Dan Crowe has been named as the new managing director of Kverneland Group UK following the retirement of Joe Bell.
Mr Crowe’s career spans more than 26 years with the company, and he took on the new role on August 1, 2023, after 21 years as a product manager, latterly responsible for all feeding and forage equipment.
“I’m looking forward to taking the business forward, and building on what Joe has achieved in his time at the top,” he said. “After almost 40 years in the industry – and the past 20 as managing director – Joe is taking a well-earned retirement.”
Joe Bell started his agricultural career with Ferrag in 1984 as financial controller. That business was sold to Kverneland in 1998 and eventually merged with Vicon to form Kverneland Group UK, based at St Helens, Merseyside.
In that time, Mr Bell has guided the UK operation and its dealer network through many changes including the subsequent take-over in 2012 by Kubota Holdings.
“It’s been a tremendous period of change and evolution, and I’m now looking forward to spending more time with my family and grandchildren,” he said.
Coinciding with the change of managing director are a series of team changes that have arisen from internal promotion to strengthen the product management team.
David Perry replaces Dan Crowe as the product manager responsible for feeding and forage equipment. Mr Perry started his career at Kverneland in 2014 as a product demonstrator and has been an area sales manager for the past six years.
Simon Wills, meanwhile, takes on the role of crop care product manager responsible for sprayers, fertiliser spreaders and control terminals. He has been with the Kverneland Group since 2012, having started as a product support engineer. His appointment enables existing product manager Graham Owen to focus on seeding equipment.
“Our goal is to enhance the product management team, and to continue to build on the successes already achieved in supporting our dealers and our customers,” Mr Crowe said, “and to be able to do this through internal promotion shows the strength of the team and the depth of product knowledge already in place.”
