A CCO with strong international leadership experience in FMCG, Peter Giørtz-Carlsen is dedicated to creating value in collaboration with retailers across Europe while being a passionate advocate for the goodness of dairy.
Peter shares his insights on the trends driving the European market, the growing demand for healthy and sustainable fast-moving consumer goods and the development in e-commerce. He is heavily engaged in the dairy debate and wants to empower consumers to make well-informed choices and live healthier lives.
Since 2011, Peter has been Executive Vice President and Member of the Executive Management Group at the dairy cooperative Arla Foods, a global business with sales in more than 120 markets and the world’s largest producer of organic dairy products. Since 2019, he has also been a member of Arla’s two-man Executive Board together with CEO Peder Tuborgh.
Peter leads Arla’s European business, which accounts for two-thirds of Arla’s business with a turnover of approximately 6.5 bn. euros. Driving the commercial strategy, business development and daily operations, he creates value for customers in the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Benelux, France and Austria and seeks new opportunities and growth for Arla’s farmer-owners.
Peter oversees Arla’s European affairs agenda and is highly engaged in the consequences of Brexit and the need for an agreement, which preserves free trade between the UK and the EU to the benefit of both consumers and the dairy sector. He is also involved in CAP, health and consumer regulation, and sustainability.
Peter has a demonstrated history in the FMCG and retail industry. After his role as Vice President of Corporate Strategy at Arla Foods, Peter was appointed Managing Director of Cocio Chokolademælk A/S, where he was the architect behind the Starbucks-partnership together with Arla, who today sells Starbucks’ RTD coffee in more than 20 countries. From here, the journey continued to China, where Peter was Vice CEO at Bestseller Fashion Group and responsible for Group marketing and operations in +1,000 stores throughout China. In 2011, Peter became head of Arla Foods' Danish business, and in 2014 he moved to the UK and was responsible for Arla's brands and operations in the UK market. Since 2016, Peter has been CCO of Arla Foods' European business and in 2019 he also became member of the Executive Board.
Peter holds a master’s degree in business economics from University of Aarhus and began his career as a management consultant at Accenture. Since then, Peter has completed executive education at Wharton Business School, Columbia Business School and is a member of World50. Alongside his position at Arla, Peter is Executive Advisor at FSN Capital Partners
