“A baptism by fire” is a popular way to describe a new CEO’s early days at any company going through change, but David Bortolussi, the Australian who took over at a2 Milk from Jayne Hrdlicka in February 2021, started at the company when the impact of covid was still roiling the business and all its markets.
“Covid had an enormous impact on the business, and I came in at a time when that was still unfolding, with sales declining rapidly with a substantial impact on earnings,” the CEO and managing director says.
When he arrived, a2 Milk’s revenue had fallen 30% to $1.2b, and Ebitda plunged by 77% after the Chinese infant formula market collapsed. Its share price fell to around $5 from $15. It was a fallen darling of the stock market.
a2 Milk has a portfolio of premium dairy nutrition products, including fresh milk, powders, and a range of infant, toddler, and adult milk formulas. Its products are sold across its biggest market, China, Australia, New Zealand, North America, and Southeast Asia.
The magic, dare we say secret sauce, behind a2 is that its milk is naturally A1 protein-free, the one often linked to digestive discomfort.
Milk supplied to a2 comes without that and is targeted at people with lactose intolerance or general milk sensitivity.
'Disciplined'
A recent study, conducted over eight weeks, found that a mixed-fed infant group – 140 infants receiving both breastmilk and infant formula made from a2 Milk – experienced statistically significant improvements in comfort and fewer crying periods compared to those fed breastmilk and conventional infant formula at weeks two and four.
As a New Zealand and Australian company listed on both countries’ stock exchanges, with its head office in Australia, Bortolussi is Sydney-based.
Bortolussi’s background wasn’t an immediately obvious pick for the head of a2 Milk, as former Group President of “innerwear” (knickers to us mortals) multinational HanesBrands and CEO of Pacific Brands before it was bought by Hanes, but he was chosen because of his branding experience and international leadership reputation.
And in the past, nearly five years, he has proven himself more than up to the task, according to commentators.
Refreshing his executive leadership team, Bortolussi quickly developed a new growth strategy, which largely centred around transforming its supply chain and expanding its China label product portfolio with additional registrations.
“We needed to refresh our growth strategy following significant covid-related disruption. In doing so, we clarified our goals, strategic priorities, enablers, and values, and shared financial and non-financial targets for the next five years,” Bortolussi says.
This strategic work was communicated extensively internally and shared externally in an investor day, he says.
“Since then, we have been disciplined in executing our growth strategy to deliver on our goals for our people, planet, consumers, and shareholders, which has been well received.”
The business had, for a long time, been a marketer of milk products, with Synlait Milk holding exclusivity on its formula manufacturing, particularly the Chinese-labelled products, which have more strict regulations than English-labelled milk products.
Bortolussi has not been afraid to make tough calls, including cancelling the exclusivity arrangement with Synlait, BusinessDesk senior writer Riley Kennedy says.
“Among his peers, he is known to be across everything that happens in the business and drives a hard bargain,” Kennedy says. Evidence of the turnaround is in the share price, now around $11.
The a2 Milk CEO and managing director is a shortlisted finalist in the listed company sector of BusinessDesk’s CEO Index.
The panel of judges says: “Leading a2 Milk, David Bortolussi illustrates what our traditional sectors can achieve by innovating and being super customer-focused. It sends a message that Kiwi leaders taking risks see the reward on the other side.”
By 2025, Bortolussi has delivered, according to market commentators.
a2Milk recorded a record revenue of $1.9 billion for the year ending June 2025 and a net profit of $202.9 million, up 21.1% and ahead of market expectations.
Under his leadership, a2 Milk has purchased a big processing site in Pokeno, south of Auckland, from Yashili International in August this year, now known as a2mc Pokeno, which Bortolussi says transforms the company’s supply chain. He also sold Mataura Valley Milk to Open Country Dairy.
Bortolussi has explained that the Yashili deal would give a2 Milk greater access to the $23 billion China Label infant formula registered market.
“Leaning into the China growth angle has been a key part of David’s reign,” says Forsyth Barr senior analyst Matt Mongtomerie.
He describes Bortolussi as someone who comes across as honest and a good communicator.
“Very seldom do you walk out of a meeting with further questions or scratching your head. He’s very calm, measured, and transparent,” says the analyst.
We asked Bortolussi about his approach to the five key criteria looked at by the BusinessDesk CEO judging panel: vision, impact, innovation, resilience, and influence.
