Syngenta announces key leadership appointments, supporting continued growth and investment in North America Seeds business

Syngenta Tuesday announced strategic leadership appointments supporting the growth and investment in its North America and global Seeds business.

David Hollinrake, currently regional director North America Seeds, is appointed head global Seeds Strategy and Portfolio. In his new role, David will lead long-term strategy development and planning for the global Seeds business to continue to deliver increased choice and innovative products for growers, with primary focus on the important U.S. seeds market.

David joined Syngenta in 2017 and brings nearly 30 years of experience in agriculture with numerous senior leadership roles in business development, strategic and product planning, and sales and marketing at Bayer Monsanto, Solae and Adayana Incorporated.

“Since joining Syngenta, David has led our $400M investment in the U.S. Seeds business, including a new $30M corn Trait Accelerator facility in Nampa, Idaho, a 15% increase in R&D in corn and soybean, and increased trialing to meet the needs of farmers locally. He has significantly increased the number of people providing deep agronomic advice to farmers on the ground, and built our digital agronomy capabilities,” said Jeff Rowe, president Syngenta Seeds. “David’s laser focus on meeting customer needs and deep agriculture experience makes him the perfect fit to lead the development of our long-term global strategy.”

Justin Wolfe, currently regional director for Europe, Africa and Middle East (EAME) Seeds, is appointed regional director North America Seeds. Justin joined Syngenta in 2018 and has over 26 years of agricultural industry experience. Prior to joining Syngenta in 2018, Justin was with Monsanto for over 20 years, most recently as vice president Europe and Middle East Commercial Operations.

“U.S. farmers are the most productive in the world. Justin’s depth of experience and strong leadership will enable us to continue to drive our investment to do more for U.S. farmers to give them the world-leading products, service and innovation they need to thrive," said Rowe. "Based at our global and North America Seeds headquarters in Illinois, at the heart of the U.S. Corn Belt, Justin will focus on expanding the choice and quality of products we offer in North America, leveraging our broad germplasm pool – now one of the broadest in the industry – and offering growers digital platforms like E-Luminate^® seed placement tool to increase return on investment and building our team of agronomists standing side-by-side with U.S. farmers.”

The Syngenta EAME Seeds region will now be led by Gaël Hili, currently Syngenta Crop Protection head East Europe.

All appointments will be effective June 15, and all three individuals will report to Jeff Rowe.