Syngenta Canada introduces leadership team for integrated organization

Date:08-24-2011

Earlier this year, Syngenta announced a new, integrated business model, combining its crop protection and seeds businesses globally. Today, Syngenta Canada introduces a core leadership team to drive the business forward. They include the following appointments:

• Jay Bradshaw, President
• Trevor Heck, Head, Marketing
• Duane Johnson, Head, Commercial Unit (Western Canada)
• David Stanley, Head, Commercial Unit (Eastern Canada)
• Scott Ewert, Manager, Seed Care

According to Syngenta Canada President Jay Bradshaw, this is an opportunity to look at the agricultural marketplace in an entirely new way. Taking a crop-centric view will allow Syngenta to more effectively target technology and solutions development to emerging agronomic needs and ultimately help its channel partners and Canadian growers be more successful.

"Our goal is to ‘think like a grower,’ taking into account each of the various factors that help bring plant potential to life,” Bradshaw explains. “Our focus is on crops and grower solutions. We believe it is imperative to truly understand what a grower faces each day in producing a great crop, then bring that insight back into the organization and say, 'There’s an unmet need here that I think we can address.’ The knowledge we gain by understanding how growers think and what their needs truly are, will expand our ability to create new solutions for them.”

He adds that, by thinking holistically about the agronomics of farming, Syngenta will identify new opportunities to create value for partners, customers and growers. “For example, in the past, vulnerability to disease or environmental stress might have prevented bringing a specific hybrid to market,” Bradshaw says. “Now, if a crop protection or seed care product is identified that can help overcome that vulnerability, there is a new ability to improve both the product offering and bring the hybrid to market because you can leverage the science and technology in an integrated and more effective manner. This is not just about integrating the sales team or the commercial organization. It is about the whole business orienting itself around this new mindset.”

Bradshaw says that nothing about its new strategy changes the fundamental approach Syngenta takes to the market or its customer relationships, though. “We want to add value to our customers and enhance our business relationship with them,” he says. “We see this organizational change as a means to reach these goals.”