Vision: When he joined the business, Bortolussi’s task was to refine and build on the purpose and vision of the a2 Milk founders, Corrie McLachlan and business partner Howard Paterson, he says.
The original vision was to bring the benefits of pure and natural A1 protein-free dairy to the world – and in doing so, to do good for human health globally.
After extensive consulting with focus groups and key stakeholders when he arrived at the business, the CEO refined the purpose to: “We pioneer the future of Dairy for good,” and the vision: “To create an A1-free world where dairy nourishes all people and our planet.”
“It’s something we all believe in and are passionate about,” says Bortolussi, who says the purpose and vision are at the top of strategy and drive execution.
“You can see it playing out right through the business- in our support for farmers, our quality programmes, our commitment to sustainability, our support for A1 protein-free science, and in supporting the communities in which we operate,” he says.
Communication with consumers on the benefits of A1 protein-free dairy is also part of the picture.
Impact: Bortolussi measures performance at the company using a scorecard with past and forward-looking metrics covering a range of financial and non-financial goals, he says.
“As a premium dairy and nutritional company, we place particular emphasis on areas such as brand health, quality, service, innovation, and channel and inventory management,” he says.
To measure his performance and that of the executive team, Bortolussi focuses on measures relating to the extent they are living their “BOLD” values.
“That is, Bold passion, Ownership and agility, Leading constructively and Disruptive thinking,” he says.
Bortolussi is also a fan of the Human Synergistics Constructive Leadership frameworks.
“One that I like in particular is the Leadership Impact (or LI) tool, which measures the impact your leadership has on others’ leadership,” he says.
Innovation: For a2 Milk, Covid-related business disruption, and the declining birth rate in China, meant that the a2 Milk leadership had to innovate.
“a2 Milk was fortunate to have been incredibly successful for many years with a tight portfolio of essential two infant formula products and three milk products,” Bortolussi says.
He recognised that innovation was going to be a key driver of growth in the infant milk formula category (IMF) and adjacent category opportunities.
“Ramping up product innovation” became one of the business’s five group-wide strategic priorities, says Bortolussi, supported by significant investment in A1 protein-free science, consumer insights, product strategy, R&D, product development, and supply chain capability.
“We have now expanded and elevated our IMF, kids’ nutrition, and liquid milk portfolio significantly, and entered the seniors functional milk powder category as well.”
a2 Milk is also taking these new products successfully to new markets, including Vietnam, says Bortolussi, who stresses the importance of investing in “innovation capability” in each market.
Resilience: Covid was a big challenge that tested every part of the company, the team, partner relationships, customers, and shareholders, the CEO says.
“The biggest impact was on our cross-border English label IMF business to China, which was our largest and most profitable.”
The first priority was to stabilise the business and to address demand and supply imbalances. Bortolussi made the difficult decision to write off and swap over $100 million of stock in the market.
“After that, we needed to refresh our growth strategy and communicate this extensively internally and externally, including setting clear financial and non-financial targets to deliver over a five-year period,” he says.
“Following that, we restructured our international distribution model, doubled our investment in brand (to help replace the word of mouth we had enjoyed from the Daigou channel), ramped up product innovation, stemmed the losses in our Mataura Valley Milk and USA businesses, and transformed our supply chain through the recent acquisition of Yashili New Zealand.” (Daigou is a peculiarly Chinese marketing method where individuals or syndicates acquire products like formula and ship it themselves.)
The company emerged from that period achieving new highs in brand health, record market share, and strong growth in sales and earnings, he says.
“From FY21 to FY25, a2MC’s CAGR in revenue, Ebitda, and EPS have been 12%, 22% and 27% respectively, and we introduced a dividend for the first time this year.”
Influence: Bortolussi says he would like to be seen as strategic, and someone who focuses on the big opportunities and risks, who invests in brand and capability, and drives execution through great people and process.
“I would hope that I am regarded as being humble and low ego, engaging and supportive while setting high standards for myself and team,” he says.
A good book: Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela.
Sliding doors: F1 driver, Oscar Piastri. “But I’m no Brad Pitt,” Bortolussi says.
David Bortolussi is a finalist in the listed company category of the inaugural BusinessDesk CEO Index. The category winner will be announced today. BusinessDesk will publish a report on the overall winner on Nov 19.
Read more of the BusinessDesk CEO Index here.
