Dear customers, members, suppliers and colleagues of Royal ZAP and Semagri BV. On behalf of the Royal ZAP Board, we announce Robert Verbruggen as incoming Managing Director starting January 1, 2022.
Following the merger with Semagri BV in 2017, Royal ZAP opened its doors to new markets. The knowledge and our position in the area of starch varieties started to develop, as did the search for our own table varieties. In addition to varieties we grow for trading houses, we also started cultivation of protected varieties. These new developments resulted in the need for change within the organization itself through investments in housing, personnel and materials. The office and shipping facilities moved to the Havenweg in Wieringerwerf while the original business of seed, its handling and processing, maintains its home in van Ewijcksluis, near Anna Paulowna. We also created a new market in Germany, opening a new office in Königsmoos.
Our current Director, Gerard de Geus, mobilized these initial steps to change and the time has now come to further solidify the vision and together build a future for Royal ZAP and Semagri BV. Welcoming Robert Verbruggen as successor, we are looking forward to new opportunities in the agribusiness.
A brief introduction from Robert:
Dear customers, members, suppliers and colleagues:
I hereby would like to quickly introduce myself while I look forward to meeting you in the near future. My name is Robert Verbruggen, born and raised on a farm in the Wieringermeer. I am 47 years old, married to Marjo with two sons Stef (13) and Twan (11) and together we live on an old fruit farm just outside of Dronten.
Starting January 1st I will be Gerard’s successor as Managing Director, looking forward to providing valuable input while overseeing Royal ZAP’s reframed strategy and vision for the future.
I am currently employed at Chrysal International as Retail Channel Manager in Naarden from where I lead a European sales team. Chrysal is a global leader and driving force in the flower and plant industry. This starts from the nursery stage, often directly after harvesting of the flowers, right up until the flowers reach the consumer. After working a wonderful 16 years with this amazing company through different capacities and various international sales functions, I felt it was time for a new challenge.
After obtaining my Bacholer Degree HAS in Leeuwarden and a Master Degree in Food & Agribusiness in Deventer, I started my career with Agrico. For 7 years I worked as Account Manager and later became the Export Manager for CêlaVita. So actually I am quite literally and figuratively going “back to my roots”.
Although I was working in the flower sector, I never ceased to follow the potato world. Through various industry-related literature, which I still receive from my father, I kept and continue to keep up-to-date on recent developments. I am also actively involved in farms of friends and neighbours in the Flevopolder. A lot has changed in the world of farming over the past few years, and more specificically in the growing of potatoes, in terms of innovation, variety development, resistance, and legislation. This will certainly continue in the upcoming years.
It is therefore an honour to be given the opportunity to provide leadership to Royal ZAP and Semagri. Together we will navigate and build an amibitous future ahead.
Robert Verbruggen