PRINCIPAL BOARD MEMBER
Name Of Organisation: Agroamerica Tropical Oil Holding Corp.
Membership Number: 103742200000
Name Of Nominee: Jose Roberto Montenegro Baide
Position In The Organisation: President - Palm Oil Division
Summary of Nominee Profile
Jose Roberto is the President of the Tropical Oil Division at AgroAmerica, an integrated corporation in the production of agricultural products, agro-industrial processing, and the marketing and distribution of the highest-quality sustainable foods. The Tropical Oil unit of AgroAmerica is devoted to producing and commercializing products derived from palm oil. In 2010, AgroAmerica became the first palm oil company in the world to be certified under The Rainforest Alliance. In 2014, the first palm oil producer in Central America to obtain Certification with Identity Preserved under the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil.
In 2021, AgroAmerica ranked in the top 5 out of 100 tropical oil producers, processors, and traders on the public disclosure of their policies, operations, and commitments to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) best practices, in the results published by the renowned Sustainability Policy Transparency Toolkit – SPOTT-
Jose Roberto graduated with a BSc in agriculture from the renowned Zamorano University in Honduras in 1990. After five years working in fisheries and agriculture, he completed an MBA (specializing in finance and natural resource management) in 1998 at the INCAE Business School in CostaRica. He has also participated in executive development programs on strategy development, leadership, and corporate social responsibility at the Kellogg School of Management and INCAE.
Jose Roberto has ample experience working in crop production and estate administration. Past positions include Financial Analyst at Standard Fruit, Honduras (DOLE) and Country Manager for Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Belize at the Latin American Agribusiness Development Corporation (LAAD).
Since 2017, José Roberto Montenegro has been a member of the Board of Governors of RSPO, representing the Growers from the Rest Of the world, and Co-Chairman of the Consultative Group for Latin America (CGLA)
Summary of Organisation Profile
AgroAmerica is an integrated corporation in the production of agricultural products, agro-industrial processing, and the marketing and distribution of the highest-quality sustainable foods. The company has become an agribusiness leader in the region, supplying fruits and tropical oil to large stores in the United States, Europe, The United Kingdom, and Latin America.
The company's business unit dedicated to producing and commercializing products derived from palm oil is AgroAmerica Tropical Oil Holding Corp. The corporation implements internationally certified practices that contribute to the sustainable production and commercialization of the highest quality tropical oil. AgroAmerica seeks to transform the agro-industrial sector and maintain competitiveness through sustainable production.
ALTERNATE BOARD MEMBER
Name Of Organisation: SIPEF Group
Membership Number: 100210500000
Name Of Nominee: Sander van den Ende
Position In The Organisation: Director Sustainability
Summary of Nominee Profile
Sander has spent his entire career working within the interface of the private and NGO sector with the objective of improving the impact of land-use industry on social and forest management in emerging economies. With a BSc in Ecology (SF State University) and an MSc Tropical Forestry (Wageningen), Sander has spent 8 years within WWF and TNC and 12 years within forestry and oil palm industries always within the sector of voluntary market driven certification (FSC and RSPO). Sander’s work has taken him from Panama, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea and now Indonesia where he is the Director of Sustainability for SIPEF. Sander’s vision is that market driven certification can act as catalyst to improving the social and environmental standards of land based industries in emerging economies.
Summary of Organisation Profile
SIPEF is a Belgian company, based in Schoten and listed on Euronext Brussels. It currently operates agro-industrial activities in the production of oil palm products, i.e. fresh fruit bunches (FFB), crude palm oil (CPO), palm kernels (PK), crude palm kernel oil (CPKO), as well as bananas, natural rubber, tea, flowers and foliage.
The Headquarters constitute a team of about 20 people. The subsidiaries located in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Ivory Coast employ more than 21 000 people.
Since 2021, SIPEF has also been operating in Singapore through SIPEF Singapore Pte Ltd.