The International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) appointed Henk van Duijn as president and chief executive officer (CEO), effective January 1, 2023.Van Duijn brings more than 30 years of experience in agriculture and international development, with a focus on Europe, Africa and Asia. Previously, van Duijn served as vice president, corporate services, and
chief operations and finance officer at IFDC. Before that, he headed the 2SCALE program (2019-2021) and served as CEO of Bopinc (2014-2019).
As a diplomat and civil service director in the Netherlands, van Duijn led the design, startup and implementation of large-scale interdisciplinary programs as well as national and international public-private partnerships in Europe, Africa and Asia. He holds a master’s degree in land and water management from Wageningen University & Research.
Outgoing IFDC President and CEO Albin Hubscher will retire after four years of leading the organization to a renewed commitment to soil
health. He was instrumental in formulating IFDC’s plan to develop a global innovation center that will design and scale next-generation soil health and plant nutrition innovations. ●
Rob Clayton, managing director with Nutrien Ag Solutions Australia, has been promoted to senior vice president of retail operations in the global Nutrien business and will relocate to North America (Loveland, Colorado). In this role, Clayton will be responsible for the global propriety product business, global supplier relationships and global corporate customers.
Kelly Freeman has been appointed as the new managing director for Nutrien Ag Solutions Australia. Prior to this new role, Freeman led the Nutrien Ag Solutions business in Canada with over 1,200 employees in that country. Under his leadership, the business has delivered leading safety performance and exceptional financial results. Kelly has been with Nutrien since 2008, holding various roles throughout the organization including vice president of corporate strategy and senior adviser to the CEO. ●
Rob Clayton
Kelly Freeman
Matt Orr has joined Vestaron as VP, regulatory affairs. He will be responsible for the strategy and execution of the company’s regulatory strategy, all domestic and international regulatory filings for current and new products, the building and management of the GLP Regulatory Science lab, and managing the company’s relationships with relevant professional organizations.
Previously, Orr was global product registration manager at BASF Corporation, where he managed global regulatory activities with cross-functional and international teams. Prior to BASF, Orr co-founded Discovery Innovations where he provided scientific advising, technical writing, and consulting services. He began his professional career in pharmaceuticals as a research scientist at Scynexis, Inc. where he worked on developing novel anti-infective and anti-neoplastic drug candidates.
Orr earned his doctor of philosophy degree in organic chemistry from Duke University and his Bachelor of science in chemistry/molecular and cell biology from Pennsylvania State University. ●
Steven Meyer has joined RNAissance Ag LLC (a subsidiary of TechAccel LLC) as chief executive officer.
Meyer most recently was chief operating officer at Lucy Scientific Discovery Inc., British Columbia, Canada, a cGMP manufacturer of psychotropic compounds for therapeutic uses. Prior to this role, he was the co-founder and CEO of Heya Wellness of St. Charles, Missouri, a vertically integrated medical cannabis firm.
He worked the previous 16 years at Monsanto (now Bayer Crop Science) in a variety of scientific and commercial roles. He conducted biotechnology research that led to the development of multiple commercial products and played a key role in transforming the firm’s insect control discovery pipeline, leading to his appointment as a Monsanto Science Fellow. He also served as operations lead for North America Knowledge Transfer, where he was responsible for developing and executing strategies to deliver agronomy support to commercial field teams and customers.
Meyer has a master’s degree in biological sciences from Washington University and a bachelor’s in biological sciences from Lindenwood University. ●
Ceres Imaging has named Ramsey Masri as CEO. Masri will focus on operational needs, fundraising and corporate governance in this role, while leading internal teams to drive company growth and expansion into new industries.
A long-time California grape farmer, Masri understands the unpredictability and growing risks facing the agriculture industry. He also brings to Ceres Imaging an entrepreneurial mindset, a background in applied data and analytics, broad relationships in Europe, Asia and the Americas, and experience in helping global companies scale.
Before joining Ceres Imaging, Masri led and expanded teams outside the U.S., including in South America, Asia Pacific and Europe. Most recently, he was chief operating officer at Zendrive, which helps insurers leverage driving data and analytics to help make roads safer. ●
Syngenta Group announced the following succession plans for its leadership team.
Hengde Qin, currently president of Syngenta Group China, is taking over as chief human resources officer (from retiring Laure Roberts) on Jan. 1, 2023, and will move to Basel, Switzerland for the role. Under his leadership, SGC has built leading market positions in the China Crop Protection and Seeds markets, while strengthening our leadership position in Crop Nutrition and making MAP the fastest growing business in agriculture.
Hongsheng Liu took over the role of president of Syngenta Group China, effective Nov. 1, 2022. He brings international experience, a track record of business delivery and strong relationships with Sinochem. Most recently, Liu was CEO of Sinochem International Corporation, president of Chemical SBU of Sinochem Group and chairman of Halcyon Agri Corporation Limited. Prior to joining Sinochem, he worked for the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation of China and the Chinese Embassy in Thailand.
With increasing ambitions for MAP business in China, Minjie Ying currently head of Syngenta Group Seeds China, is now also responsible for the MAP business in China, from Nov. 1, 2022. Jianbo Liu will continue in his current role as Head of MAP and remain member of the Syngenta Group China leadership team, reporting directly to Minjie Ying.●
L-R: Laure Roberts, Hengde Qin, Hongsheng Liu
