Glanbia has appointed Martin Keane as group chairman to succeed Henry Corbally with immediate effect.
The Kilkenny-based food company said Mr Keane, who has served as vice-chairman of the plc since 2010, would jointly be chairman of the plc and the co-op.
Glanbia director Patrick Murphy replaces him as vice-chairman of the plc while John Murphy will continue as a vice-chairman of the co-op.
“I will continue to build on the work of all those who have had the vision to make Glanbia the global nutrition group it is today and to help steer the business through its next phase of growth and development,” Mr Keane said.
Jer Doheny has been appointed as a non-executive director while Tom Grant and Patsy Ahern have retired as non-executive directors of Glanbia plc.
Shareholder advisory group, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), recently said Glanbia co-ops, the company's largest shareholder, had a disproportionate representation on the board of the plc, occupying 10 of the 14 non-executive directors.
The changes announced on Friday reduces the number of Glanbia Co-op nominee directors on the board of the plc from to eight for the years 2018 and 2019.
Glanbia plans to reduce co-op representation on the board of the plc to six by 2022.
