RTRS EXECUTIVE BOARD

The Executive Board was elected on May 9 by the General Assembly. The Executive Board is the representation of the membership of the RTRS Association and is composed of members from the three constituencies of the RTRS (Producers, NGOs and Industry, Finance and Trade).

The current President is Christopher Wells of ABN AMRO. There are four Vice Presidents. They represent ABIOVE, Desarrollo Agrícola del Paraguay, Grupo Maggi, and WWF. The RTRS Treasurer is Jeroen Douglas of Solidaridad.

Current Executive Board

· FUNDAPAZ The Foundation for the Development in Justice and Peace (FUNDAPAZ) was born in Vera, Santa Fe, in 1973. Its mission is to promote the development of people and deprived rural communities in the north of Argentina. The goals of the institution are to encourage the participation of families and organizations of "criollos" (natives of Argentina) and aborigines for their sustainable and integral development, to support them financial and technically as their look for alternatives of production, and to facilitate the processes of communication, capacitating, and exchange among the groups. Currently, the institution helps 3.500 families in Santa Fe, Santigo del Estero and Salta. Contact: Juan Luis Díaz, Managing Director E-mail: juanluisdiaz@fundapaz.org.ar

· SOLIDARIDAD Solidaridad is a church-linked development-aid agency based in the Netherlands. Over the last twenty years Solidaridad has built a strong track record in the field of Fair-trade and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The organization is specialized in building sustainable supply chains with relevant stakeholders. This is supported by farmer-to-consumer campaigns. Operational areas are coffee, tropical fruits, cotton/textiles, bio energy and soy. Contact: Jeroen Douglas

· WWF WWF International WWF, the World Wide Fund for Nature is one of the world's largest and most respected independent conservation organizations. Founded in 1961 WWF now has almost five million supporters distributed throughout five continents. WWF has a global network active in over 90 countries. WWF has worked to conserve nature and ecological processes through a combination of action on the ground, national and international advocacy work to establish appropriate policies, and international campaigns to highlight and demonstrate solutions to crucial environmental problems. WWF's involvement in the RTRS comes through the Forest Conversion Initiative, a global effort to halt the conversion of high conservation value forests to soy fields and to make soy production more sustainable. Contact: Luis Laranja, Coordinator of the Agriculture and Environment Program E-Mail: laranja@wwf.org.br

· ABIOVE The Associação Brasileira das Indústrias de Óleos Vegetais (Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries) was formed in 1981 and has 12 members companies who are responsable for approximately 72 percent of Brazil's soybean processing volume. ABIOVE's objective is to represent the vegetable oil industries, cooperate with the Brazilian government as regards policies related to this sector, promote Brazilian products, support its members, generate statistics and prepare sectorial studies. The vegetable oil industries also produce other several items for the food industry, such as fat, margarine and vegetable cremes, lecithin, tocoferol and proteins.

· BANCO ABN-AMRO ABN-AMRO is the largest bank in the Netherlands with offices in 60 countries around the world.  It has a major presence in Brazil, via Banco Real and Sudameris banks, in the United States, via La Salle and Standard Federal banks, and in Italy, via Banco Antonveneta. ABN-AMRO is one of the leading financial institutions in the field of sustainability, among the top ranked banks in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, and one of the authors of the Equator Principles.  ABN AMRO has a growing set of policies regarding loans to high-impact sectors in industry, agriculture and services, including a stringent policy regarding loans to the forest products industry.  Contact: Christopher Wells

· COOP Switzerland (Suiza) Coop is the Swiss retailer with the greatest diversity of ranges, products and brands. It’s environmentally and socially responsible flagship labels make it a pioneer in Switzerland for environmentally friendly, humane and socially accountable products. In 1993, Coop became the first big retailer to introduce organic products bearing the BIO SUISSE bud label. Now it is the biggest retailer of organic products in Europe. Additionally, Coop is the world’s biggest retailer of organic cotton produced under fair-trade conditions and a world player in the field of fair-trade products. The Coop Naturaplan Fund provides backing to the tune of 10 million Swiss francs for ten years to projects and activities that focus on sustainability. Contact: Brigit Hofer

· NUTRECO HOLDING N.V. Nutreco N.V. is an international animal feed and fish feed company whose mission is to create added value in important markets on the basis of its food chain expertise. Nutreco also has a selective downstream presence in the food production chain. Nutreco´s business groups, each comprising several business units, together have approximately 75 production and processing plants in some different countries and about 7,000 employes. Nutreco´s  net sales in 2005 were EUR 3,002 million. Nutreco Holding N.V. is listed on the Official market of Euronex Amsterdam and is included in the Amsterdam Midcap Index and the Euronext 150 Index. Contact: Jan Nicolai, Purchasing Manager E-Mail: jan.nicolai@nutreco.com

· UNILEVER (Holanda) Unilever is an Anglo-Dutch manufacturer of branded fast moving consumer goods. Unilever has operations in over 100 countries and sells products in over 150 countries.  Unilever’s mission is to add Vitality to life. We meet everyday needs for nutrition; hygiene and personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life.  Our brands include icons such as Knorr, Dove, Hellmann’s, Surf, Lipton, Sunsilk and Axe.  Unilever’s 2006 turnover was 40 b €. Contact: Jan Kees Vis

· GRUPO ANDRÉ MAGGI (Brasil) Brazilian producer based in the Mato Grosso region. The group processes above 3,000 tons/day of soybean and produces nearly 400,000 tons per year. Contact: Ocimar de Camargo Villela

