Tore Mercan, who has been appointed by Cobb Europe as director of sales and technical service for Europe, the Middle East and Africa

Mr Mercan, who began his career in the Turkish poultry industry in production and then technical roles, has combined technical and commercial roles in subsequent appointments.

"We are thrilled to welcome Tore to the Cobb Europe team," said Roy Mutimer, regional general manager. "I know his knowledge and experience will bring great value to our customers through his own efforts and also by his leadership of our sales and technical teams. This is a great appointment for Cobb Europe that will benefit our customers and help grow our market share in this region."

Mr Mercan added: I’m delighted to take up this challenging position and I will be devoting all my efforts to continue providing the world class sales and technical support. I look forward to meeting customers and distributors in this fast growing region."

After graduating in animal science at the University of Ankara, Turkey, he spent five years with the country’s largest integrator, the Koy-Tur group, working in all levels of production from pedigree to processing.

He joined Aviagen in 1998 and worked initially in Turkey where he was head of technical services from 2000 to 2006, then taking up a Western European technical role and from 2009 to 2013 being Indian River commercial and technical manager for Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

He was then appointed Aviagen regional technical director for Eastern Europe and CIS countries.

He lives with his family in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is planning to move to East Anglia where Cobb Europe in based.