LUXEMBORG – Ruud Tijssens, Group Director Public & Cooperative Affairs, Royal Agrifirm Group, has been elected as International Feed Industry Federation new Chairman for 2022-2023.
The International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF) is made up of national and regional feed associations, feed related organizations, and corporate members from around the globe, representing over 80% of the feed production worldwide.
Mr. Tijssens has held several leadership positions within IFIF, previously serving as Chair of IFIF’s Sustainability Steering Group as well as a member of the IFIF Executive Committee and the IFIF Board of Directors.
He has more than thirty years of diverse executive experience in the Agri and Food sector, with a focus on Innovation, Research & Development, Management and Governance processes.
Throughout his career, he has served as a Board member and Chairman in a number of foundations, high-level advisory groups and feed industry associations at national and international level.
Mr. Tijssens is currently the Chairman of the Knowledge & Innovation Agenda Mission team on Climate Agreement sub table agriculture & land utilization and finalized recently his advice to the Dutch government as Chairman of the Taskforce Streamlining innovation process stable systems
He succeeds outgoing IFIF Chairman Dr. Daniel Bercovici, who led the Luxembourg-based Federation over the last four years
Delegates at the IFIF 34th General Assembly expect him to bring his longstanding experience both with IFIF as well as international feed industry matters to the role of IFIF Chairman.
“I warmly congratulate Ruud Tijssens on his election as Chairman of IFIF,” said Outgoing IFIF Chairman Dr. Daniel Bercovici, during the handover ceremony.
“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.”
On accepting his two-year term as Chairman, Mr. Tijssens highlighted that “IFF will continue to drive key initiatives, including IFIF’s Nutritional innovation work, capacity development for feed safety programmes, 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 UN 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 appointed Dr. Bruno Kaesler, CEO of Kaesler Nutrition, as the new IFIF Treasurer.
A number of representatives including Mr. Roberto Betancourt, Board Member, Brazilian Feed Industry Association were also elected to the IFIF Board of Directors for the 2022-2023 term.
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