Swiss agri firm taps Filipino to head Asian operations

MANILA, Philippines—Syngenta, a leading agribusiness firm based in Switzerland, recently announced its decision to assign the head of its Philippine operations to lead its growth and market expansion strategy for the Northeast Asian market.

Syngenta has named Jose Valmayor, current Syngenta Philippines Inc. president, as head of customer marketing for Northeast Asia. Valmayor will be based in Japan and will cover the operations of the firm in that country, South Korea and Taiwan.

As head of Syngenta Philippines, Valmayor gained market leadership for its newly introduced brands and led the successful startup of its new divisions. He integrated the firm’s crop protection and seed businesses in the country and achieved a 40-percent increase in sales from 2011 to 2013.

Prior to his assignment in the Philippines, Valmayor was head of marketing for Syngenta Vietnam, general manager of Syngenta Taiwan and worked as product manager covering Asia-Pacific countries. He was also previously assigned as head of marketing for Australia and New Zealand.

Valmayor obtained his Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Business from the University of the Philippines-Los Baños where he graduated cum laude.

He earned his master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School.

Syngenta, with more than 27,000 employees in over 90 countries, is ranked among the Financial Times’ global index of the top 500 most important companies in the world.