Erik Fyrwald

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Erik Fyrwald

Jon Erik Fyrwald (born July 29, 1959 in West Virginia , United States ) is an American manager and chairman of the executive board of the Syngenta Group , one of the largest providers of agricultural solutions, seeds and crop protection products with headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. Fyrwald has decades of experience in this sector. He is also an executive member of the Group's Board of Directors and President of the non-profit Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture. In addition, Fyrwald is an active member and board member of Breakthrough, a nonprofit organization based in East Garfield Park, Chicago , which works against poverty in the community.

origin

Fyrwald was born in the United States in 1959. There he spent a large part of his childhood and youth. Fyrwald's parents are from Norway .

After school, Fyrwald first studied chemical engineering at the University of Delaware , where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree. He later completed the Advanced Management Program at the renowned Harvard Business School .

Fyrwald is married, has three children and lives in Basel.

Career

DuPont

Fyrwald began his professional career at the chemical company DuPont , which he joined during his studies. During 27 years in this company, he held various management positions in production, sales, marketing and other areas. In 2003, he assumed responsibility for all of DuPont's seeds, crop protection and food ingredients business. He had previously built up this business area significantly, including through the takeover of Pioneer Seeds in 1999. Under Fyrwald's leadership, the company's business area developed into one of the leading providers of agrochemical technology . Parallel to his work for DuPont, Fyrwald was appointed to the board of directors of the international trade association CropLife. He chaired this body for two years.

Nalco, Univar

In 2008, Fyrwald was appointed Chairman of the Management Board and Chairman of the Board of Nalco , a leading global specialist in water treatment . After the takeover by EcoLab in 2011, he moved to the board of directors of the parent company as President. In 2012, Fyrwald joined Univar Solutions , a global chemical wholesaler, as Chairman of the Executive Board .

Syngenta

In 2016 Syngenta announced that Fyrwald would take over the chairmanship of the executive board. The appointment of an external manager attracted particular media attention. The background for his appointment was his many years of experience in the chemical industry and especially in Asia.

Syngenta was taken over by the China National Chemical Corporation , or ChemChina for short, and taken off the stock exchange a year later . Monsanto was previously interested in an acquisition, but it ultimately failed. Fyrwald expressly supported the takeover of Syngenta by the state-owned ChemChina. He thought this was an important step towards more growth in China. The transaction was the largest acquisition by a Chinese company abroad to date. It was completed in May 2017 after approval by the antitrust authorities .

Syngenta enjoys a high degree of independence within the ChemChina group. Under Fyrwalds directed the company to especially the profitability sustainably increase. In 2020, the agrochemical activities of the Chinese chemical company Sinochem and the Israeli pesticide manufacturer Adama were merged under the umbrella of the newly created Syngenta Group . This merger created the world's largest corporation in the field of agricultural technology, which employs 48,000 people in over 100 countries and has a turnover of over 23 billion US dollars. Fyrwald has been appointed CEO of the Syngenta Group, which still has its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland.

There had been criticism of Syngenta's business model in the past. The company was accused of selling highly toxic pesticides as part of the business model. Fyrwald took up this criticism and geared the company more towards the benefits of scientific innovations in the fields of seeds and pesticides as well as digital technologies in the fight against the consequences of climate change. In addition, he appointed someone responsible for sustainability who reports directly to him. Fyrwald sees a “new green revolution” as a prerequisite for global agriculture to master the challenges posed by climate change and to make its contribution to climate protection .

Fyrwald is a member of the board of directors of the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly . He is also a member of the boards of directors of the agricultural company Bunge. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce and is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Farm to Market Alliance of the United Nations World Food Program .

