DunhamTrimmer has named Vatren Jurin the company’s new vice president of product development.
As an established professional in the specialty nutrition, adjuvants, and biostimulant space, Vatren brings 28 years of experience in product development, formulation, marketing and business development capabilities to the organization.
Vatren began his career as grower and consultant, cultivating crops in North and South America. His penchant for solving plant nutrition problems he faced as a grower led him to a successful career with Brandt Consolidated where he led agronomic services for nearly 20 years. Most recently, Vatren was senior product manager at Compass Minerals where he led their North American Innovation Lab and helped to develop and commercialize disruptive specialty fertilizer products for seed, irrigation, and foliar applications. ●
Fertilizer Canada has appointed Dan Demers as vice president, government relations, where he will lead Fertilizer Canada’s advocacy efforts federally, provincially and municipally.
Demers was formally the vice president, government relations and regulatory affairs at the Canadian Health Food Association where he oversaw its government relations activities. Throughout his career Demers has worked in politics and a variety of industries including health and wellness, pharmaceutical, nonprofit and government. ●
Biotalys has appointed Dr. Carlo Boutton as chief scientific officer. He will lead the team’s continued scientific research to further develop the company’s AGROBODY Foundry technology platform, preparing Biotalys’ pipeline of biofungicides, biobactericides and bio-insecticides for expansion and commercial availability while building its intellectual property portfolio.
In his most recent role as Sanofi’s global head of innovation, large molecules research, Boutton drove the innovation strategy and managed an expansive team exploring novel technologies with antibodies, NANOBODIES and other biologic modalities to find innovative pharmaceutical solutions.
Boutton obtained his M.S. and PhD from the University of Leuven (Belgium), where he researched the physico-chemical behaviour of proteins under high-electromagnetic fields. ●
Farmers Edge Inc., a digital agriculture company with head offices in Canada, U.S., Australia and Brazil, has appointed Vibhore Arora as chief executive officer.
Arora brings more than two decades of operational management, strategy development and project execution experience from across multiple industries. Formerly president of Amazon Canada Fulfillment Services, Arora has also held various senior positions in the information technology and hospitality industries. ●
Keri Carstens has been named chief operating officer of Jord BioScience. Prior to Jord, Carstens led global regulatory strategy for Corteva Agriscience, where she also served in key roles in regulatory science, program management, and on the leadership team to build and launch Corteva's seed applied technologies and biologicals businesses.
Carstens has served as chair of the American Seed Trade Association's seed treatment and environment committee, as well as service for the Honey Bee Health Coalition and Entomological Society of America. ●
The Andermatt Group has appointed Krystian Rębisz as managing director of its Polish subsidiary Andermatt Polska sp. z o.o.
Founded in 2021, Andermatt Polska aims to develop the Polish market by providing local growers with a portfolio of biological and natural solutions for organic and conventional crop production.
Rębisz holds a Masters' degree in environmental protection, and has worked as campaign manager at Syngenta Poland and, most recently, as a product and portfolio manager with UPL. ●
Gustavo Palerosi Carneiro has been appointed as senior vice president, agricultural solutions Europe based in Limburgerhof, Germany, heading BASF’s agricultural business in the region EMEA and CIS.
Palerosi Carneiro succeeds Livio Tedeschi who takes over as president of BASF's agricultural solutions division.
Palerosi Carneiro studied business administration in Brazil and finance in Canada, and holds an MBA from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. He has worked for BASF in Europe, Latin America and Asia in various positions and divisions since 1999. He headed BASF’s agricultural business in Asia Pacific and most recently the global strategic marketing division. ●
Sumitomo Chemical Company (SCC), parent company of Valent U.S.A and Valent BioSciences, announced senior executive appointments earlier this spring.
Matt Plitt, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Valent U.S.A. since 2014, has been appointed president and CEO of Valent U.S.A., which includes subsidiaries Valent de Mexico and Valent Canada. Plitt joined Valent in 2010 as vice president, sales.
Juan Ferreira has been named managing executive officer of SCC and executive vice chair of Valent U.S.A. Ferreira joined Sumitomo Chemical in 2019. He leads and manages the business for the Latin America region. He has served as a global advisor to SCC’s health and crop sciences sector including the Valent group of companies and now becomes the executive vice chair of the Valent U.S.A. board of directors.
Ted Melnik, executive vice president and COO of Valent BioSciences (VBC) has been named president and CEO of Valent BioSciences, which includes Pace International and Mycorrhizal Applications. He was named COO of VBC in 2013 and is leading the expansion of the global biorational business.
Andy Lee, president and CEO of Valent U.S.A. and Valent BioSciences has been appointed president and CEO of a newly created company that will integrate and provided corporate services across the Valent group of companies. Lee will serve on the board of directors for Valent U.S.A. and VBC. Lee has served in key leadership roles in the North American agriculture industry and has led diverse teams and complex enterprise integration initiatives across the Valent group since 2011. ●
Carlos Gajardoni takes over as CEO of Andermatt Brasil. Previously, he was director of franchising and market access at Agrogalaxy. He also worked at Syngenta and Agro100.
Gajardoni is an agronomist graduated from the State University of Londrina, and he performed postgraduate costs in the areas of administration and marketing at the University of Philosophy of Londrina, FECEA and Fundação Dom Cabral.
Previous CEO of Andermatt Brasil, Markus Ritter, will now join Andermatt Group AG in the new postion of director Latam business development with the aim to further expand the global reach of the Andermatt Group. Ritter will be stationed in South America. ●
Renato Arantes has been named new CEO of Rizobacter Brasil.
Arantes is an agronomist, graduated from the Paulista State University (Unesp). He holds an MBA in business development and leadership from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and an MBA in business management from fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV). Arantes has experience in management positions in companies in the agribusiness sector, and leading commercial and marketing programs in Latin American countries. ●
Lisa Nunez Safarian joins Pivot Bio as chief operating officer (COO) and John Walls joins as chief information officer.
As COO, Safarian will lead product development, regulatory, commercial and manufacturing at Pivot Bio. She had a strong track record at Bayer and Monsanto for building market leadership and commercial transformation. Safarian has been a director on Pivot Bio’s board of directors for nearly a year and will remain a member of the company’s board as COO.
John Walls joins Pivot Bio from ADM Investor Services, where he served as senior vice president and chief information officer. Previously, Walls held various CIO and COO roles at ADM and the Iowa Grain Company. At Pivot Bio, Walls will lead the company’s data and information strategy to meet the needs of the company as it continues to rapidly grow.
