2022 Unleashing the potential of innovation

Charlie Baxter is Global Head of Regulatory and Product Safety, Syngenta Seeds, responsible for leading a diverse group of scientists that deliver different aspects of Syngenta’s trait pipeline, from discovery to registration. Charlie also represents Syngenta in different industry association forums and is currently chair of Crop Life International’s Plant Biotechnology Strategy Council.

Charlie is based out of Syngenta’s RTP innovation center in N. Carolina, US. He is passionate about translating biotech and plant breeding based innovations into new seed varieties that support growers around the world.

Prior to his current position, Charlie spent 10 years working for Syngenta’s Vegetables seeds business in various roles in R&D. During this time he enjoyed developing native trait solutions for vegetable growers as well as participating in a number of public-private partnerships that advanced the genetic tools available to the plant breeding industry.

Charlie grew up in the UK, in a farming family where he gained his interest in agriculture through working on various arable operations. After completing a PhD at Sheffield University, UK, he was a research associate at the University of Oxford before joining Syngenta.

Alexandra Brand leads one of Syngenta Group’s largest and most profitable businesses as the Crop Protection Regional Director for Europe, Africa and the Middle East (EAME). From 2018 – 2020, Alexandra Brand was Chief Sustainability Officer of Syngenta Group where she led the newly created Business Sustainability Group to evolve existing sustainability initiatives including The Good Growth Plan and to drive forward the company’s sustainability agenda. The group aligned the company’s Regulatory Affairs, Sustainability and Stewardship, External Affairs and Communications activities. Alexandra joined Syngenta in late 2015 as Regional Director of Syngenta’s crop protection and seed operations across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Before joining Syngenta, Alexandra held various positions in the BASF Group, including senior vice president of its global Animal Nutrition business unit, vice president of the Global Marketing Pharma Ingredients unit as well as chief of staff for BASF’s chief executive officer. Alexandra gained international experience through her role as director of BASF’s Sub Regional Operating Manager Intermediates in South Asia, with its headquarters in Mumbai, India. She began her professional career in global research at BASF. Alexandra studied chemistry at the Technische Universität in Darmstadt, Germany, from 1990 to 1998 and completed her studies with a doctorate.

With a degree in Environmental Sciences and a master on Agrienvironmental Policies, Ana has worked since 2005 on the relationship between biodiversity conservation and farmland management and policies. After some time involved on CAP monitoring and implementation from University, she joined to SEO/BirdLife team in 2007, where has been the agriculture Policy officer for ten years. At this position, has been responsible for different works and projects, including the asessment of the agrienvironmental schemes for steppe bird species, the development of technical guidances for farming practices and farmland birds conservation or the study of the High Nature Value Farming (HNVF) systems in Spain. Currently, since 2017, Ana coordinates the Conservation Department of SEO/BirdLife, where still works on agriculture and CAP with the aim of seeking and contributing to best integration of biodiversity conservation and farming profitability. Furthermore, she makes part of the European Task Forces of BirdLife and has a huge knowledge on European Nature values, institutions and policies. Based at Madrid, she enjoys to return to her rural roots at an small town in Granada (Andalucía) whenever possible.

Camilla leads Syngenta’s CP Research organization - a passionate team of some 700 scientists, located in at five world-class research sites in five countries - in delivering excellence in design, synthesis and biological evaluation to discover, optimize and develop industry-leading solutions.

With a strong track record of delivery, Camilla has made a particularly significant contribution to the invention and development of Syngenta’s fungicide SDHI class (sedaxane, isopyrazam, Solatenol™ and Adepidyn™) and to the shape and quality of the existing crop protection research pipeline.

A chemist by training, Camilla has been with Syngenta since 2004, holding various leadership roles across Chemistry and Portfolio. As a leader, she has a proven ability to foster effective teams and to build the relationships that bring winning innovation into the hands of growers.

Camilla graduated in Chemistry from Florence University with a PhD and Postdoc in Organic Chemistry obtained from University College London and Ecole Polytechnique respectively.

Pedro Gallardo Barrena, fourth generation farmer in Andalusia, southern Spain. The farming activity has about 250 hectares and the main crops are: sunflower, rapeseed, wheat, durum wheat and beans.

Born in Puerto Real (Cadiz), he lives with his wife and two sons in the family farm. He has managed a farm since 1996 and he has always been involved in ASAJA where he also acquired technical knowledge about agriculture. His family has been a member of ASAJA for three generations.

Eva Haensel works as Sustainable Portfolio Development Head Crop Protection Development for Europe, Africa and the Middle East for Syngenta in Germany.

Eva works cross-functionally with teams from biology, product safety, various technology areas, data solutions, marketing, and others to further develop our portfolio in line with the requirements for innovative plant and soil health solutions to offer farmers nature-positive agricultural innovations.

After school, she did an apprenticeship in the pharmaceutical industry and came to crop protection rather by chance as she was fascinated by what can grow from a tiny little seed when conditions are favourable. She then started working at a farm, studied agronomy, and has since worked in a variety of fields, including professional lawn care, specialty crops like cocoa and coffee, or seed treatment of arable crops.

