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Executive Board
Background
Under Article 9 of RSPO's Statutes, RSPO shall be managed by an Executive Board comprised of sixteen members, designated by the General Assembly for a period of two years. The Executive Board members can be re-elected. The allocation of seats for the various sectors of membership is as follows:
| Sector | Number of Seats |
|---|---|
| Oil Palm Growers | 4* |
| Palm Oil Processors and/or Traders | 2 |
| Consumer Goods Manufacturers | 2 |
| Retailers | 2 |
| Banks/Investors | 2 |
| Environmental/Nature conservation NGOs | 2 |
| Social/Development NGOs | 2 |
*One representative each for Malaysia, Indonesia, the smallholder sector and the "Rest of the World"
The First Executive Board was elected at the inaugural General Assembly held on 6 October 2004.Through staggered voting, within each sector, half the Executive Board is re-elected every year, at the Annual General Assembly of members of GA. When a seat is due for election any member in good standing from the particular sector may offer themselves to be elected. Incumbents may offer themselves for re-election or may continue if there are no nominations within their respective categories for the EB seats.
The EB meeting, at its first seating after the General Assembly, will elect, among themselves, the office-bearers of the organisation, until the next General Assembly of members.
The Office bearers for 2010-11 are:
President
JAN KEES VIS
Jan Kees Vis was trained as a chemist. He joined Unilever in 1985, at the Unilever Research Laboratory in Vlaardingen. He held several positions there, and then moved to the foods business. For more than 10 years he worked on Environmental Life Cycle Analysis, implementation of Environmental Management Systems, environmental auditing, organizing environmental training courses, environmental reporting and preparation of policy proposals on environmental issues. Since beginning of 2001, he is the responsible for coordinating Unilever's Sustainable Agriculture programme.
Email: Jan-Kees.Vis@unilever.com
Vice-President I
ADAM HARRISON
Chair of the Standards & Certification Standing Committee
Adam Harrison is the Senior Policy Officer for Food and Agriculture for WWF based in Scotland. He has been working for WWF Scotland for the last 10 years on a range of rural, agriculture and food based policy areas. For the last 5 years that has focussed on working with UK-based companies using both palm oil and soya lobbying them to source these commodities sustainably. Before working for WWF in the UK he was based overseas from the late 1980s working in natural resources management and development in Nepal, Cameroon and Namibia.
Email: AHarrison@wwfscotland.org.uk
Vice-President II
EDI SUHARDI
Edi Suhardi represents Indonesian Growers as the Head of Sustainability of Agro Harapan Lestari, a palm oil plantation group company in Indonesia. He joined the company in 2008. He is actively involved in GAPKI's Board to promote the adoption of sustainable palm oil practices and management. He was trained in forestry and natural resource management and had been working in various organizations, i.e., social and environmental NGOs, private sector as well as public sector in the last 20 years.
Email:edis@goodhope-id.com
Vice-President III
PUVAN J. SELVANATHAN
Puvan Selvanathan is an Architect by profession, holds an MBA, and a Doctorate in Corporate Sustainability. He is currently President, Business Council for Sustainability & Responsibility Malaysia, and a Director of the Malaysian Green Technology Corporation. Puvan also represents Asian States on the UN Working Group on Human Rights & Business. Early in his career he developed townships for over 10 years at his own architectural firm; then later innovated 'e-government' systems and PPPs for cities. Puvan wrote Mozambique’s E-Government Strategy as a World Bank expert on Public Sector Reform in emerging nations; and was a member of the UN Expert Group in Information, Communications & Satellite Technologies. He founded the UN Global Compact Network in Malaysia and advised public and private sector organisations on business ethics and good governance. In recent years, as Chief Sustainability Officer at Sime Darby, the world's largest producer of sustainable palm oil with 120,000 employees across 20 countries, he established the Group Sustainability function and strategized and implemented sustainability for all the businesses of Malaysia’s largest conglomerate in Plantations, Property, Energy & Utilities, Motors and Healthcare.
