BEIJING, CHINA — Noble Agri announced on May 12 the appointment of Matt Jansen as chief executive officer, effective immediately. Jansen was most recently senior vice-president and president of Archer Daniel Midland’s (ADM) Global Oilseeds business.
 
Jansen also served as ADM’s chief risk officer. ADM said on May 11 that Jansen had left to “pursue an opportunity with another company.”

 
Noble Agri was formed by COFCO after it bought the agricultural arm of Hong Kong-based Noble Group Ltd. COFCO is building a worldwide grain-trading business to compete with the so-called ABCD grain traders of ADM, Bunge Ltd., Cargill and Louis Dreyfus Commodities. COFCO acquired 51% stakes in Noble and Dutch trader Nidera BV.
 
Jansen has a 25-year career in the agriculture industry. He was in charge of ADM’s Brazilian operations for seven years, after which he re-located to North America to take up the role of corporate vice-president, president of ADM’s Grain Group, the largest grain group in North America.
 
Since 2010, Jansen has been responsible for ADM’s Global Oilseeds business, the largest global segment of ADM’s Group operations.
 
“Matt brings with him the depth of knowledge and broad business experience gained through his years’ career in the highly competitive global agribusiness. He is ideally suited to drive the future growth of Noble Agri,” said Frank Ning, chairman of Noble Agri and COFCO.
 
“We chose Matt following an extensive, worldwide recruitment process, not just for his leadership pedigree but also for our shared passion to build a world-leading agribusiness group,” said Yusuf Alireza, CEO of Noble. “He will bring a lot of dedication to the job and I look forward to working with him.”