- Wattle Health (WHA) is facing a leadership shakeup after Managing Director and CEO Dr Tony McKenna tendered his resignation last week
- Tony joined the company in January 2020 but decided to call it quits after Wattle’s joint venture company fell into administration
- Wattle blamed poor market conditions from the COVID-19 pandemic for the joint venture failure
- The company’s Chief Financial Officer, George Karafotias, has been made an executive director in light of Tony’s resignation
- Wattle has been in a voluntary trade suspension since October 2, 2019, but last traded for 53 cents each
Wattle Health (WHA) is facing a leadership shakeup after Managing Director and CEO Dr Tony McKenna tendered his resignation last week.
Tony left the company on Friday, November 6, after coming on board in January 2020 to lead the dairy specialist.
It seems the catalyst for his decision to call it quits was the collapse of the company’s Corio Bay Dairy Group (CBDG) joint venture company.
Pandemic challenges
In May, the first signs of distress began to show when one of the Wattle’s entities under the CBDG joint venture, Organic Dairy Farmers of Australia (ODFA), fell into voluntary administration.
The company blamed tough market conditions in China for the failure. Nevertheless, the company said at the time the CBDG joint venture was still under construction, with Shepparton Partners Collective (SPC) to potentially rescue the company.
Alas, the joint venture collapsed completely in September when CBDG fell into administration.
As a result, all CBDG staff lost their jobs in October. Wattle said today following this, Tony said his interests were no longer aligned with the direction of the company.
Wattle said it’s disappointing for Tony to have left after just nine months with the company, but the board thanked him and wished him all the best nonetheless.
Chief Financial Officer George Karafotias has been appointed an Executive Director of Wattle.
The company said it is still working with CBDG’s administer and will update the market about the state of the business in due course.
Wattle has been in a voluntary trade suspension since October 2, 2019. Shares in the company last traded for 53 cents each.