Adriano Vilas-Boas
Adriano Vilas-Boas has been appointed chief executive officer of AgBiTech Pty Ltd. Vilas-Boas succeeds Peter Berweger who will remain as chairman of the board. Vilas-Boas has over 20 years of experience in marketing, strategy and planning, and commercial management. He has been with AgBiTech since 2018 after 10 years in leading commercial roles in the crop protection industry. Blal holds an MBA, BS in software engineering and has completed executive graduate programs in agriculture leadership.
Bachar Blal has been appointed regional business manager of AlgaEnergy as that company expands to France and North Africa. Blal will lead the company’s introduction of microalgae-based biostimulants and biocontrol products for growers in these two agricultural regions. Blal was most recently vice-president of R&D at Acadian Plant Health. Prior to that, he was general manager of Valorhyze in Morocco, a subsidiary of Éléphant Vert, a Swiss company. Blal began his career in biological inputs for agriculture with his own company, Biorize, one of the first companies to develop and commercialize mycorrhizae-based bio-fertilizers. He holds the degrees of Ph. D. in agronomy and soil microbiology from the University of Burgundy, engineer in forest management from ENGREF Montpellier, master’s degree in ecology from the University of Montpellier, and agronomist jointly from ENSA Abidjan and University of Montpellier.
Bachar Blal
Amy O’Shea, president of Certis USA, has been named CEO of the company. O’Shea joined Certis as president in February 2020. As president and CEO, O’Shea will spearhead the company’s global business along with its manufacturing facilities in the US and India from the corporation’s headquarters in Columbia, MD. Prior to joining Certis USA, O’Shea spent 23 years in various leadership roles at FMC Corporation, most recently as vice-president and business director for the North American region of FMC where she was responsible for the P&L of a $1.1 billion region and led a multi-functional team of 280 employees. O’Shea has also held global sales, marketing and general management roles within FMC’s agriculture, health, nutrition and environmental divisions, including country manager for the Latin America North region based in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Amy O’Shea
Dr. Aoife Dillon
Eden Research PLC has appointed Dr. Aoife Dillon to the role of head of biology. Dillon joins Eden from Plant Health Care where she was technical director for the EMEAA region for the past three years. She was previously chief technology officer at Exosect Ltd., a formulations company focused on the targeted delivery of biological and synthetic compounds used in agriculture. At Eden, Dillon will undertake global responsibility for developing the company's product pipeline from a biology standpoint, working closely with a growing R&D team. She will be heavily involved in assessing the efficacy and safety of new formulations and running commercial scale trials focused on plant biology for the environment and sustainability. During her career, Dillon has had roles at BASF, Horticultural Development Company and Coillte, and has a PhD in integrated pest management, a diploma project management (PMBOK) and a Master of science (MSc) in biological crop protection.
Michael Birger has been appointed as president and chief executive officer for Midwestern BioAg (MBA). Previously, Birger worked as vice-president of strategy and corporate development for Compass, where he drove strategic growth and increased value through sourcing and structuring corporate investments in agriculture both domestically and internationally. Birger brings over 20 years of experience involving mergers, acquisition, divestitures and management of operating businesses and joint ventures.
Michael Birger
Indigo Ag’s board of directors has selected Ron Hovsepian as its next chief executive officer. During his 19 months on the Indigo Ag board and as acting chief operating officer, Hovsepian has applied his track record of leading public global software and technology-enabling companies through accelerated growth stages with an emphasis on value creation for all stakeholders. Hovsepian began his career with IBM that spanned 16 years, and also served as CEO of Novell and Intralinks. He is also on the board of directors of a number of public and private companies. In addition, he is an executive partner at Flagship Pioneering.
Ron Hovsepian
Greg Crawford has been named chief executive officer of Hocking International Laboratories effective August 1, 2020. Crawford brings over 25 years of experience with chemical manufacturers that supply products to the agriculture, turf and specialty chemical industries. Most recently, Crawford was chief operating officer of Actagro for seven years prior to and following its acquisition by Nutrien. Crawford began his career in the chemical industry with Merck after six years of service as a submarine officer in the U.S. Navy. He served as president of the former Lobeco Products, a specialty chemical manufacturer acquired by Nufarm, and then continued with Nufarm in leadership roles for 13 years.
Greg Crawford
New Ag International SEPT/OCT 2020
