Biotechnology industry association EuropaBio confirmed the appointment of Willy de Greef to become the new secretary general of EuropaBio following the retirement of Dr Johan Vanhemelrijck, at its Annual General Assembly held June 26th in Brussels. De Greef will embark on his role on July 1, and brings to EuropaBio a unique combination of biotechnology experience, European and international policy understanding, and managerial skills.

De Greef said: “One of the major challenges for real innovation is to be a part of responsible change and convince decision makers to welcome innovative improvements. If we can be successful in building more confidence in the benefits of biotechnology solutions to solve old problems, Europe will again play its leadership role in improving the lives of its citizens.”

In welcoming the new Secretary General, Steen Riisgaard, president and ceo of Novozymes said: “We are delighted to have a highly experienced and deeply knowledgeable executive to lead EuropaBio, and we are confident that Willy will bring his enthusiastic and dynamic leadership to build further on the strengths of the association.”

The association also elected new board members, bringing the number of representatives of companies and associations from across Europe to 23 on the EuropaBio Board.

New board members elected include Jacqueline Hunter, senior vice-president and head of Neurology & GI Centre of Excellence for Drug Discovery (CEDD), GlaxoSmithKline;

Serge Zybach, head of diverse field crop at Syngenta International AG; and Hans Kast, president and ceo of BASF Plant Science and EuropaBio board member was elected chair of the Agri-Food Council.

Ian Hudson, president DuPont de Nemours International, was re-elected as the chairman of the Industrial Biotech Council.

EuropaBio is the only EU level association representing the biotechnology industry across a wide number of industrial sectors and has been at the forefront of developing policies to grow a strong biotechnology sector in Europe. New EuropaBio Board of Management of effective as of June 26.

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