Steve Hawkins appointed
President of Syngenta Crop Protection, effective Oct 1, 2024
BEIJING and TEL
AVIV, Israel, July 17,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- ADAMA Ltd. (the "Company") (SZSE
000553), a leading crop protection company, announced that its
board of directors has appointed Gaël Hili as its President and
Chief Executive Officer, effective October
1, 2024. Hili will join the Syngenta Group Leadership Team
and will be based in Tel Aviv.
Mr. Hili will succeed Steve
Hawkins, who has been appointed President of Syngenta
Crop Protection and a member of the Syngenta Group Leadership Team,
based in Basel, effective
October 1, 2024. Steve will continue
to be fully dedicated to driving ADAMA's ongoing business and
transformation plan until his official appointment.
Jeff Rowe, President and CEO
of Syngenta Group, said: "I am pleased to welcome Gaël Hili as
the new CEO of ADAMA and member of the Syngenta Group Leadership
Team. Gaël brings extensive experience and a proven track record of
driving profitable growth and leading successful organizational
change. He is the ideal candidate to accelerate the implementation
of ADAMA's transformation plan, successfully launched by Steve and
the Global ADAMA Leadership Team earlier this year, to address the
near-term financial health of the company and capture the
fast-growing Value Innovation customer segment in ADAMA's leading
markets. Under Gael's leadership together with ADAMA's strong
Leadership Team, and the continued support of Syngenta Group, I am
confident that ADAMA will turnaround, revalue and reposition for
the benefit of all its stakeholders including customers, employees,
investors and bondholders around the world."
Gaël Hili commented: "I am honored to take on the role of
President and CEO at such a pivotal time for ADAMA. The
Transformation plan has already shown promising improvement in
ADAMA's cash flow, demonstrating our commitment to financial health
and operational excellence. My focus will be on accelerating this
momentum, ensuring we meet our profit and cash targets over the
next three years. By building on the solid foundation laid by Steve
and the leadership team, I am dedicated to driving long-term
success and value for all our stakeholders. Together with ADAMA's
committed and professional global teams, we will continue to
transform ADAMA into a stronger, more resilient company."
Mr. Hili has dedicated most of his career to the agriculture
industry, starting with operational and commercial roles at Dow
AgroSciences in Europe and later
at Dow Chemical Company, where he served as Global Marketing
Director. In 2017, he joined Syngenta as Head of Europe East, where
he led the team to significant market share growth in both the
Seeds and Crop Protection businesses. Since December 2023, he has served as the Head of
Europe Syngenta CP and Seeds Field Crops.
Mr. Hili holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering from
Université de Technologie de Compiègne, France.
About ADAMA Transformation Plan
As announced in the Company's full year 2023 financial results
report, ADAMA initiated a plan in the first quarter of 2024 to
revalue ADAMA by improving the quality of the business to
turnaround the Company. The Company-wide transformation
plan is aimed at gradually delivering profit and cash
targets over a period of 3 years (2024-2026). Main aspects of the
plan include:
- Evolved Operating Model
- Changes in the senior leadership team
- An evolved operating model to create focus and alignment to
effectively deliver our strategy and better serve ADAMA's markets,
including organizational changes in R&D, marketing, commercial
and operations.
- Geographic and customer focus: Focus on strategic
crop segments within the Value Innovation customer segment, with
high-value differentiated formulations.
- Portfolio focus:
- Increase high-margin products: Continue to enhance the sales
mix by increasing the proportion of high-margin products,
supporting business quality and gross margin, as achieved in 2023
and the first quarter of 2024.
- Product transition: Phase out certain products to streamline
offerings.
- Strong Pipeline: Maintain investment in differentiated products
that offer added value to customers.
- Production Network Optimization: Reassess the
operational model, including the balance between procurement and
manufacturing, as well as optimize the supply chain, to align with
market realities.
About ADAMA
ADAMA Ltd. is a global leader in crop protection, providing
solutions to farmers across the world to combat weeds, insects, and
disease. ADAMA has one of the widest and most diverse portfolios of
active ingredients in the world, as well as state-of-the-art
R&D, manufacturing, and formulation facilities. With a culture
that empowers our people to listen to farmers and ideate from the
field, ADAMA is uniquely positioned to offer a vast array of
distinctive mixtures, formulations, and high-quality differentiated
products, delivering solutions that meet local farmer and customer
needs in over 100 countries globally. For more information, visit
us at www.ADAMA.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook,
YouTube, and X®.
Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2463309/ADAMA.jpg
Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/799829/Adama_Agricultural_Solutions_Logo.jpg
ADAMA Contact: Efrat
Dayan, Corporate Communications, Email:
Efrat.Dayan@adama.com
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SOURCE ADAMA Ltd.