Gianni Bernardotto, vice-president of marketing & sales at De Ruiter Seeds, will take the reins as managing director on December 1.

Consuelo Madere, head of Monsanto’s Vegetable Seeds division, which acquired De Ruiter on June 1, announced Bernardotto’s promotion, taking over from Biense Visser.

Visser will continue to work for Monsanto and De Ruiter Seeds as a consultant.

The change in leadership change is the next step in the transition of De Ruiter Seeds into the Monsanto Vegetable Seeds division, Madere said. “In order to ensure the evolution of our business continues on a successful path, the De Ruiter organisation is strengthening its focus on becoming more market-oriented. As such, we are refocusing some of the leadership roles to ensure that we can meet our strategic objectives. Therefore, I am confident that Gianni Bernardotto is best qualified to lead the company to the next level in a strong and secure manner.”

Bernardotto started his career in 1975 at Soderiz (Societé pour le Dévélopement de la Rizculture) in the Ivory Coast and from 1979 until 2004 he worked in different managing director functions for Syngenta. Before joining De Ruiter Seeds in 2007, he was the managing director of Ball Horticulture Europe.

Visser was the first non-family managing director of De Ruiter Seeds, succeeding Henk de Ruiter in 2002. Under his leadership, De Ruiter Seeds became a strong international family of businesses, with an increase in annual turn over from €57.5 million (£49.2m) in 2001 to €108.8m in 2007.

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