Section: CRUNS News

The International Fertilizer Association (IFA) elected seven new representatives to its Board of Directors at its Annual General Meeting, held in Singapore on 22 May. The AGM took place on the final day of the IFA Annual Conference 2024. The seven new Board Directors elected by the membership are: Bruce Bodine , Mosaic; Soufiyane El Kassi , OCP Nutricrops; Xiaofeng Hou , China BlueChemical; Dmitry Konyaev , Uralchem JSC; Jahangir Piracha , Fauji Fertilizer Company Ltd; Edward Weiner , Trammo, Inc.; and Kelvin Wickham , Ballance Agri-Nutrients.

thyssenkrupp AG has announced the appointment of Nadja Håkansson as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer effective from May 1, 2024. Håkansson, has held various management positions at Siemens and Siemens Energy and has over 18 years of national and international experience in the areas of supply chain management, operations, sales and corporate management. Most recently, as Senior Vice President Region Africa for Siemens Energy, she was responsible for the company’s overall portfolio development in the African market. She holds a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering and Management from the Institute of Technology at Linköping University, Sweden.

Agropolychim has announced that CEO Philippe Rombaut will become chairman of Agropolychim’s board of directors, with a focus on steering the company’s strategic development. His new appointment will make way for Teodor Petsov to assume the role of head of production operations. Petsov has 22 years of production experience and a management background. In his capacity as the new production director, he will be responsible for orchestrating, overseeing, and coordinating all aspects of the company’s production activities.

Incitec Pivot says that Mauro Neves de Moraes has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director from 22 January 2024. De Moraes has leadership experience in the mining and logistics sectors including as Asset President for BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) in Queensland, Australia and Asset President at BHP’s Escondida operations in Chile, the world’s largest copper mine.

Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers Limited has appointed Vighneshwar G Bhat as company secretary and compliance officer. Bhat, is an associate member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India and a Law Graduate and holds master’s degree in commerce with more than 20 years of experience in secretarial and legal functions. Prior to joining the company, he was company secretary for Sobha Ltd, and has specialised in corporate secretarial matters including mergers and acquisitions, handling liquidations and SEBI & FEMA compliances.

Norwegian chemical shipping company Stolt-Nielsen says that Niels G. Stolt-Nielsen will step down from his role as CEO on September 1, 2023, after 23 years as Chief Executive Officer. He will be succeeded as CEO by Udo Lange and will assume the role of Chairman of the Board of Stolt-Nielsen Ltd, the company announced. Lange has more than 20 years of experience in the international trade industry, with expertise in freight forwarding, express and parcel logistics and airline catering. He was most recently president of Healthcare, Logistics and Americas International at FedEx Express, leading a team of more than 50,000 employees across 80 countries. He was also part of the FedEx Senior Management Committee which sets the strategic direction of the circa $90 billion revenue enterprise and has held several other senior roles at FedEx since joining in 2015.

The International Fertilizer Association (IFA) has announced that Tony Will has been elected as the new Chair of the Association. Will is president and chief executive officer (CEO) of CF Industries, a global manufacturer of hydrogen and nitrogen products for fertilizer, clean energy, emissions abatement and other industrial applications.

SABIC’s general assembly has approved the appointment of Abdulrahman Al-Fageeh as SABIC CEO, and an executive member of the board of directors until April 9, 2025 – the Board’s tenure end date. In its previous meeting, the Board of Directors, had agreed to appoint Dr. Mohammed Yahya Al-Qahtani as vice chairman. At the meeting, Khalid Al-Dabbagh, SABIC Chairman, noted that the past year had been difficult one, though “SABIC managed to face the challenges by intensifying its development programs to achieve record numbers in terms of production, sales, and revenues that exceeded the achievements of the previous year. However, its net profits have not met its aspirations and have shrunk compared to last year due to the worsening global conditions.” He also said that SABIC is pursuing plans to manage working capital through the Cash Cost Transformation program, and is sparing no effort to achieve sustainable growth, adopt long-term strategic goals for sustainability, and reduce emissions related to the life cycle of its products across the value chain.

BASF has announced some changes to its leadership team. The company has appointed Dr. Stephan Kothrade , President, Intermediates, as a member of the board of executive directors from March 1st, 2023. Stephan Kothrade has been with BASF since 1995 and has led BASF’s Intermediates division since 2022. Dr. Kurt Bock, Chairman of the Supervisory Board said: “Stephan Kothrade has proven himself in several leadership roles in Germany and abroad. He has worked successfully for many years at our Verbund sites in Europe and Asia and will complement the Board of Executive Directors in an excellent way.” Kothrade succeeds Saori Dubourg , who left the company as from February 28, 2023, by mutual agreement. The board thanked Dubourg for her successful work and wished her all the best for her future career.

The International Fertilizer Development Centre (IFDC) has appointed Henk van Duijn as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) as of January 1st 2023. Van Duijn brings more than 30 years of experience in agriculture and international development, with a focus on Europe, Africa, and Asia. Prior to his selection as IFDC President and CEO, 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.