Email: puvan.selvanathan@simedarby.com
Vice-President IV
GERT VANDERSMISSEN
Mr. Vandersmissen is currently the Group Director of Operations for the SIAT Group that is active in the rubber and oil palm plantation sector in West and Central Africa. He is also the Managing Director of SIATGabon and sits on the board of SIAT Belgium, SIATGabon and CHC (Company Hévéicole de Cavally, Ivory Coast).
He holds a Bachelor's degree in Agriculture (Bio Engineer) from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium where he made his thesis on the valorization of the by-products of the oil palm industry. He is specialized in rural engineering and tropical agriculture.
Mr. Vandersmissen has also followed a special training course with CIRAD to detect suitable land for Oil Palm plantations using satellite images.
Under his management, the first set of rules and regulations which led to the current P&C for RSPO was tested on the SIAT estates and smallholders' scheme in GOPDC, Ghana and resulted in the first export of sustainable palm oil to Migros in Switzerland in 2003.
Email: gert.vandersmissen@siat.be
Treasurer
TIM STEPHENSON
Tim Stephenson is Director, Finance and Global Trading at AarhusKarlshamn AB ("AAK"), a major palm oil processor and trader with refineries in northern Europe and the Americas. As a leader in promoting sustainable palm oil, AAK is a founding member of the RSPO, and also the founder of GreenPalm, the RSPO certificate trading system. AAK is the first to import sustainable palm oil to Europe. Tim has represented AAK as an alternate or full member of the RSPO EB since its inception. Prior to joining AAK in 1995, Tim undertook an international career with PricewaterhouseCoopers. Tim has an MA (Oxon) in Mathematics, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales.
Email: tim.stephenson@aak.com
Members of the Executive Board
HIDDE-VAN KERSEN - Sustainability Director at IOI - Loders Croklaan
Chair of Trade & Traceability Standing Committee
Responsible for developing and executing CSR and sustainability policies, including RSPO certification of all IOI plantations. Before joining Loders Croklaan in March 2011, he was director of the Waddenvereniging (2005-2011), a Dutch based nature conservation NGO that focuses on protection of Europe's largest tidal wetlands, the WaddenSea. Before that, he worked as a corporate communications consultant and issues specialist with MS&L (1998-2005) in The Netherlands and as sustainability officer with Shell UK (1996-1998) in Scotland.
Mr Van Kersen holds a master degree in Public Administration (Leiden, Netherlands), a MBA degree (Edinburgh, UK) and is an executive member at the board of RSPO.
Email: hidde-van.kersen@croklaan.com
BELINDA HOWELL
Representative for the Retailers’ Palm Oil Group. The group’s members are: Aldi-Sued Group; Asda (part of Wal-Mart Stores); Boots UK; Coles Supermarkets; Coop Switzerland; Delhaize Group; Federation of Migros Cooperatives; J Sainsbury; Marks & Spencer; Royal Ahold; Tesco Stores; The Body Shop International; The Co-operative Group; and Waitrose.
Belinda Howell has extensive experience in business on sustainability and climate change. She has worked in-house for Boots; as Director of Business in the Environment; and as European Director of Sustainable Solutions for URS Corporation. She was CEO of a carbon management company from start up and founded her own company, Decarbonize, to advise international companies on sustainability strategy and early stage cleantech on corporate development. She started her career as a research & product development biochemist for the Overseas Development Natural Resources Institute and for Biocompatibles.
Belinda’s qualifications include a first class MBA and she is a member of Scottish Power's Environment Forum.
Email: belinda.howell@brc.org.uk
MOHD NOR KAILANY
Mohd Nor Kailany is the Deputy Director General of FELDA. His working experience within the agricultural sphere spans over 35 years, covering rubber; oil palm plantation; cocoa, coffee; coconut, sugarcane plantation and tobacco.
