“Kris has demonstrated an ability to use his skills to great effect across various teams in different countries throughout Europe,” says Patrick Claeys, president of European operations at Aviagen. “Our customers will see the benefit of his hands-on experience and will no doubt welcome the vision and enthusiasm he brings to the role.”

A key part of the new role will be coordinating activities with Aviagen’s other global business units through benchmarking exercises and exchanging advice and best practices in order to share information for the benefit of customers. This effort will include contributing to cross-disciplinary working groups that help to shape international strategies, processes and research projects for the business.

Speaking about his appointment, Van Daele added, “I am passionate about using my experiences to help customers and this role will help me to do just that. Exchanging views and benchmarking performance, and sharing advice, are all prerequisites in this industry and I look forward to exploring new ways to do that across Aviagen EPI countries.”

About Aviagen

Since 1923, Aviagen® has established itself as the world's leading poultry breeding company, developing pedigree lines for the production of commercial broiler chickens under the Arbor Acres®, Indian River®, and Ross® brand names. The Rowan Range® and Specialty Males® are specialty breeding stock from Aviagen that offer greater flexibility for customers to meet specific or niche market requirements. The company is based in Huntsville, Alabama, USA with a number of wholly-owned operations across the United Kingdom, Europe, Turkey, Latin America, India, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S., and joint ventures in Asia. Aviagen employs more than 3,900 people and has a distribution network serving customers in more than 100 countries.

For further information, please visit www.aviagen.com.