Olam Group appoints Serge François Schoen to chair recently named eight-member Board of Directors

SINGAPORE – Agri-food giant, Olam Group, has appointed eight members to the Olam Agri Board to lend additional focus to its overarching strategy to address the supply chain challenges around the world.

According to the statement, the eight Board Members will collectively sit across four of Olam Agri’s Board Committees, namely the Governance, Nomination, Talent & Remuneration Committee, the Audit & Compliance Committee, the Risk & Market Compliance Committee, and the Sustainability Committee, effective July 1, 2023.

Olam Agri is a food, feed, and fiber agribusiness with a global origination footprint, processing capabilities, and a focus on emerging markets.

Its products and services include grains and oilseeds, flour, pasta, integrated feed and protein, rice, edible oils, specialty grains and seeds, cotton, wood products, rubber, commodity financial services, and funds management.

Among the appointees are Serge François Schoen, Non-Executive and Independent Director, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chairman of the Governance, Nomination, Talent & Remuneration Committee, and Member of the Risk & Market Compliance Committee.

Mr. Schoen graduated from Télécom Paris with an engineering diploma and holds a Master of Business and Administration from the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Mr. Schoen started his career as a consultant and case leader in Boston Consulting Group in France and has worked in management positions at Neuf Cegetal SA, where he was the chief operating officer, and Louis Dreyfus SA as a chief executive officer from 2006 to 2013, and subsequently as executive chairman from 2013 to 2015.

Mr. Schoen is also a non-executive board member of various companies, such as New Frontier Bio Inc, Ambrosia Growth, Eightstone Oclaner Holdings Pte. Ltd., and Califia Farms LLC, and a non-executive and independent member of the supervisory board of Eurazeo.

On the list also was Hixonia Nyasulu, who will hold the office of Non-Executive and Independent Director, Vice Chair of the Board of Directors, Chair of the Sustainability Committee, and Member of the Governance, Nomination, Talent & Remuneration, and Audit & Compliance Committees.

Olam Group describes Ms. Nyasulu as one of Africa’s most experienced and respected Board members whose career has seen her support a broad range of important Africa-focused institutions and businesses.

She is the former Chair of Sasol, then South Africa’s largest public company and the world’s largest coal-to-fuel company, and was the first woman and first black individual to ever hold the position.

They are joined by Ms. Eng Chin Chin, Pierre Lorinet, Jenifer Thien, Mr. Sulaiman AlRumaih, Mr. Anuj Maheshwari as well as Sunny George Verghese, the Group CEO and Executive Director of Olam Group and Olam Agri and Member of the Risk & Market Compliance and Sustainability Committees.

Mr. Sunny George Verghese, Olam Group’s Co-Founder, Group CEO, and Executive Director, commented: “I am delighted to welcome our new Chairman and Directors to the Board of Olam Agri, who bring with them significant public and private sector experience, along with relevant sectoral experience”.

He added that together with the management, they are looking forward to working closely with the new Olam Agri Board and continuing to deliver on Olam Agri’s mission to transform food, feed, and fiber for a more sustainable and food-secure future for all.

Commenting on appointments, Serge François Schoen, the chairman of the Olam Agri Board appointee said, “As a Board, we share the commitment to provide oversight and stewardship of Olam Agri along the same strong principles of corporate governance and transparency that have always been a part of its culture”.

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