· FUNDAÇÃO DE APOIO À PESQUISA AGROPECUÁRIA DE MATO GROSSO (Fundação MT) - Produtor The Foundation of Support to the Farming Research of Mato Grosso (MT Foundation) is a private organization of research for the development of new forms of cultivation for soy and cotton. Its mission “Improving people’s lifes through development of technologies applied to agriculture” explains the objective for which the company was created by a group of 23 producers in 1993. One of the main concerns of the institution is making possible that the production of Mato Grosso has logistic support accompanied with the development of research and new technologies, with the use of good agricultural practices, social and environmental responsibility. Contact: Dario Minoru Hiromoto, Jefe Ejecutivo. E-mail: dariohiromoto@fundacaomt.com.br

· GRUPO DAP Grupo DAP is an agricultural enterprise in Paraguay with international investment that, since its foundation, in 2005, has been operating with three lines of outcomes – long-term profitability, environmental care and social inclusion – for the sustainable production of raw materials for food and power. Through capital investment in the region, Grupo DAP promotes a process of continuous and dynamic learning geared to attaining a model of locally applicable sustainable development with a regionally-oriented scope. Contact: Guillermo Terol, Social and Environmental Manager E-mail: gterol@dap.com.py

· APROSOJA (Producer) APROSOJA stands for Associação dos Produtores de Soja do Estado do Mato Grosso (Mato Grosso´s State Association of Soybean Producers) was formed in 2005 and has about 2.000 members who are responsable for approximately 25 percent of Brazil's soybean production. APROSOJA represents Mato Grosso´s soybean farmers and its primary focus is to develop and implement strategies that improve farmers´ sustainability in the environmental, social and economic fields.  APROSOJA does this by identifying policy, technology, management and marketing gaps and working on these strategic issues with the support of specialists.  It also meets with the media, government and other associations/companies do discuss policies and strategies. Contact: Marcelo Duarte Monteiro, Executive Director E-mail: marcelo@aprosoja.com.br

The RTRS Interim Executive Board November 2006 – May 2007:

In November 2006, at the meeting held in Rolle (Switzerland) the former OC decided to establish RTRS as a civil association under Swiss Law, open to membership for stakeholders and parties willing to promote the goals of the RTRS. During this meeting, RTRS elected Christopher Wells (ABN-AMRO) as President, and Jeroen Douglas (Solidaridad) as Treasurer, to act as the Association’s interim authorities until the First General Assembly, held in May 2007. An Interim Executive Board was established consisting of 12 seats (4 for each constituency), out of which 10 were filled.

Former Members of the RTRS Interim Executive Board:

• AAPRESID (Producer)
• Grupo André Maggi (Producer)
• ABN AMRO Bank (Finance, Trade and Industry)
• ABIOVE (Finance, Trade and Industry)
• UNILEVER (Finance, Trade and Industry)
• COOP (Finance, Trade and Industry)
• WWF (Civil Society)
• Solidaridad (Civil Society)
• Guyra Paraguay (Civil Society)
• IPAM (Civil Society)

RTRS Organizing Committee: 2004 – November 2006:

Since the beginning of the initiative in 2004, a core group of organizations committed to the responsible production of soy agreed to set up an Organizing Committee (OC) and lead the RTRS Initiative through the first stages until a formal institutional framework was in place. The former OC members were responsible for the planning of the first Roundtable Conference on Sustainable Soy held in Foz do Iguaçu (Brazil) in March 2005. One of the results of this meeting was a further expansion of the OC.
The former OC, jointly with other organizations, organized a Technical Workshop on Responsible Soy in April 2006 in Sao Paulo, where a small group of highly regarded experts from different fields of expertise, will discuss key economic, social and environmental aspects related to soy production. In August 2006, the 2nd Roundtable Conference was organized in Asunción, Paraguay.

Members of the Organizing Committee:

• AAPRESID (Producer) as of November 2005
• Grupo André Maggi (Producer)
• ABN AMRO Bank (Industry, Trade and Finance) as of March 2006
• ABIOVE (Industry, Trade and Finance) as of March 2006
• UNILEVER (Industry, Trade and Finance)
• COOP (Industry, Trade and Finance)
• WWF (Civil Society)
• Solidaridad (Civil Society) as of March 2006
• Guyra Paraguay (Civil Society) as of November 2005
• IPAM (Civil Society) as from March 2006
• Cordaid (Civil Society) until August 2005
• Fetraf-Sul/CUT (Producers) until 2005

As of August 2005 Cordaid informed the OC about the decision not to continue being part of the Organizing Committee on Responsible Soy, Cordaid, represented at the OC by Wim Goris, had been a founding member of the Roundtable on Responsible Soy and its active participation in the process was fundamental during the initial stages of the RTRS. Cordaid however continued its work focusing on the impacts of different projects related to the reduction of social and environmental problems in developing countries. The former Organizing Committee highly appreciated Cordaid for its solid support for the RTRS process during the initial stages.

The Organizing Committee also wishes to thank Fetraf-Sul/CUT (BR), the Workers Federation in Family Agriculture of the Southern Region of Brazil, for its participation on the OC during 2004 and 2005. FETRAF-SUL has more than 150 affiliate unions of rural workers within its network. The active participation of Altemir Tortelli in the RTRS process on behalf of FETRAF-SUL has been highly valued by all the OC members during the initial stages and the build-up to the 1st Conference in Foz do Iguaçu.

The Organizing Committee (OC) of the Roundtable on Responsible Soy communicates with extreme sadness the sudden loss of Mr. Heinz Stalder, who was the representative of WWF at this committee. Mr. Stalder was responsible for WWF Switzerland's engagements in Latin America and an active member of the Roundtable. He was a key promoter of this endeavor and a permanent source of inspiration for all of us who got the chance to work closely with him. We feel very sorry for his death and we will remember him and his family in our thoughts.