CEO at JBS

Gilberto holds a degree in mechanical engineering and a postgraduate degree in management. He has extensive experience in, and knowledge of, the food industry. He worked at Sadia for 27 years, where he started as a trainee and rose to become the CEO.

He served for three years as Vice President of Bunge for South and Central America. He joined JBS as Global President of the poultry business in 2013, and led the establishment of Seara Alimentos as CEO. In 2015, he was named President of JBS’ Global Operations, from 2017 to 2018 served as the Company’s Global Chief Operating Officer and, in 2018, he was appointed as Global CEO – Chief Executive Officer of JBS S.A. In 2013, he was appointed as Chairman of the Board of Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation.

CEO, AGRA

Dr. Kalibata has served as the President of AGRA since 2014, where she leads the organization’s efforts with public and private partners to ensure a food secure and prosperous Africa through rapid, inclusive, sustainable agricultural growth, improving the productivity and livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers in Africa.

From 2019-2021, Dr. Kalibata also served as the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the 2021 Food Systems Summit, a catalytic process at the start of the Decade of Action to improve food systems around the world to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Paris Agreement.

Prior to joining AGRA, Dr. Kalibata was Rwanda’s Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) from 2008 to 2014, where she drove programs that moved her country from a food insecure to a food secure status and became a reference point for other countries that sought to deliver agriculture transformation.

Dr. Kalibata also sits on various boards, councils and commissions including the Global Commission on Adaptation, the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, the Global Panel for Agriculture & Food Systems for Nutrition, the Global Agriculture & Food Security Program (GAFSP), the Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum, the Malabo-Montpellier Panel, the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions and the Global Commission on Climate Overshoot, among others.

Dr. Kalibata has a distinguished track record as an agricultural scientist, policymaker and thought leader, and she holds a doctorate in Entomology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is recipient of many prestigious awards including but not limited to the Yara Prize, now the Africa Food Prize, in 2012, an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Liège in 2018, an Honorary Doctorate from McGill University in 2019, and the National Academy of Sciences’ Public Welfare Medal in April 2019 for her work to drive Africa’s agricultural transformation through modern sciences and effective policy thereby improving livelihoods of smallholder farmers.

In 2022, she received an Award from World Farmers Organization recognizing her leadership in mobilizing farmers’ contribution to the Food Systems Summit. She was also feted by Prince Albert II of Monaco for leading efforts towards Africa’s food security and prosperity through inclusive and sustainable agricultural growth to secure livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers since 2014.

In 2023, Dr. Kalibata was appointed to the Advisory Committee of the 28th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). As a member of the COP28 President’s Advisory Committee, Dr. Kalibata will contribute to the development and implementation of strategies to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Chairman, COFCO Corporation

Mr. Jun LYU graduated from China Agricultural University with a master’s degree in Agricultural Engineering. His career at COFCO started in 1993. He was the Vice President of COFCO before he joined Sinograin in 2013, where he would later become their chairman. He returned to COFCO in 2018 and has been the Corporation's Chairman ever since.

Chairman of the Board CropLife

Livio Tedeschi was born in Frosinone, Italy in 1971. Livio holds an Executive MBA from ESSEC Business School (France); carried out post-doctoral studies in Organic Chemistry at the Imperial College London (UK); holds a PhD in Organic Synthesis from RWTH-Aachen (Germany) as well as a Master of Science in Chemistry from La Sapienza University in Rome (Italy). He is married.

Prior to his current role, Livio held several leadership positions at BASF Group, including as Senior Vice President of Agricultural Solutions Europe; Vice President of Global Strategic Marketing Insecticides (Agricultural Solutions division); Director of Innovation Strategy (Corporate Strategy division); Head of Marketing (Chemical Intermediates division), Head of Marketing and Product Manager (Agricultural Solutions division) and Team Leader (Global Research).

Chairman, Grupo Roncador

Pelerson Penido Dalla Vecchia is an entrepreneur, whose career was developed since he was 14 years old.

He gained experience by overcoming challenges and achieving success through the constant pursuit of information and knowledge, connecting with people and organizations that could assist in his growth both personally and professionally.

His key feature is his tireless effort towards coherence, ethics, and economic, social, and environmental sustainability. Emphasized in every initiative, value, and principle that guide Grupo Roncador, where he is President.