Email: nor.k@felda.net.my
TIMOTHY J. KILLEEN
Timothy J. Killeen (Ph.D. Botany, Iowa State University) is a conservation biologist with a research agenda that has evolved over the course of his career, starting with plant taxonomy and ecology, but which evolved into efforts to use remote sensing technology to map biodiversity and document the impact of deforestation on biodiversity and greenhouse gas emissions. Dr. Killeen has engaged both the private and public sectors in environmental evaluations of infrastructure projects in the Amazon and South East Asia, experiences that stimulated his interest in understanding the underlying social and economic drivers of deforestation. His dedication and accomplishments were recognized in 1999 when he received the Biodiversity Leadership Award from The Bay and Paul Foundations. He is currently a Senior Research Scientist at Conservation International and resides in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
Email: t.killeen@conservation.org
NEIL LACROIX
As Director of Sustainable Supply Chains for Kraft Foods Neil is responsible for the development of sustainable agriculture across Kraft Foods supply base. He has extensive experience of agriculture in the developing world, ranging from management of large agricultural estates in Africa, agricultural consultancy in Southern Africa, management of global procurement and logistics operations for a UK fruit distributor to his current position which he has occupied for ten years.
Email: neil.lacroix@kraftfoods.com
ONG ENG MUN
Ong Eng Mun is the Area Director East Malaysia of HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad. He assumed the role in March 2010 and currently oversees eight (8) HSBC branches in East Malaysia. Beside his focus on executing strategic initiatives to drive both the Retail Banking Wealth Management (RBWM) and Commercial Banking (CMB) business in East Malaysia, he also heads the Commercial Banking of the East Malaysia Region with major responsibilities in managing large and diversified business portfolio and client relationships.
Mr Ong first joined HSBC Bank Malaysia in May 1982 as a Management Trainee. He went on to hold various managerial positions in several branches, Operations, Trade & Supply Chain (previously known as Trade Services) and Area Director for the Klang Valley region. In his last role as Head of Service Transformation, Mr Ong’s contribution was key in driving change management as well as increasing productivity and efficiency in work processes within the Bank.
Mr Ong’s 29 years with the HSBC Group has equipped him with extensive knowledge and experience in the banking and financial industry.
Email: engmunong@hsbc.com.my
ABETNEGO TARIGAN
Email: nego@sawitwatch.or.id
JOSÉ DEN TOOM
Ms. José den Toom is Chief Risk Officer of Rabobank Singapore since March 2008. She joined Rabobank's Head Office credit department in July 2004, after having been employed by Deutsche Bank in various functions for 15 years.
Her current job entails overseeing the enterprise risk function within the branch. She is responsible for aligning the risk policy in the branch with the bank's risk culture, appetite and risk management model. She is further tasked with ensuring that procedures and policies are in place to comply with the bank's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) principles. Given Rabobank's ambition to contribute to sustainability efforts in the Food and Agribusiness area, she participates in the RSPO's Executive Board and working groups.
Ms. den Toom has Degrees in both French and English language and literature. In her leisure time she enjoys playing golf and she has picked up Chinese painting while in Singapore.
Email: Jose.den.toom@rabobank.com
JOHAN VERBURG
Johan Verburg is responsible for the corporate contacts that Oxfam Novib, the Dutch affiliate, has with multinationals on issues such as value chain responsibility. He has a background in consultancy on management and sustainability in Southern Africa and the Netherlands (KPMG, SGS a.o.).
Email: Johan.Verburg@oxfamnovib.nl
AGATHE GROSSMITH
Agathe Grossmith is Sustainable Development Manager for Carrefour Group and she is especially in charge of environmental projects. As part of the Group Sustainable Development Department, Agathe contributes to the definition of the Group's policy and works for its uphold together with the Business Units' operational and cross-functional departments.
Before joining Carrefour Group, she has worked for the French retail association as environmental advisor. Her main mission was to represent the sector enterprises towards stakeholders and the French administration, as well as to contribute to the empowerment of the sector.
Graduated in biology and trained as chemical engineer, she holds a post-graduated diploma degree of environmental engineering and management.
Email: agathe_grossmith@carrefour.com
Alternate Members of the Executive Board
Dr GAN LIAN TIONG
Head of Sustainability PT Musim Mas Group
Dr Gan has been involved with the RSPO since its inception in 2004 through active participation in working groups. He has over 36 years of experience within the palm oil sector. He began as a Planter, thereafter to Head of Research and Development; Business Development and eventually progressed to leading the sustainability aspects. His previous capacities include: Sime Darby Plantations and Kuala Lumpur Kepong.
