Enkhuizen, The Netherlands
July 1, 2016
The supervisory board of leading tropical vegetable seed company East-West Seed today announced the appointment of longtime seedsman Douwe Zijp as its newest member. This follows the appointment of two other new members of the board: former East-West Seed CEO Joost Pekelharing (July 2015) and retail executive James Amatavivadhana (May 2015).
These new appointments expand East-West Seed’s supervisory board to 9 members, 3 of whom are from the Groot family whose patriarch Simon founded the company 34 years ago. The company remains privately owned.
From L-R: James Amatavivadhana, Joost Pekelharing and Douwe Zijp are the newest members of the Supervisory Board of East-West Seed
Ard Groot, vice chairman of the board: “We are happy to have recruited strong additions to our supervisory board (SB). They bring extensive experience in the vegetable seed business and other related industries, adding valuable perspective to our board.”
Mr Zijp is a former CEO of major seed and seed technology companies, having led Nunhems/Bayer Vegetable Seeds for 15 years and Incotec for 2.5 years. He trained as an economist and spent a large part of his career in financial roles, including CFO at Nunhems, before moving into general seed business management. Since May 2015 he has been a board member of the International Seed Federation (ISF).
Mr Pekelharing served as President of East-West Seed for 10 years and led the company to record growth. He has years of experience in leadership and management, having been at the helm of various industries in Asia, including a 15-year stint as president of PHIMCO Industries, the leading company in the Philippines for wooden matches. The company later diversified and acquired two copper mines and an integrated pulp and paper factory.
Mr Amatavivadhana is the Chief Executive Officer of Minor Retail Group at Minor International PCL. He served as Area Managing Director of North Asia at Johnson and Johnson Consumer; Deputy Division President, General Manager and Vice President of Coca-Cola Philippines; Lecturer of Assumption Business Administration College (ABAC), Bangkok, Thailand and Associate Marketing Director of Procter and Gamble Thailand.
The Supervisory Board forms the basis of East-West Seed’s corporate governance. They perform a non-executive role and are appointed to promote the company’s interests by supervising and giving advice to the Board of Management.
The current SB is composed of Simon Groot (chairman), Ard Groot (vice chairman), Dietrich Schmidt, Ivan Chung, Rutger Groot, Joost Pekelharing, Johnny Santos, James Amatavivadhana and Douwe Zijp.
About East-West Seed
East-West Seed is market leader for tropical vegetable seeds in Asia. The privately-owned company has played an important role in the development and improvement of tropical vegetable varieties in Southeast Asia and other tropical countries. When Dutch seedsman Simon Groot founded the company in 1982, he set out to improve the income of smallholder farmers in the tropics through high-quality seeds. East-West Seed develops vegetable varieties that are adapted to tropical markets and growing conditions and generate increased yield and productivity for farmers. In addition, the company educates farmers and helps them to maximize their yield and income through better knowledge on vegetable production.
East-West Seed is one of the 10 largest vegetable seed companies in the world, with a leading position in the most important Southeast Asian countries and rapid expansion into India, Myanmar, Vietnam and parts of Africa and South America.
In 2016, East-West Seed was ranked #1 in the “Global Index for Vegetable Seed Companies” by Access to Seeds, an independent organization funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Index measures the efforts of the world’s leading seed companies to enhance the productivity of smallholder farmers.
East-West Seed is based in Thailand. The company employs over 4,000 people and has 15 R&D establishments in 7 countries. The company exports to over 60 countries in tropical areas of the world and serves over 18 million farmers around the world.
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