Kurt Hellweg
Photos provided by INTERNATIONAL DEHYDRATED FOODS
A three-year executive of Bill Darr’s family of agribusinesses this month took over the CEO role.
Andrew Herr on Dec. 1 became chief executive of International Dehydrated Foods Inc., American Dehydrated Foods Inc. and IsoNova Technologies LLC. He succeeds Kurt Hellweg, who maintained his board chairman role and assumed the new position of executive vice president of strategic planning.
Hellweg said this morning he was involved in the decision to separate the CEO and chairman jobs.
“This has been something I’ve been working on for the last three years on how we’re going to make this transition,” he said. “As I looked at good governance, it just seemed the chairman role and CEO role should be split.”
Hellweg - Darr's son-in-law - has worked for the companies since 1987. He worked as president for 20 years and took on the CEO role about 12 years ago. He dropped the president title
in 2012 and since has served as CEO and chairman.
Hellweg, 60, said he is not moving toward retirement. Instead, he’ll focus on being a liaison between the board and investors, as well as big-picture actions like strategy and acquisitions.
“I don’t see me pulling the rip cord and bailing out of the business,” he said.
Herr joined Darr’s companies in January 2014 as chief strategy officer and also served as president of IsoNova.
Hellweg said Herr was being groomed for the CEO role.
“When you think about a company and who you’re going to turn the reins over to, I think you have to be pretty cognizant about where they’re going to take you,” Hellweg said. “Andrew’s a good thinker. He’s an implementer. From a cultural standpoint, he’s a very good fit.
“With a family company, culture’s a very important thing.”
Last month, Darr’s companies announced Jim Batten, a former executive at Convoy of Hope, AG Financial Solutions and O’Reilly Automotive Inc. (Nasdaq: ORLY), joined as chief finance officer.
With headquarters at 3801 E. Sunshine St., Darr’s agribusinesses utilize proteins for production in premium pet foods or for human consumption. IDF operates a manufacturing plant in Monett, and IsoNova manufactures pet food products using egg proteins.
[[In-content Ad]]
