Ruud Tijssens elected as new chairman for 2022-23
The International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF) has elected Ruud Tijssens, group director, public and cooperative affairs, Royal Agrifirm Group, as its chairman for 2022-23 by delegates at IFIF’s 34th General Assembly held virtually on September 21.
Outgoing IFIF Chairman Dr. Daniel Bercovici, who led the federation over the past four years, handed over the IFIF chairmanship at the General Assembly, where he welcomed the new chairman.
“I warmly congratulate Ruud Tijssens on his election as chairman of IFIF,” he said. “We are at a critical phase of implementing IFIF’s strategy in the face of important global challenges and opportunities in the feed and food chain, and I believe Ruud is well placed to successfully lead the Federation to contribute to the growth of a sustainable feed industry worldwide.”
Tijssens thanked Bercovici for “his outstanding leadership of IFIF over the last four years under which IFIF experienced strong growth in strategic projects and deeper relationships with international stakeholders while attracting a range of new members from across the globe.”
He also thanked “all IFIF members for their contributions to our success, which strengthens IFIF as the united voice of the global feed industry to promote and support sustainable, safe, nutritious and affordable food for a growing world population.”
On accepting his two-year term as chairman, Tijssens said that “through IFIF’s efforts and partnerships we continue our clear focus on IFIF’s three strategic pillars, including regulatory to promote a balanced regulatory framework and support the dynamic pace of innovation, sustainability with science-based standards to contribute to the measurement and management of the feed and livestock sector footprint, as well as education and best practices. We will continue to drive key initiatives, including IFIF’s Nutritional innovation work, capacity development for feed safety programs, as well as the IFIF FAO International Feed Regulators Meeting (IFRM) series.”
He added “as we work together closely with our global partners and stakeholders to support the sustainable development of animal production and the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, IFIF will continue to champion science-based decisions, the need for continued innovation and better technologies, as well as regulatory convergence and free and fair trade.”
In addition, delegates to the IFIF 34th Annual General Assembly elected Bruno Kaesler, CEO of Kaesler Nutrition, as the new IFIF treasurer, as well as the representatives and organizations to the IFIF board of directors for the 2022-23 term.
- Roberto Betancourt, board member, Brazilian Feed Industry Association (Sindirações)
- Michael Binder, vice president sustainability development, Evonik Industries AG
- Asbjørn Børsting, president, European Feed Manufacturers’ Federation (FEFAC)
- De Wet Boshoff, executive director, Animal Feed Manufacturers Association (AFMA), South Africa
- David Bray, president, Stock Feed Manufacturers’ Council of Australia (SFMCA) and Feed Ingredients & Additives Association of Australia (FIAAA)
- Frank Chmitelin, executive vice president, sales, marketing and customer success, Adisseo
- Frédérique Clusel, managing director, Phileo Lesaffre Animal Care
- Constance Cullman, president and CEO, American Feed Industry Association (AFIA)
- Melissa Dumont, executive director, Animal Nutrition Association of Canada (ANAC)
- Bruno Kaesler, managing director, Kaesler Nutrition GmbH
- Adriano Marcon, president and group leader, Cargill Animal Nutrition
- Nicolas Martin, sustainability and public affairs director, METEX NØØVISTAGO
- Colm Moran, director European regulatory affairs, Alltech
- David Nickell, vice president sustainability and business solutions, DSM
- Joerg Seifert, secretary general, EU Association of Specialty Feed Ingredients and their Mixtures (FEFANA)
- Jesse Sevcik, senior director global government affairs, Elanco Animal Health
- Reinder Sijtsma, director government relations and regulatory affairs, Nutreco
- Ruud Tijssens, group director public and cooperative affairs, Royal Agrifirm Group
- Zongli Wang, secretary general, China Feed Industry Association (CFIA)
