Teresa Ciprian, a former executive at French food giant Danone, is Zespri's first woman director.
Zespri said it had appointed Ciprian as an independent director in recognition of her expertise in global brand marketing and business development.
Ciprian had 12 years' experience at Danone, a Fortune 500 company present in over 140 countries with turnover of 21 billion ($33.3 billion).
"We're very pleased to have Teresa's experience ... on the Zespri board," said chairman Peter McBride. "As the kiwifruit industry heads into a period of strong growth, it's even more important that we have a broad range of strong governance skills on the board."
Since returning to New Zealand, Ciprian has advised a number of internationally focused businesses on their growth strategies and has developed a governance portfolio that also includes the boards of Firstlight Foods, AgResearch, Aspeq and Aviation New Zealand.
