MEET THE SPEAKERS

Xavier Roussel

DOLE

Xavier Roussel is chief marketing & sustainability officer at Dole Food Company. He is an experienced marketing and communication director with strong business sense. From the beginning of his career, Xavier’s background has been in sales and operations. His competence has since extended to Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability.

Charles-Henri Deprez

GREENYARD

Charles-Henri Deprez is Greenyard Fresh’s Managing Director since 2020. After graduating with a master’s degree in Applied Economic Sciences, he worked as Project Manager and then as Commercial Director for Expofrut Argentina. In 2015 he joined Greenyard as Financial Director for Bakker Barendrecht, a Dutch Greenyard company. In 2018 he served as Managing Director at Greenyard’s Long Fresh division. After 2 years, he went on fulfilling his current role. Charles-Henri also connects his passion for the fruit and vegetable industry to his professional background by serving as board member for organisations relating to the business.

Maria Wieloch

ICA SWEDEN

Maria Wieloch is head of the category management team for fruit and vegetables at ICA Sweden. With around 1,300 independent stores and a market share of around 36 per cent, ICA is the leading grocery retailer in Sweden. Maria has been in the produce industry for 15 years and has extensive experience in driving sales and a strong passion for working to increase consumption of fruit and vegetables.

Johnathan Sutton

WESTFALIA

Johnathan Sutton is group safety and environmental executive for Westfalia Fruit Group. He is passionate about sustainable agri-food production and the connection with the consumer. After studying agriculture in the UK, Jonathan has worked across both retail and supplier businesses, most recently joining Westfalia in 2020 to drive the group’s sustainability agenda across the global business.

Avnish Malde

WEALMOOR

Avnish Malde is CEO of Wealmoor a UK fruit importer with its own growing operations in several countries including Peru and The Gambia where it grows and exports mangoes and other exotics. The company works with long term grower partnerships worldwide in mangoes and tropicals which Avnish has been instrumental in developing. He is involved in all aspects of the business from selecting and developing farming operations and growers, to strategic business planning with retail clients and building sustainable supply chains.

Simon Derrik

BLUE SKIES

Simon is head of sustainability at Blue Skies, a fresh-cut fruit enterprise with processing operations in Ghana, South Africa, Egypt, Benin, Brazil and the UK. Its ‘impact’ based business model is built on the idea of adding value at source so it can return more benefit to producer countries and deliver prepared fruit products of optimal maturity and ripeness. This model has sustainability principles embedded in its core values, which has enabled the business to achieve four Queen’s Awards for Sustainable Development.

Cindy van Rijswick

RABOBANK

Cindy is global strategist for fresh produce at Rabobank. She is responsible for setting and executing the research agenda for Fruits, Vegetables, and Floriculture sectors within the global RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness team. She and her team publish research that is relevant to Fresh Produce companies worldwide, both in the corporate and rural domains. The research covers a wide range of topics including the greenhouse industry, sustainability, robotics in horticulture, berries and the global avocado market. Cindy has over 20 years of experience in research and has been a speaker at various fresh produce industry events.

Desmond Jas

OLYMPIC FRUIT

Desmond Jas is head of sales and marketing at Dutch importer Olympic Fruit. He is a sales and marketing professional with over 30 years of experience and has been involved in the fruit and vegetable industry since 2010 when he started working for a leading aubergine producer in the Netherlands.

Benito Orihuel

CITROSOL

Benito Orihuel is postharvest advisor at Citrosol, having previously been CEO of the postharvest solutions company for 12 years until his retirement last year. After graduating in chemistry, he did an MSc in plant physiology and biochemistry, and later obtained a doctorate in postharvest biology and technology. Citrosol develops a range of innovative products and postharvest systems. Orihuel has published ten scientific papers, along with several articles in popular science and technology magazines.

Clara Chico

ASPROCAN

Clara Chico is market technician at Canary Island banana association Asprocan. She is responsible for market strategy for Spain , as well as the development of new international markets for Canary Island bananas.

Daria Reisch

AGRINORM

Daria Reisch is an agri-food expert with more than a decade of experience in the sector. As co-founder and CEO of Agrinorm, she applies her deep understanding of fresh produce supply chains to promote sustainability and innovation in the field.

Jorge Ignacio Brotóns

BONNYSA

Jorge Brotóns is commercial director at Bonnysa Agroalimentaria. He has been involved in the agricultural sector since he was very young, and has extensive experience of the entire production process, from seed to fork. Jorge advocates for efficiency, quality and sustainability in agriculture.

Kaushal Khakhar

KAY BEE EXPORTS

Kaushal Khakhar is CEO of Kay Bee Exports, India’s largest exporter of fresh produce to Europe and North America. Kay Bee had adopted a full vertical integration business model focusing on food safety and sustainability. Kay Bee specialises in mangoes, pomegranates, baby corn and tropical fruits and vegetables.

Lieselot van der Veken

PRO TERRA AGRO

Lieselot Van der Veken is as an ecologist and tropical agronomist whose goal is to promote more sustainable, regenerative production systems. She is founder of Pro Terra Agro, a consultancy that seeks to empower farmers become more sustainable with tools from nature. Lieselot has a PhD in increasing system resilience through beneficial soil microbiology.

Roland Wirth

FRIGOTEC

Technical director in company Frigotec GmbH with over 30 years of experience in fruit ripening business. Developing and marketing of innovative and novel technologies to improve exotic fruit ripening quality.

Tineke Van de Voorde

PORT OF ANTWERP

Tineke Van de Voorde is key account manager, shippers and forwarders, at the Port of Antwerp. She has over 17 years experience in supply chains, including the past seven at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges. Tineke is known for bringing together communities around the table to establish continuous improvements in the maritime supply chain, specifically at port level where many different stakeholders need to work together in order to create smooth supply chains.

Peter Bouman

Fruit Market International BV (FMI)

Peter Bouman is director and co-owner of FMI, a Dutch family company dedicated to the import and distribution of Limes, Lemons and Ginger. Over the past 10 years, FMI has grown into one of Europe’s leading importers of fresh Limes. FMI also has offices in Brazil and in Spain. Peter has more than 25 years of experience in the import business of fresh fruit.