Sarah Iveson is Head of Field Crops Seeds Development for Europe, Africa and Middle East (EAME) for Syngenta Seeds, responsible for leading a large group of scientists across germplasm development, R&D operations, product placement and agronomy to deliver new genetic solutions to farmers across Europe, Africa and Middle East.

She joined Syngenta as a formulation chemist in the UK. She relocated to Basel in 2011, where she has held various project, portfolio, and operational leadership roles in R&D across the crop protection and seeds businesses. Prior to her current role she led the commercial strategy and portfolio team for cereals with responsibility for defining the route to market of new technologies, including hybrid wheat.

Sarah has had a passion for science from a young age and graduated with a first hons degree in biochemistry from University of Lancaster, UK. She is driven by bringing new plant breeding innovations into the hands of growers and downstream partners, maximizing their genetic potential to enable sustainable crop production.

Kiran leads the vison and build of breakthrough digital technologies to positively influence the trajectory of biodiversity restoration and farm sustainability globally.

His entrepreneurial and customer centric mindset with over 15 years of experience, has led him in creating digital products customers love and businesses generate profits. Kiran has the persevering ability to foster innovation by identifying and building contextual teams globally to achieve aspirational goals. With humility and empathy as his personal mantras, he takes pride in the people who delivered winning products, projects, and transformation programs in his leadership.

Kiran holds dual Masters in Business Administration from ESSEC Paris and Mannheim University, Germany and has co-authored multiple books and journals on digital transformation in the recent years. Kiran hails from a family with its deep roots going into spices trade since the 1800`s and he is personally committed to nature positive innovations.

Giuseppe Natale holds the position of Chief Executive Officer at Valagro SpA. In 1980 he founded Farmer Italia s.n.c., today known as Valagro SpA, a multinational leader in the production and marketing of environmentally-friendly fertilisers for agricultural production, lawns, gardening and various industrial applications. In the Nineties, he led the company towards internationalisation, initially on the European market and thereafter in the rest of the world. Today Valagro has 13 branch offices in 3 continents and, through its distributors, covers more than 80 countries all over the world. Also during the Nineties, Giuseppe Natale pushed for the acquisition of two Norwegian companies, Algea and Nordtang, thereby marking the beginning of the differentiation of the Valagro group into the human and animal nutrition sectors, as well as that of the cosmetics industry. In a setting where change is the only constant, Giuseppe Natale has restructured the company several times, focusing on organisation by divisions of business, which would allow the Group to grow at an international level, thanks also to innovation, one of the company's constant strong points and to maintaining valuable contact with clients from various businesses, something always at the centre of the company’s activities. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Algea A.S. (Norway), Director of Valagro Holding S.r.l., Valagro Hellas S.A. (Greece), Valagro France (France), Valagro Andina Ltda (Columbia), Valagro UK (United Kingdom), Valagro USA Inc., Valagro Mexicana  (Mexico), Valagro Iberia (Spain), Valagro Do Brasil LTDA (Brazil), Maxicrop NZ (New Zealand), Valagro Tarim Ticaret (Turkey), Valagro BioSciences LTD, Valagro (Shanghai) Trading Co Ltd and Valagro Brazil Manufacturing Industria e Comercio del Fertilizantes LtDA. From its foundation to 2018 he served as Chairman of EBIC European Biostimulant Industry Council. He currently serves as Board of Directors member of IFA International Fertilizer Association (Paris), which includes 540 companies from 85 Countries, and member of IFA Strategic Advisory Team.

Robert has worked all his 33-year career in Syngenta, starting as an environmental chemist in R&D, progressing through regulatory and marketing roles in the UK, Chile, Brazil, Italy and latterly as Managing Director of the Iberia (Spain & Portuguese) business before taking on his current role as Head of Business Sustainability for the EAME Region in Syngenta Crop Protection in January of this year. He has a thorough understanding of global agricultural trends & challenges and speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian fluently.

Robert is passionate about agriculture and working to ensure that farmers can sustainably produce the best quality food as well as providing stability for their families, communities & generations to come.

Robert lives in Madrid and is married with 2 children, his hobbies include reading, travel, food, wine & golf, as well as spending time with his family.

Since 2017, Vasileios is leading the Biodiversity initiatives in the EAME region, with main initiative the more than 15-year-old Operation Pollinator programme aiming to enhance bees, other pollinators and beneficial insects through the establishment of flower margins and habitats.

Vasileios has achieved a PhD in Agronomy by the University of Reading, UK and has overall more than 15 years of experience in research, technical, international consultancy and industry positions working on Integrated Pest Management (IPM), agronomy, biodiversity, sustainable farming systems and stewardship topics.

Vasileios gained international experience through his current role, but also being involved in various EU projects working as a Postdoc researcher at the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) and as an International Consultant for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on the framework of various sustainable farming projects in the CIS region.