Web links

Commons : Erik Fyrwald  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b J. Erik Fyrwald. World Economic Forum, accessed April 25, 2020 .
  2. ^ A b Henny Sender: Erik Fyrwald: Changing the Image of the Agrochemicals Industry. In: Financial Times. July 28, 2019, accessed April 25, 2020 .
  3. ^ A b Siegried Hofmann, Dana Heide: Syngenta: China forms the largest agrochemical group in the world. In: Handelsblatt. January 6, 2020, accessed April 25, 2020 .
  4. ↑ a b c Profile and Biography. In: Bloomberg. Accessed April 25, 2020 (English).
  5. ^ Syngenta Adds New Directors to the Board. In: Seed World. November 5, 2018, accessed April 25, 2020 .
  6. ^ Julie Pybus: Hidden Power: How Corporate Foundations Can Create Better Capitalism. In: Pioneers Post. September 18, 2019, accessed April 25, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Erik Fyrwald. In: Breakthrough. Retrieved June 9, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Sergio Aiolfi: A late calling . Erik Fyrwald, Syngenta's new boss, took a long time to find the ideal job. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . No. 171 , July 25, 2016, p. 17 ( nzz.ch [accessed June 9, 2020]).
  9. ↑ a b c Stefan Schuppli: The new Syngenta boss comes from the USA. In: Aargauer Zeitung . May 7, 2016.
  10. ↑ Change of chair . In: Handelszeitung . No. 19 , May 12, 2016, pp. 16 .
  11. ↑ J. Erik Fyrwald to be President and CEO of Univar. In: CHEManager International. April 20, 2012, accessed April 25, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Sergio Aiolfi: A Company stranger as the new Syngenta CEO . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . No. 104 , May 6, 2016, p. 29 .
  13. ↑ Sabine Wadewitz: Erik Fyrwald is the new head of Syngenta . In: Börsen-Zeitung . No. 86 , May 6, 2016, p. 16 .
  14. ↑ Michael Baas: Change of boss at Syngenta in Basel . In: Badische Zeitung . May 6, 2016, p. 19 .
  15. ↑ Holger Alich: Syngenta can be bought - in order to remain independent. ChemChina is offering $ 43 billion. In: Handelsblatt. February 3, 2016, accessed April 25, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Siegfried Hofmann, Bert Fröndhoff: The China Factor. Syngenta attacks Bayer in agrochemicals. In: Handelsblatt. July 11, 2017, accessed April 25, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Erik Nolmans: Syngenta and Monsanto: That's why the deal failed. In: Handelszeitung. September 16, 2015, accessed April 25, 2020 .
  18. ↑ Patrik Müller, Andreas Schaffner: "The Chinese think differently." In: Northwestern Switzerland . May 11, 2017 (interview).
  19. ↑ Dominik Feldges: “Chem China does not impose on us.” In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . August 24, 2018, p. 23 (interview).
  20. ↑ Bastian Brinkmann, Caspar Busse: "I learned a lot from the Chinese." In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. February 3, 2019, accessed April 25, 2020 (interview).
  21. ↑ Seraina Gross: “I focus on growth.” In: Handelszeitung . May 11, 2017, p. 15 .
  22. ^ Brian Spegele, Kane Wu: China Sews up Record $ 43 Billion Foreign Takeover Deal but Work Remains. In: The Wall Street Journal. May 5, 2017, accessed April 25, 2020 .
  23. ↑ Andreas Flütsch: Syngenta's infinitely slow China deal . In: Tages-Anzeiger . January 31, 2017, p. 11 .
  24. ↑ ChemChina succeeds in taking over Syngenta . In: Rheinische Post . No. 105 , May 6, 2017, p. 9 .
  25. ↑ Reinhard Kowalewsky: China offers 39 billion for Bayer rivals . In: Rheinische Post . February 4, 2016, p. 8 .
  26. ↑ New Syngenta Group remains loyal to Switzerland. In: Finance and Economy. June 18, 2020, accessed August 18, 2020 .
  27. ^ Syngenta's toxic business model. Public Eye (Bern Declaration), accessed on April 25, 2020 .
  28. ↑ Sven Astheimer, Johannes Ritter: “Let's talk about bees.” In: Frankfurter Allgemeine. April 15, 2019, accessed on April 25, 2020 (interview).
  29. ↑ Sustainability is a top priority - Syngenta creates a new position . In: Basler Zeitung . January 16, 2018, p. 9 .
  30. ^ Board of Directors. Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce, accessed June 4, 2020 .
  31. ^ Farm to Market Alliance. United Nations, accessed June 4, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Fyrwald, Erik
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fyrwald, Jon Erik (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American executive and chairman of the Syngenta Executive Committee
DATE OF BIRTH July 29, 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH West Virginia , United States