LONDON – Roel van Poppel, co-founder of the Olam Group’s sustainability measurement digital platform Tract, has been named chief sustainability officer at OFI, a business of the Olam Group. He will be responsible for OFI’s ability to positively impact its five leading product platforms: cocoa, coffee, dairy, nuts and spices with operations across about 50 countries.
“It’s a privilege to lead the OFI sustainability team with its depth of expertise and relentless commitment,” van Poppel said. “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.”
Van Poppel previously held leadership roles at Cargill and Wild Flavors before joining Olam Group in 2013 as the global commercial lead for its spices business. He then made an internal move to lead the sustainability insights management system AtSource.
OFI aims to source, grow and produce sustainable food ingredients that are good for consumers, farmers and the world, according to the company, and is addressing social and environmental challenges in the food supply chains such as farmer poverty, deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions.
“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,” said A Shekhar, chief executive officer for OFI. “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.”
