Company announces new appointments and promotions to manage “rapid growth”
Sun World International has appointed Gerardo Lugo to the new role of chief commercial officer and promoted global licensing directors Pablo Ramirez and Petri van der Merwe to vice presidents of global licensing. The company said the appointments reflect its growth and the powerful opportunities triggered by its recent acquisition of Biogold.
“It’s a cause for celebration in any organisation to announce the promotion of not just one, but two valued team members,” said Bernardo Calvo, Sun World’s president and COO. “But also adding Gerardo, who I’ve long known and deeply respect, reflects our collective optimism at Sun World. These three exemplary professionals are more than ready to hit the ground running on day one in their new positions, which is essential as there are many growth opportunities to be maximised.”
Lugo, who will report to Calvo, brings three decades of agricultural experience to Sun World, primarily with Monsanto and Bayer’s row crop and vegetable seed businesses where he held numerous senior commercial and strategic roles, both at the regional level leading operations in Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as at the global level. Lugo conceived and implemented many innovative and sophisticated strategic initiatives to drive growth throughout his career.
Sun World singled out new VPs Pablo Ramirez and Petri van der Merwe as being instrumental in its growth strategy. “Not only have they worked together to enhance Sun World’s geographic footprint, they have also collaborated to add invaluable system-wide processes and discipline that allow the company to more effectively align with and serve their licensees,” the company said.
Ramirez and van der Merwe join recently appointed VP of global licensing Viresh Ramburan. The three executives will report to Lugo and will manage the company’s licensing activities and staff.
Sun World said its exponential growth reflects three realities: Firstly, the progress made by its scientists and agronomists within the company’s core business. “This work begun decades ago has yielded an extraordinarily robust pipeline of new, high-quality table grape and stonefruit offerings that customers have responded to very positively,” the company said. “This expansion takes the form of replacing older or public varietals with these superior new genetics, as well as with plantings in existing and new geographies.”
The acquisition of South Africa-based Biogold has also significantly increased Sun World’s portfolio to include citrus, mangoes and, eventually, avocado genetics. “The synergy inherent in the Biogold acquisition is propelling Sun World’s ability to serve existing and new customers of both organisations with many of the world’s most in-demand fruit genetics,” Sun World said.
It added that the final reason for its growth is the degree to which the company has leaned into emerging discoveries in artificial intelligence; breakthroughs in science; and the potential for the smart use of data and analytics.
“These opportunities are being weighed carefully with discipline and discernment as is always the Sun World way, but the company is convinced that speed to market to better serve licensees can be powerfully impacted by these innovations,” the company said.
