Rijk Zwaan has announced that assistant-director Marco van Leeuwen has today (1 July) officially joined its board of directors, succeeding Anton van Doornmalen.
In his new role, Mr van Leeuwen will concentrate in particular on production, logistics and commercial affairs, the Dutch vegetable breeding group said in a statement.
Together with Ben Tax, who has taken over the chairmanship from Mr van Doornmalen, and Kees Reinink, he forms a three-pronged management group responsible for the entire enterprise.
Mr van Leeuwen has previously been involved in the development of Rijk Zwaan Italy, and has also held the role of interim director of Rijk Zwaan Nederland.
'In spite of the present consolidation battles among breeding companies, we want to keep Rijk Zwaan growing under its own steam,' said Mr van Leeuwen. 'Major challenges in this will be in particular investments in research and development and continued international expansion.
'Due to the fact that new varieties are being developed even faster, marketing and efficiency will also start to play a bigger part,' he added.
Mr van Doornmalen, who will remain a major shareholder in the group and becomes chairman of Rijk Zwaan's advisory council, praised the appointment of Mr van Leeuwen as his successor on the board.
'Marco has the ability to keep a good overall view and, where necessary, implement structure,' he said. 'Combined with his broad, international experience he is in the perfect starting position to give further form to the commercial development of our company.'
