Jon Akins joins TKI’s NovaSource group as Director of Regulatory Affairs

Tessenderlo Kerley, Inc (TKI) announced today that Jon Akins will join the NovaSource organization as Director of Regulatory Affairs. Akins will report to David Cassidy, Group Vice President, crop protection and will be responsible for the global regulatory and registration activities of the business unit. Cassidy stated, “The addition of this position with a professional of Jon’s caliber gives TKI/NovaSource internal expertise and leadership to defend its products with regulators around the world and to expand the labels for its products”.  

Jordan Burns, CEO of TKI, added, “This position will provide further critical support for the anticipated expansion of this business as it acquires additional product lines from multinationals who are divesting product lines”.

Akins, a toxicologist by training, earned his MS in toxicology from the University of Arizona and his Ph.D. in environmental toxicology from Clemson University. He has spent his fifteen year career with Syngenta, recently serving as Manager, Toxicology and Health Sciences. He is currently the Vice Chair of the Human Health and Risk Committee (HARC) of Crop Life America and will be become the Committee Chair in January 2011.

Akins is currently living in High Point, North Carolina and will be relocating his family to the Phoenix area later this year.

NovaSource® is Tessenderlo Kerley, Inc.’s business unit, charged with developing, registering, manufacturing and marketing registered pesticides for niche crop protection and specialty markets around the globe (www.novasource.com).

Tessenderlo Kerley, Inc. headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, produces and markets specialty chemical solutions, including fertilizers, crop protection chemicals and process chemicals and services to diverse markets around the globe.  TKI operates 10 manufacturing plants in North America, in addition to an extensive terminal network. (www.tkinet.com) TKI is a subsidiary of the Tessenderlo Group, Brussels, Belgium.

Tessenderlo Group is an international chemicals group with more than 100 branches in 20 countries. Approximately 8,100 people work for the group. The group is a world and European leader in most of its product areas. Tessenderlo Chemie NV is listed on Eurolist by Euronext Brussels and is part of Next 150 and BEL Mid. (www.tessenderlogroup.com)