Redag Crop Protection doubled the size of its team

Date:06-28-2016

UK agrochemicals company Redag Crop Protection has more than doubled the size of its team based at Alderley Park, Cheshire after a successful fundraising earlier this year.

Redag, which sees major growth opportunities in the sector, is expecting to complete the line-up of its senior team this summer.

Among the senior recruits is highly experienced commercial director Dr Andy Jones.

Jones’ career includes senior roles with Astra Zeneca’s crop protection business and consultants CapGemini Ernst & Young in their life sciences practice.

He then joined and floated a life sciences business on the AIM market, before moving to Arysta Lifesciences, a crop protection business with annual sales in excess of $1.2bn, where he was initially chief executive for Europe and then head of global marketing and R&D.

Jones then set up his own consultancy providing business development advice to the life sciences industry in 2010 and will join the Redag Board later this summer.

The addition of a general manager and Head of Biology and the recruitment of a non-executive director are progressing.

Located within the Biohub at the region’s largest science and innovation campus, Redag’s chief executive Bill Thompson says there was strong demand from scientists based across Europe looking to join the business. More than 50 people applied for the posts advertised.

Thompson said: “We believe Redag is unique in the agrochemicals sector – there are lots of nimble, innovative bio-medical companies of our size, but we don’t know of any other businesses doing what we do in crop protection.

Thompson added: “We have some good momentum in terms of the pipeline and are eagerly looking forward to the remainder of 2016.

“There is significant need for new product innovation in the agrochemicals sector amid changing food requirements and a stringent regulatory environment.

He added: “It has been very pleasing to see the chemistry team come together under Dr Chris Urch, our head of chemistry. We had more than 50 applications for seven jobs and all our new recruits hold PhDs.

“Out of our total team of 12, seven are from the UK and five from European countries. We’ve recruited from as far afield as Germany and Spain and I believe our presence here at this superb facility for science research has been a real lure for us.”