Email:liantiong.gan@musimmas.com
THOMAS URSEM
Mr. Thomas Ursem joined Rabobank in 2008 as head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Rabobank International. He and his team are responsible for strategy and objective setting within Rabobank International and for the translation of Rabobank Group policy into daily business. With a clear focus on the Food & Agribusiness Rabobank International wants to contribute to the transformation needed to feed the world in a sustainable way. Rabobank is active in different roundtable initiatives for commodities like the RSPO and wants to support clients in their efforts to make supply chains more sustainable. Together with a team of sustainability experts Thomas is responsible for the coordination of the CSR activities worldwide and realizing this ambition. Before Rabobank, Thomas worked as a sustainability advisor at Deloitte & Touche and KPMG Sustainability.
Email: Thomas.Ursem@rabobank.com
KATE GEARY
Kate Geary is a policy adviser at Oxfam GB on climate change and the private sector. Kate's work focuses on encouraging business to be part of the solution to climate change, both in changing corporate practices and harnessing private sector lobbying in support of ambitious government policy. She has worked to develop Oxfam's policy on REDD and is carrying out research into carbon markets and their potential to support or hinder poor people's access to natural resources.
Since graduating from Oxford University in 1990, Kate has worked for a variety of social justice, environmental and human rights organisations, including the Foundation for Ecological Recovery in Thailand and Cambodia.
Email: KGeary@oxfam.org.uk
NORMAN JIWAN
Norman Jiwan, Head of Department for Social and Environmental Risks Mitigation Initiatives, Sawit Watch. Holding training certificates on research, journalist, fire prevention, teaching, human rights & indigenous peoples in the international system, sustainable forest management certification, and sustainable palm oil certification.
Since 2004 he has been active in representing Sawit Watch at the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), Criteria Working Group (CWG), Verification/Certification Working Group (VWG), co-leader of RSPO Task Force on Smallholders (TFS), Indonesia National Interpretation Working Group (INA-NIWG), and Indonesia National Smallholders Working Group (INA SWG). Since December 2008, a member of Executive Board of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) represents Sawit Watch. He is also co-coordinator of the RSPO Ad hoc Working Group on HCV in Indonesia.
Email: norman@sawitwatch.or.id
SIMON LORD
Dr Simon Lord is the Group Director for Sustainability for New Britain Palm Oil Ltd (NBPOL) the largest oil palm producer in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. He has 25 years experience in the oil palm industry and has worked in S.E. Asia and the pacific. He started his career in research and as Head of Research for Dami Oil Palm Research Station led multi disciplined teams in Agronomy, Precision Agriculture, Biotechnology, Breeding and Environmental Science. He was one of the original 8 member Technical group that set the TOR for the RSPO multi-stakeholder model in 2002. He has since served the RSPO as an executive Board (EB) member and Vice President representing growers from the "Rest of the World" category. He has chaired the standards and certification subgroup of the EB and been an active member on the Criteria, Verification, Smallholder, GHG and Dispute Settlement Facility working groups. He has facilitated the National Interpretation of the RSPO standard in PNG and the Solomon Islands and served as technical advisor for these processes in Malaysia, Ghana and Thailand. He holds a degree in Crop protection and a Doctorate in Environmental Microbiology from Bath University. He is a Director of the NBPOL Foundation which seeks to improve the quality of life for communities in PNG.
Email: slord@nbpol.com.sg
HUGO BYRNES
Hugo Byrnes is Senior Director Product Integrity for Royal Ahold. He is responsible for Ahold's sustainable trade and food and non-food policies, including Ahold's food safety policies.
Hugo Byrnes has a Dutch Law degree from the State University Leiden, the Netherlands. He is a food lawyer whose career has focussed on the food business and in particular on quality management and standardisation.
Hugo Byrnes has held several positions, among others for Heineken, Procter & Gamble and the Global Food safety Initiative.
MARTIN CRAVEN
Graduate of Cambridge University in Classics, and qualified Chartered Accountant. Senior Manager positions held with international accountancy firm KPMG in the UK and Hong Kong.
