People: New appointments at Aviagen

Aviagen, has announced a restructuring of the global executive management team with the appointment of two new presidents. Ivan Pupo Lauandos becomes President of the Latin America Business, and Tom Exley becomes President of Asia, Turkey, the Middle East and Africa.

Tom and Ivan will both report to Bob Dobbie, President of International Business, and join Aviagen’s executive management board. Commenting on the appointments, Bob Dobbie said:

“Over the past 10 years we have seen consistent growth across our markets in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America; this restructure is aimed at continuing that growth pattern. We have created two new positions, which will enable Aviagen to concentrate on the strategic development within these regions.”

Ivan Lauandos graduated as an agronomist from the School of Agriculture at the University of Sao Paulo (USP) in 1980 and an MBA in management from FEA-USP (Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy) in 1996. He was Director of Operations at Carborundum between 1983 and 1997 and was chairman of DNMA (National Bureau of Agricultural Machinery in Brazil).

Between 1997 and 2007, he was the Managing Director of Agroceres Ross, the former joint venture between Aviagen and Agroceres. From 2007 onwards, with the acquisition of the assets of Agroceres Ross by Aviagen, Ivan was the General Director.

Tom Exley attended Harper Adams Agricultural College in Shropshire, England and graduated with a National Diploma in Poultry. Tom then joined Ross Breeders Ltd in 1990 where he worked in the pedigree production department. He also gained experience in the company’s internal great grandparent (GGP) operation before becoming an International Technical Service Manager in 1997, working with customers in Scandinavia, Greece and Iran.

In 2000 Tom took over as Regional Technical Manager for Turkey, the Middle East and Africa and helped build the initial team in the region before he assumed the role of Business Manager some four years later. More recently, in 2009, Tom was promoted to the role of Vice-President of International Business, fully responsible for the region and part of the senior management team for Asia, Turkey, the Middle East and Latin America.

“I have appreciated my career with Ross and now Aviagen in what has been an exciting and very motivating period to have grown up in the business and the industry during a time of tremendous expansion and opportunity. Also, to have been part of a team responsible for achieving the business goals in the growth area of the world adds to the experience. We have a recognised and well established business in the region and I look forward to meeting the challenges and finding our way forward in the future,” added Tom Exley.