Leadership Shakeups at Major Mānuka Honey Companies

Both the publicly listed Comvita Ltd., and privately owned Mānuka Health, will soon have new CEOs in place, while Comvita’s chief financial officer (CFO) has also handed in his notice. Both companies are putting on a brave face as they make the announcements, but Comvita’s share price has plunged to new lows.

Karl Gradon will take up the role of CEO with Comvita from August 1, bringing with him previous leadership experience in the mānuka honey industry through NZ Mānuka Group.

On June 9 Comvita announced former New Zealand Mānuka Group CEO Karl Gradon would, as of August 1, fill that role with the Paengaroa-based company. If they had expected a positive response from the markets, they would have been disappointed, as the share price dropped to a record low of NZD0.50 over the next two weeks. Then, on June 23 came news that CFO Nigel Greenwood would be exiting the company at the end of the year, and a historic new low of NZD0.47 was reached.

In between those news drops, and surely more impactful on driving down share price, was the announcement on June 16 that a net loss before tax of NZD20-24million is expected when full 2025 financials are released in August. In 2024 a NZD21.6m loss was suffered.

Alongside Comvita’s top-level turnover, Mānuka Health – privately owned by an investment company listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange – also saw their CEO of three years and nine months announce his resignation in June. Alex Turnbull has been replaced by “acting CEO” Peter Botting, who has been with the company since February 2023 in various roles spanning project management, operations, and strategy development.

Turnbull has often been outspoken on the lack of cohesion in New Zealand’s apiculture industry, even stating from the floor of Apiculture New Zealand’s Industry Summit in 2024 that the industry should be “ashamed” of itself on the matter, having previously called out the behaviour just nine months into his role at the national conference in 2022. In a post on social media site LinkedIn announcing his resignation, Turnbull thanked his former staff and customers before taking aim at industry practices.

Alex Turnbull has resigned as Mānuka Health CEO after almost fours years in charge, criticising the industry for giving up “market value” by “chasing the easy dollar” on his way out.

“For too long New Zealand and New Zealand companies have destroyed huge amounts of market (and indeed industry) value by chasing an easy dollar, fighting on price and running a foot race to the bottom of the commodity cycle,” Turnbull stated.

Meanwhile at Comvita, Greenwood will see out the year as CFO, while Gradon will soon come on board to fill the shoes of acting CEO Brett Hewlett who, on July 31, vacates the role he has filled since September 2024. It will conclude 20 years with the company for Hewlett, who was appointed CEO in 2005, spending 10 years in the role before a stint on the board of directors from 2017, which he was appointed chair of in 2020.

Gradon has recently completed three years as CEO of Taupo-based dairy company Miraka, and prior to that his role at NZ Mānuka Group lasted two and a half years, 2016-18, at which time he also served on the board of apiary management supply company BuzzTech.