Glanbia has appointed Wendy Chang Smith as Chief Financial Officer Designate, setting the stage for a leadership transition that brings together deep finance expertise with digital and transformation experience.
Wendy Chang Smith will succeed Mark Garvey as CFO, bringing finance, digital transformation and global consumer-sector experience to Glanbia’s leadership team
Chang Smith, who currently serves as Chief Digital & Transformation Officer at Glanbia, will formally take over as Chief Financial Officer and join the company’s Board as an Executive Director on 31 March 2027. She assumes the CFO Designate role with immediate effect.
The appointment follows the planned retirement of Mark Garvey, who has served as Glanbia’s CFO for 13 years. Garvey will step down from the CFO role and the Board on 30 March 2027 and retire from the company at the end of April.
From finance to transformation
Chang Smith brings a broad mix of financial and operational experience to the role. Since joining Glanbia in 2020, she has held senior leadership positions including Chief Digital & Transformation Officer and CFO of Glanbia’s Performance Nutrition business.
Her career before Glanbia includes senior finance roles at Amazon, Kellogg, Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble. She has worked across the US, Europe and Asia, giving her experience across multiple consumer and retail environments.
Her time at Glanbia has also given her a close understanding of the company’s businesses and its transformation agenda. As Chief Digital & Transformation Officer, her remit has extended beyond traditional finance into areas focused on using digital capabilities and transformation to support long-term growth.
A continuity-led succession
The transition also represents continuity at a time when Glanbia is focused on growth while maintaining financial discipline.
Glanbia CEO Hugh McGuire described Chang Smith as a trusted leader within the company, highlighting her combination of finance, digital and transformation experience across the consumer branded and retail sectors.
For Glanbia, the succession means its next CFO will already have an understanding of the organisation, its businesses and its transformation priorities. It also gives Chang Smith several months to work alongside Garvey before formally assuming the role in March next year.
Garvey’s departure marks the end of a 13-year tenure during which he oversaw the company’s financial stewardship through a period of significant change. Glanbia said his tenure was characterised by disciplined capital allocation and a focus on cash generation, leaving the company with a strong financial position as he prepares to retire.
The road ahead
Chang Smith holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and an MBA in Finance from Brigham Young University in the US.
Her appointment places a leader with experience across finance, consumer businesses and enterprise transformation at the centre of Glanbia’s next phase. As she moves from a transformation-focused role into the Group’s top finance position, the transition reflects how increasingly interconnected the CFO mandate has become with technology, operational change and long-term business strategy.
For Glanbia, the succession is therefore more than a change in financial leadership. It is a move towards a CFO mandate shaped by both financial stewardship and transformation.
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