AgroPages-Jeff Rowe named Chief Executive Officer of Syngenta Group-Agricultural news

Syngenta Group’s Board of Directors has elected Jeff Rowe as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Syngenta Group, effective January 1, 2024. Rowe is currently President, Syngenta Crop Protection, Syngenta Group’s largest business unit. He was previously President, Syngenta Seeds, where he executed a successful turnaround of the Seeds business. Erik Fyrwald, Syngenta Group CEO, will continue as CEO until the end of the year, when he will retire after seven and a half years with the company. He will continue as Advisor to the Chairman of Syngenta Group and remain on the Board of Directors.

Rowe, 50, joined Syngenta as President of Syngenta Seeds and North America in September 2016. Before his current role as head of the crop protection business, he was responsible for the successful turnaround of the Seeds business, with outstanding growth and return to profitability. He also has spearheaded Syngenta Group’s efforts into regenerative agriculture and soil health. Prior to joining Syngenta, Jeff served in several leadership roles at DuPont Pioneer over a 20-year period.

The Board of Directors appointed Rowe as the new CEO, as he is not only a proven business leader with nearly 30 years of diverse experience in the agriculture sector but also a fifth-generation farmer who has first-hand knowledge of the issues that are important to farmers today, and is passionate about driving innovation and change to make global agriculture more sustainable.

Rowe will succeed Fyrwald, 64, who joined Syngenta as CEO in June 2016. During his tenure, he oversaw the acquisition by ChemChina, the formation of the Syngenta Group, and the growth of the business from Syngenta’s $12.8 billion in 2016 to the Syngenta Group’s $ 33.4 billion in 2022. Fyrwald’s passionate advocacy has established Syngenta Group as a leading voice in agriculture for global food security, sustainability and regenerative agriculture.

″Erik has provided outstanding leadership for Syngenta Group, steering it with steady hands through global pandemic, conflicts and challenging geopolitics while substantially transforming and growing the company,″ said Li Fanrong, Chairman of Syngenta Group. ″We will always be grateful for his thoughtful, energetic and dynamic leadership of our Group during its transition. And it is Erik’s leadership in developing a strong team that leads naturally to our next phase. With the strong foundation established by Erik, Jeff is the right CEO to lead Syngenta Group. The Board is pleased with the world-class, orderly and planned succession process and has found in Jeff a strong leader with the business acumen, operational skills and strategic vision needed to guide Syngenta Group in this critical industry.″

″As a superb operational leader and strategist, able to deliver results through teamwork while building the business for tomorrow, Jeff has played a significant role in the growth of Syngenta Group,″ said Fyrwald. ″I have worked with Jeff for many years and am delighted that he will lead Syngenta Group as it continues its mission to help farmers feed the world while addressing climate change.″

Jeff Rowe

Erik Fyrwald

Syngenta Group’s Board of Directors has named Hengde Qin, 53, Chief Financial Officer of Syngenta Group, effective Dec 1, 2023. He will succeed Chen Lichtenstein, 56, who has been CFO since the creation of Syngenta Group and will be stepping down to pursue other business opportunities.

Fanrong Li, Chairman of Syngenta Group said, ″Hengde is a strong leader with excellent financial acumen. He has extensive experience in finance and strong knowledge of the business and will make an excellent partner to Jeff Rowe. I look forward to what this new team can achieve together.″

Earlier today, it was announced that Jeff Rowe will succeed Erik Fyrwald as CEO of Syngenta Group, effective Jan 1, 2024.

Li continued, ″I would like to thank Chen for his many outstanding contributions to Syngenta Group as well as his many years of prior leadership in ADAMA and CNAC. During his time as the Group CFO, he oversaw the Group’s strong performance and successfully led the newly formed Group. I wish him all the best for the future."

Lichtenstein joined the Syngenta Group family in 2006 as a member of ADAMA’s management and went on to lead Global Operations before becoming Deputy CEO in charge of China Integration. He then served as President and CEO of ChemChina's strategic business division – China National Agrochemical Corporation (CNAC) before being appointed ADAMA President and CEO in 2014. During his six-year tenure as CEO, Lichtenstein led the company to continuous strong performance and market share gains. ADAMA also had successfully integrated with a publicly traded company and is now listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

Lichtenstein was instrumental in the creation of Syngenta Group in 2020, taking on the role of CFO, and establishing the Group as an industry leader with exceptional growth in all businesses and geographies. In the last three years, he has led the team across Finance, Integration & Synergies, Ventures, Productivity and Strategy; overseeing performance, significantly refinancing the Group’s debt, and achieving robust investment grade ratings from all agencies.

Qin is currently the Chief Human Resources Officer of Syngenta Group, based in Basel, a position that he assumed at the beginning of the year. He was previously President of Syngenta Group China (SGC), where he built a strong team that has been delivering outstanding revenue and profitability growth. Under his leadership, SGC built market-leading positions in the crop protection and seeds markets in China. He also strengthened SGC’s leadership position in crop nutrition and grew the Modern Agriculture Platform business to be the fastest-growing business in global agriculture.

Erik Fyrwald, outgoing Syngenta Group CEO, said, ″I want to thank Chen for his strong leadership and close partnership with me as we launched and grew the Syngenta Group during a period of very strong profitable growth.″

″Now it is time for this team to hand over the baton to Jeff and Hengde,″ he continued. ″I am pleased to leave Syngenta Group financial leadership in such excellent hands.″