Craig Norgate has lost his $2 million-a-year job as head of dairy giant Fonterra, to a Canadian former sugar industry chief, Andrew Ferrier.
The decision came just a day after Mr Norgate appeared in the Auckland District Court on a charge of driving while disqualified.
Fonterra has declined to comment on whether
the charge affected Norgate's chances of keeping his job.
Mr Norgate, 38, will leave the company next month.
It appears Mr Norgate did not even make the shortlist: Fonterra chairman Henry van der Heyden said Mr Ferrier, 44, was chosen from two international candidates.
Mr van der Hayden said they had made the change because "it was time for new leadership".
Mr Ferrier is currently working in a publicly listed Toronto company that sells consumer building and water products.
He had previously spent 15 years in the sugar industry, where he rose to head a division of Tate and Lyle, a company with 8500 staff around the world.
Mr van der Heyden said Mr Ferrier brought to the role experience in the commodity business and in international trade, and "a great record in growing shareholder wealth".
He said Mr Ferrier's international experience would bring "fresh and invigorating" perspectives to the business.
Mr van der Heyden and Mr Norgate are understood to have had a tense relationship and some regard clashing management styles as an indication Mr Norgate was unlikely to be retained.
Industry figures have speculated that Craig Norgate's salary of about $2 million was not enough to attract a high-powered international contender, but Mr Ferrier's pay was not revealed in last night's announcement.
Mr van der Heyden said farmers owed Mr Norgate "a big vote of thanks" for steering the company through its first two years and merging three dairy companies with strong and distinct cultures.
Mr Ferrier will begin in September.
Fonterra's chief operating officer, Jay Waldvogel, will act as chief executive in the meantime.
