Syngenta COO John Atkin To Retire At End Of 2014; Names New COO

(RTTNews) - Swiss crop chemicals firm Syngenta (SYT) announced that John Atkin, Chief Operating Officer, will retire from the company at the end of 2014. He will be succeeded by Jon Parr, who will assume responsibility for two of the company's four regions: Europe, Africa and the Middle East and Latin America.

The company stated that North America and Asia Pacific will remain under the leadership of Davor Pisk, Chief Operating Officer.

Jon Parr has served for Syngenta and its legacy companies since 1987. He has broad experience across both crop protection and seeds including commercial and supply chain roles. From 2009 until the end of 2013 he was Regional Director for Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Since the beginning of 2014 he has held the role of Head of Global Crops and Assets, targeting the optimization of global crop and product platforms.

John Atkin is retiring after a formidable 37 year career in agriculture, of which the last 25 have been with Syngenta and its legacy companies as a widely respected authority in the crop protection industry. He has been Chief Operating Officer at Syngenta since the foundation of the company in 2000. Following his retirement from the Syngenta Executive Committee, he will join the Board of the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture. He will also pursue his farming interests in the United Kingdom and will continue as a non-executive director of the fresh fruit company Driscoll's.