OFI Chief Sustainability Officer Roel van Poppel: 4 Things to Know

OFI, a business of the Olam Group, has named Roel van Poppel as chief sustainability officer (CSO).

Here are four things to know about Poppel's expertise and experience, and OFI's sustainability strategy.

1. Business Scope and Scale: OFI (Olam Food Ingredients) was created in early 2020 following a re-organisation of Olam to "unlock and maximise Olam’s long-term value, including an IPO and concurrent demerger." However, Olam delayed the OFI IPO in 2022 amid weak financial markets.

OFI is a global food and beverage ingredient supplier. Much of the focus involves such raw materials and ingredient platforms as cocoa, coffee, dairy, nuts and spices. OFI, backed by roughly 20,000 employees across 50 countries, generates about $11.9 billion in annual revenues.

2. Sustainability Priorities, Goals and Milestones: OFI's overall sustainability strategy is outlined here, but we don't know the company's net-zero deadline goals.

3. Roel van Poppel's Focus and Experience: OFI says Poppel, as chief sustainability officer, will focus on such areas as:

• Strengthening and embedding the OFI sustainability vision, strategy, and goals to deliver positive outcomes for farmer suppliers, customers and wider eco-system partners.
• Partnering with customers and suppliers to drive change and deliver impact up and down the value chain, particularly through AtSource --
• Anticipating and preparing for regulatory changes to provide customers with compliant and reliable supply.
• Engaging wider stakeholder groups and expanding multi-stakeholder partnerships.
• Continuing the development of rigorous tools to address key issues in the food & agri sector.
• Driving robust, transparent, and verifiable reporting.

Poppel previously worked at Olam -- where is was co-founding CEO of Tract, a joint venture set up by multiple companies to share sustainability insights across food and agriculture supply chains. At Olan, he also was president of SustainIt, which allowed food and agriculture supply chains to measure sustainability performance.

4. Executive Perspectives: In a prepared statement about Poppel's role, OFI CEO A. Shekhar said: “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. 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.”

Roel van Poppel added: “It’s a privilege to lead the ofi Sustainability team with its depth of expertise and relentless commitment. 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.”

OFI Chief Sustainability Officer: Why Technology Partners Should Care

By 2027, 25% of Global 2000 companies will have assigned a chief sustainability officer (CSO) responsible for meeting their organization’s ESG goals and making ESG-related IT purchasing decisions, according to IDC.

The bottom line: Technology partners need to extend their sales, marketing, engagement and support strategies to successfully fulfill those CSO customer needs, Sustainable Tech Partner believes.