At an Extraordinary General Shareholders’ Meeting on Monday 16 July 2018, Gaoning “Frank” Ning was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr Ning was recently appointed Chairman of ChemChina. Since December 2015 Mr Ning has also served as Chairman of the Sinochem Group. Prior to this Mr Ning was Chairman of COFCO and Vice Chairman and President of China Resources (Holdings) Co. Ltd. Mr Ning is Co-chair of APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC), Chairman of APEC China Business Council and an Executive Director of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). Mr Ning has an MBA from the Business School of University of Pittsburgh in the United States and is a certified senior international business engineer.
Jürg Witmer, Lead Independent Director of Syngenta AG said: “I would like to thank Chairman Ren for his outstanding contribution to Syngenta. Chairman Ren will be remembered as the principal architect of the successful acquisition of Syngenta by ChemChina and this has been instrumental in securing the long term future of the company. We are very happy to welcome Mr Ning as a highly experienced senior business leader with deep insights into the dynamics of the Chinese market and with extensive experience in the management of very successful agriculture and chemical companies.”