ofi aims to scale positive impact with appointment of chief sustainability officer

ofi, a leading supplier of naturally good food and beverage ingredients, is pleased to announce Roel van Poppel as its chief sustainability officer. He will take responsibility for scaling ofi’s ability to drive positive impact across its five leading product platforms - cocoa, coffee, dairy, nuts, and spices, with operations across ~50 countries. He will report directly to chief executive officer A. Shekhar and be a member of the Corporate Leadership Team. 

Roel is an industry leader with extensive experience across both ingredients and sustainability. This includes senior leadership roles at Cargill and Wild Flavors before joining ofi’s parent company Olam Group in 2013 as the global commercial lead for its spices business. He then moved internally to lead the growth of the award-winning sustainability insights management system AtSource. Most recently, Roel was seconded by Olam Group as a co-founder of the wider industry-led sustainability measurement digital platform TRACT.   

ofi aims to source, grow, and produce sustainable food ingredients that are good for consumers, farmers and the world around us. Along with his leadership team, Roel will bring further focus to ofi’s rich experience and deep expertise in addressing the multiple social and environmental challenges in food supply chains such as farmer poverty, deforestation, and greenhouse gas emissions. His key areas of focus will include: 

• Strengthening and embedding the ofi sustainability vision, strategy, and goals to deliver positive outcomes for farmer suppliers, customers and wider eco-system partners.

• Partnering with customers and suppliers to drive change and deliver impact up and down the value chain, particularly through AtSource.

• Anticipating and preparing for regulatory changes to provide customers with compliant and reliable supply.

• Engaging wider stakeholder groups and expanding multi-stakeholder partnerships.

• Continuing the development of rigorous tools to address key issues in the food & agri sector.

• Driving robust, transparent, and verifiable reporting. 

Commenting on the appointment, ofi chief executive officer, A. Shekhar said, “Sustainability sits at the heart of ofi’s business model so that we can partner with customers who want their products to benefit farmers and the planet. Roel brings the perfect mix of strategic vision, business acumen and commercial leadership to inspire the whole of ofi to continually deliver on our purpose to Be the Change for Good Food and a Healthy Future.”

Roel van Poppel added, “It’s a privilege to lead the ofi Sustainability team with its depth of expertise and relentless commitment. My mission is to grow the reach of ofi’s programs even further, collaborating with customers and suppliers on the ground to drive positive impact. Together, we will ignite greater opportunities and game-changing outcomes for ofi and our partners.”