Fonterra, I’ve been fortunate to experience great support and numerous opportunities. I’ve been able to travel, and work remotely,  but have also been involved in diverse projects within sales, pricing, and strategy.

As of 2022, I have been taking on the role of Sourcing Manager UHT Cream where I’m responsible for the high-growth strategy and performance of our EU-sourced portfolio of specialty creams for food service professionals. What I enjoy most about working at Fonterra is all the incredible teams I’ve been a part of. I’ve been very lucky to have been part of multiple great teams who drive for results, but are equally fun to work with.

In 2016 I started working at Fonterra Heerenveen, right after I finished my study in food technology. My first role was QC Officer in the QA/QC department. Here I worked closely with the production and packing teams while also helping the sales team in Amsterdam with commercial sampling.

After a few years, I felt it was time to take the next step in my career. Fortunately, I had the fantastic opportunity to become the Business Improvement Manager at the same location. In this role, my primary responsibility was to assist with improvement and cost-saving projects, the connections I had from my previous role proved to be extremely valuable. Another part of this role is looking into optimizing the process to meet customer demands, one of the great products that came out of this is our infant formula Lipid70. 

At Fonterra Heerenveen we work 24/7 365 days a year with a group of +/- 75 FTE, I am really proud of the performance we deliver as a site. This can only be achieved with great communication between the employees from different departments.

Even though we have a lot of people based in the Netherlands, we also work very closely with our colleagues in New Zealand. It's very easy to stay connected, exchange knowledge, support each other, and seek assistance whenever necessary. 

After 25 years of working in different roles such as innovation, food safety, and commercial, in the Dutch dairy industry, I am now working as a Technical Account Manager for two global key accounts and European paediatric customers.

An important part of this role is ensuring that our high-quality specialty ingredients meet the needs and expectations of our customers. In order to do so I work closely with the team in Heerenveen and with third-party manufactures in other European countries on product quality and safety. It also includes working with local customers and the team in New Zealand and China to understand and demonstrate (Chinese) regulatory compliance. What makes my work even more interesting is that sometimes I have the opportunity to deep dive into the contents of a specific topic e.g. risk assessment of contaminants or spores testing.

The broad scope of technical topics, combined with many international contacts both locally and globally, is what I like most about my role. Recent highlights include playing a significant part in bringing paediatric products like MFGM Lipid 70 and lactoferrin to the European market.

I joined Fonterra in 2017 as a Technical Graduate where I completed my master's in Dairy Science & Technology. Since then I have taken on a number of roles across sales and marketing, supporting our global ingredients customers through traditional account management and online service channels. In 2022 I relocated to the Fonterra Europe office to join the team as a Technical Solutions Lead where I support customers with ingredient selection and formulation/processing across our protein and specialty portfolio. What I enjoy most about working at Fonterra is the culture at care that we have in our offices across the world. I always feel supported in what I am doing and encouraged to challenge and improve how we do what we do.