Joined audit client AAK (then called Anglia Oils) in 1990 as Finance Director; responsible over the last 20 years for Finance, Commodity Trading and Commercial activities, before becoming Managing Director of all UK operations in 2008. AAK is a full profile supplier of oils and fats to the food manufacturing, foodservice, retail and personal care industries in the UK and over 30 export markets from our UK sites.
AAK is the largest importer and processor of palm oil in the UK, founder member of the RSPO and current Treasurer.
Martin is currently Chairman of the UK Oils & Fats Industry Organisation, SCOPA (Seed Crushers and Oil Processors Association) and immediate past President of the National Edible Oil Distributors Association (NEODA).
Email: martin.craven@aak.com
JEREMY GOON
Jeremy Goon is the Group Head of CSR at Wilmar International, where he is responsible for aligning the Group's activities to global best practices in environmental, social and economic sustainability. He also heads the Group's division for Carbon Offset Credit Development, which include Clean Development Mechanism Projects as well as other Carbon Abatement and Mitigation Initiatives.
Prior to this appointment, Jeremy was Head of European Operations for Kuok Oils and Grains, based in Germany and the Netherlands. His responsibilities included overseeing the Group's Edible Oil Refining and Trading activities in Europe. He has also served as Head of Brand Management and Marketing for the Group's operations in Vietnam.
Email: jeremy.goon@wilmar.com.sg
TOO HENG LIEW
Too Heng Liew is Head of Sustainability(Malaysia/Indonesia) for IOI Group responsible for the day to day management of the sustainability aspects of the group mills & estates. He assists actively in formulating and updating of new sustainability policies and guidelines.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Agricultural Science from a local university and is an associate member of Incorporated Society of Planters.
Prior to the present position, he has 31 years of solid estate management and undertakes some plantation advisory consultancy works.
Email:hltoo@ioigroup.com
Advisor to the Executive Board and Honorary Member
M.R. CHANDRAN
A 50 year veteran of the agro-commodity industry with professional experience in the executive management of plantation business operations within the tree crop sector. Having served for 35 years, he retired as Director of Franco-Belgian multi-national, SOCFIN Company Berhad in 1996.
He was the start-up Chief Executive of the Malaysia Palm Oil Association(MPOA) and served this umbrella entity tasked with the function of balancing the needs and interests of the various sectors for synergy and development of the Malaysian plantation industry, from 1999 to 2005.
During this period he was involved in the formation of Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil(RSPO) in 2003 with the objective of promoting the growth and use of sustainable palm products through credible global standards & engagement of stakeholders. He Chaired the first RT meeting in 2003, served as a Vice-President during 2004/2005 term and is currently the Advisor to the Executive Board of RSPO.
Over the years he has held responsible positions in various industry forums and continues to serve the industry in an advisory and consultancy capacity to various business ventures and trade associations, at both regional and international level.
He has been honoured with the Fellowship awards of the Incorporated Society of Planters (FISP), Malaysian Oil Scientists'& Technologists’ Association (FMOSTA, British Institute of Management (FBIM), Malaysian Institute of Management (FMIM) and an Honorary Member of RSPO.
Email: chandran@platinumenergy.biz
PROF. DR. IR BUNGARAN SARAGIH
Prof. Saragih was a prominent government official in Indonesia, having served as Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Forestry in between the years of 2000 to 2004. In recognition of his significant contribution during his tenure in the government, he was awarded the Satyalancana Development Award by the President of the Republic of Indonesia in 2002.
Prof. Saragih also has an illustrious academic background. He served as a lecturer at Bogor Agricultural Institute, which is Indonesia’s finest academic and research institution on agriculture, from 1968 – 2010. Since 2010, he became Professor Emeritus at the Bogor Agricultural Institute.
He presently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Borneo Orang-utan Survival Foundation, a non-profit organization established in 1991 that devotes itself to promoting the conservation of Borneo orang-utans and their habitat in collaboration with local stakeholders.
Prof. Saragih earned his PhD in Socio-economics from the North Caroline State University, Raleigh, USA in 1980, his Master of Arts in Economics from the same University in 1977, and his Bachelor degree in Socio-economics from the Bogor Agricultural Institute in 1971.
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