After the supervisory board appointed Dirk Bader and Labinot Elshani to the board of producers' cooperative Landgard three days earlier, the group announced yesterday that the Landgard supervisory board of had dismissed Armin Rehberg "as a member of the board of Landgard eG after a unanimous decision".
Dirk Bader and Labinot Elshani have been appointed as members of the cooperative's Board of Management -effective 23 March 2020- in an extraordinary Supervisory Board meeting. Together with Carsten Bönig, responsible for Finance and Central Services, they will form the overall Management Board of Landgard eG. Labinot Elshani will be responsible for the fruit and vegetable division and Dirk Bader for the flowers and plants division.
Armin Rehberg and Labinot Elshani last year at the Bornheim branch, during a FreshPlaza visit.
With the appointment of the two chief representatives to the Board of Management, the strategic orientation that began in 2017 will be continued, Elshani said. The aim will be to dovetail customer and producer relations even more closely in future and to better coordinate the interests of the member companies. This is the best possible position for the future, according to the group.
Yesterday, the release of Rehberg, who has been at the head of Germany's largest marketer of fruit, vegetables, flowers and plants since 2013, followed. Two years ago, Rehberg's contract was extended to 2022. In industry circles it is said that Rehberg was not involved in the decision to expand the board of directors.
For the customers and suppliers of Landgard eG and its associated companies, the changes in the Management Board have no effect on the day-to-day business and processes, the company stated in a press release. It is emphasised once again that the new structure will position the producer cooperative for the future in the best possible way.
The Supervisory Board thanks Armin Rehberg for his many years of service and wishes him "all the best for the future".
Extra statement put out
In the meantime, a statement has been put out by Bert Schmitz, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Landgard eG, Dirk Bader, Carsten Bönig and Labinot Elshani about the reorganization of the Executive Board team of Landgard eG:
"The decision announced on Thursday that Armin Rehberg would be dismissed from the supervisory board with immediate effect as a member of the board of Landgard eG came as a surprise to many. Therefore, we would like to explain the background briefly here: especially in view of the special challenges of the current corona crisis In the future, the Landgard Supervisory Board had decided to strengthen the board of directors of the producer cooperative and to appoint the previous general representatives Dirk Bader and Labinot Elshani as new divisional directors. In the course of this reorganization, it became clear that a common, stable basis based on the new board structures cannot be implemented in this way, but in the current situation stability is more important than ever, not only for our producer cooperative and our employees, but also for our members and customers. For this reason, the Supervisory Board of Landgard eG advised at short notice and unanimously decided to remove Armin Rehberg from the Executive Board of Landgard eG with immediate effect.”
“We expressly appreciate his services to the Landgard producer cooperative in recent years. First of all, the multi-year, profound and successful restructuring and reorganization of the company should be mentioned. In addition, he pushed numerous important and forward-looking impulses for Landgard.”
“In the current situation with its diverse challenges for us, our members and customers, the supervisory board had to create the necessary conditions for the stable management of the Landgard producer cooperative. It is essential to act in a closed manner. As a three-member executive team, we consider ourselves to be ideally positioned to jointly lead the Landgard producer cooperative into a secure future.”
“In the course of the new distribution of business, Dirk Bader and Labinot Elshani will now act as division heads for flowers & plants and fruit & vegetables on the topics of procurement, producer management, membership, purchasing, sales, intralogistics, marketing and corporate communication, quality assurance / quality management and sustainability as well as logistics / Responsible for FLS with regard to their respective product area. As CFO, Carsten Bönig is responsible for the areas of controlling, finance and accounting, real estate and technology, IT / EDP, human resources, law and compliance, auditing and corporate development, as well as marketing and corporate communication.”
“Together, we now want to focus entirely on our core business and the needs of our producers and concentrate on mastering the enormous challenges posed by the effects of the Corona crisis. As part of our annual press conference, we will not only report on 2019 at Landgard, but also present the results of our work to the new team.”