His particular focus in people lead him to invite specialized advisors in the field to further strengthen this pilar, that holds such and important and indispensable role within the organization, assisting with strategic decision-making in Management.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, PepsiCo

Ramon Laguarta is the Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo. PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $91 billion in net revenue in 2023, driven by a complementary beverage and convenient foods portfolio that includes Lay's, Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Mountain Dew, Quaker, and SodaStream. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including many iconic brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

Ramon, a 25-year PepsiCo veteran, has served as CEO since 2018, and Chairman of the Board since 2019. As Chairman and CEO, he has begun pivoting the company toward accelerated growth, embracing a new corporate mission—to Create More Smiles with Every Sip and Every Bite—and adopting a new vision that captures PepsiCo’s competitive spirit, intense focus, and shared values: to Be the Global Leader in Beverages and Convenient Foods by Winning with PepsiCo Positive (pep+). pep+ is our strategic end-to-end transformation that puts sustainability and human capital at the center of how we will create value and growth by operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring positive change for planet and people.

To help achieve these aims, Ramon is positioning the company to become Faster, Stronger, and Better: Faster by being more consumer-centric and investing to accelerate topline growth and winning in the marketplace; Stronger by transforming its capabilities and culture, with a focus on digitalizing the company, embracing new ways of working, and developing talent; and Better by continuing to integrate Purpose into its business strategy and brands, while advancing social equity in the company and its communities.

As part of this drive to build a Better company, Ramon has pushed PepsiCo to embrace a bold purpose—helping to build a more sustainable food system—with a focus on becoming PepsiCo Positive by delivering better outcomes for people and the planet. As part of this agenda, Ramon has spearheaded PepsiCo’s ambitious steps to mitigate the impacts of climate change and the visionary Beyond the Bottle strategy, which aims to offer consumers a range of great-tasting beverages, while making the company’s packaging more sustainable and fueling future growth. This strategy includes the acquisition of SodaStream, the world's leader in at-home sparkling beverage preparation, and complements the company’s sustainable packaging vision, including efforts to develop fully recyclable or compostable packaging materials.

Under Ramon’s leadership, the company is also adopting new leadership behaviors that are focused on driving high performance and building competitive advantage. These behaviors include: be consumer-centric; act as owners; focus and get things done fast; voice opinions fearlessly, raise the bar on talent and diversity; celebrate success; and act with integrity.

Prior to becoming CEO, Ramon was President of PepsiCo. In this role, he was responsible for shaping the company’s corporate strategy, working closely with business units to deliver top-line growth, driving productivity to enable this growth, and investing in new areas of disruptive innovation. In this capacity he oversaw PepsiCo's Global Category Groups; its Global Operations, Corporate Strategy, and Public Policy & Government Affairs functions; and The PepsiCo Foundation.

Between 2015 and 2017, Ramon served as Chief Executive Officer of the sector formerly known as Europe Sub-Saharan Africa (ESSA), one of PepsiCo’s most complex businesses, with responsibility for leading the company’s beverage, food and snacks business in Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. In that role, he successfully transformed ESSA’s beverage portfolio, developed the company’s juice business, and advanced the company’s sustainability mission.

Prior to serving as CEO of ESSA, Ramon held a variety of positions of increasing responsibility in Europe, including leading the acquisition and successful integration of the company’s dairy business in Russia. Before joining PepsiCo in 1996, he worked for Chupa Chups, S.A., a Spanish leading confectionery company, where he held a number of international roles in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States.

In addition to being a member of the PepsiCo Board of Directors, Ramon also currently serves as a director of Visa Inc. He also currently serves as the Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Board of Stewards for the Food Systems Initiative.

Ramon is a native of Barcelona and holds an MBA from ESADE Business School in Spain and a Master’s in International Management (M.M.) from Thunderbird School of Global Management. He and his wife, Maria, are the proud parents of three sons.

Head of Crop Science Division and Member of the Board of Management, Bayer

Rodrigo Santos has been a member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG since January 1, 2022, and is Head of the Crop Science Division. He is also responsible for the Latin America and Africa regions on the Group Board of Management.

Santos was born on May 28, 1973, in Brazil. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Engineering from Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz - ESALQ/USP and a Master of Business Administration from FGV/Ohio University.

Santos has more than 25 years of experience working in the crop science business: he started as sales representative in 1995, joined Monsanto in 1999 and recently served as Chief Operating Officer at Bayer’s Crop Science Division. During those years he held different positions in sales, marketing, market development and strategy, leading organizations in Brazil, Latin America, Europe and in US.

He represents Bayer at CropLife International, the World Economic Forum and the Imagine.one industry network. In addition, he is a member of the Greater St Louis Inc.

Rodrigo Santos is married and has three children.