Business Person of the Month

Business Person of the Month September 2022: John Jordan, CEO, Ornua

By Business & Finance
03 October 2022
Pictured: John Jordan, CEO, Ornua

John Jordan is the CEO of Irish food company Ornua who recently launched a 2023 graduate programme. He is the Business Person of the Month September 2022, in association with KPMG.


John Jordan is Chief Executive of Ornua and has worked at the company for over 20 years. Prior to taking up his role, John was CEO of Ornua Foods Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia where he successfully developed long term strategies to grow Ornua’s consumer sales portfolio.

This involved the regional development of Ornua’s iconic brand portfolio including Kerrygold and Pilgrim’s Choice, as well as working with Ornua’s retail partners to develop new opportunities in the private label sector of the market.

Prior to this, John was CEO of DPI Speciality Foods based in California, a division of Ornua and the third largest specialty food distributor in the US. He has also held a variety of senior commercial roles within the organisation in Dublin and within international subsidiaries

Ornua recently announced a graduate programme in 2023 geared towards nurturing high-performing graduates and instilling them with the business skills and experience needed to succeed at the company.

The programme is open and welcoming applicants from a number of key business areas including ICT; Sales and Marketing; Supply Chain and Logistics; Manufacturing and Engineering; Finance; Commercial and Operations.

Successful applicants will be granted the opportunity to increase their experience in roles abroad including Germany, Nigeria, Spain, the UK, and the US (Chicago) along with positions in Ireland. The programme also offers guidance from leading professionals in this business. A number of the firm’s senior leaders began their careers at Ornua as graduates — including Mr Jordan.

Speaking on the recognition, John Jordan said:

“Ornua’s success would not be possible without our dedicated and highly-skilled talent working across the globe to return value to Irish farming families. Our people have consistently navigated disruption and significant challenges over the past few years and continued to grow the business, delivering for our customers, our member suppliers, and the 14,000 dairy farming families they represent.”


Read more:

BPOM August 2022: Harry Hughes, CEO, Portwest

BPOM July 2022: Marc Murphy, Co-founder & CEO, Fenergo

BPOM June 2022: John Goulding, Co-Founder & CEO, Workvivo

Business & Finance, Business Person of the Month

Business Person the MonthBusiness & Finance, in association with KPMG, rewards excellence in business through the ‘Business Person of the Month’ award. This award seeks to recognise noteworthy achievements in business leadership, and, particularly, those that make a telling contribution to the wider business community in Ireland.