RTRS Secretariat

Introducing the RTRS team

November, 2011

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Thanks to the RTRS ongoing growth, the organization’s tasks and responsibilities are developing in line with it. This time we would like to introduce the current RTRS Secretariat team working in Buenos Aires (Argentina), where the organization’s activities are coordinated at a global level:

Agustín Mascotena, RTRS Executive Director

Agustín has a Bachelor’s Degree in Agricultural Economics in Argentina and an MBA in Argentina and Mexico. For the last fifteen years, he has been working in the soy value chain in both Argentina and Brazil in differente areas such as seeds, crushing, trading, farming and storing. As the Executrive Director, he will continue building on the foundations of this young and rapidly growing initiative, turning the RTRS into a strong and sound organization in order to achieve the proposed goals and making the RTRS certified soy an opportunity not only for producers, but also for the world market.

Contact with Agustin Mascotena

Verónica Chorkulak, Administration and Governance Unit Manager

Verónica has a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA, Argentina). Before joining the RTRS, she worked as a budget, planning and management control analyst at a renowned global consulting, technology and outsourcing services company. She also served as an economic climate analyst at a consulting firm. She is currently responsible for the RTRS Finance and Governance activities.

Contact with Verónica Chorkulak

Cecilia García Nistor, Administration and Governance Unit Assistant

Cecilia studies Public Translation at the Universidad del Salvador (USAL, Argentina) and simultaneous interpretation at McDonough (Argentina). Before joining the RTRS, she worked in important foreign trade - related companies and she has also worked as a free lance English teacher and translator. She currently assists the Administration and Governance Unit in administrative, translation and membership tasks.

Contact with Cecilia García Nistor

Jimena Froján, Technical Unit Manager

Jimena has a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Sciences from the Universidad del Salvador (USAL, Argentina). She has worked in environmental and CSR consulting and auditing. As the Manager of the Technical and Programme Unit, she is responsible for supervising and coordinating activities related to the development and maintenance of RTRS standards. She is also responsible for the certification bodies’ recognition process, the coordination of National Interpretation processes and the development of implementers and auditors training activities.

Contact with Jimena Frojan

Facundo Cativiela Ortega, Technical and Programme Unit Officer

Facundo studies Public Relations at the Fundación de Altos Estudios en Ciencias Comerciales (FAECC, Argentina). Before joining the RTRS, he was responsible for the processes of Forestry Certification and Accreditation Management System (FSC – Forest Stewardship Council) in an important certification body with international reach. He was also brand support and responsible for the Latin American Region. As the RTRS Technical and Programme Unit officer, he is currently in charge of coordinating tasks related to the development and maintenance of RTRS standards, the certification bodies’ recognition process and National Interpretation processes. He also assists in the coordination and development of training activities for RTRS standard implementers and auditors.

Contact with Facundo Cativiela

Ben Zeehandelaar, Communications and Outreach Unit Manager

Ben studied Business Administration and he has a Master’s Degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Utrecht. His Master’s Degree thesis was on fair trade and he worked as a fair trade consultant in Argentina, where he moved from The Netherlands. As the RTRS Communications and Outreach Manager, he is in charge of the organization’s institutional internal and external communication as well as outreach activities..

Contact with Ben Zeehandelaar

Mariana Seghezzo, Communications and Outreach Unit Officer

Mariana studied Communication Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA, Argentina). Before joining the RTRS, she worked in different Argentine media as a news producer and journalist and in national News Agencies. As the Communications and Outreach Unit officer, she coordinates the planning and preparation of press releases and newsletters and she also cooperates in carrying out and producing conferences and other events. Besides, she is involved in the selection, development and design of web content and database management.

Contact with Mariana Seghezzo

Daniel Meyer, RTRS representative in Brazil

Daniel has a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Science with specialization in Environmental Politics, and a Master Degree in Ecosystem, Governance and Globalization, a transdisciplinary program from Stockholm University (Sweden) focusing on environmental management and international governance topics. For the last five years he has been committed to agricultural responsibility and sustainability practices in Brazil, mainly working as a consultant for SIK - the Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology. As the RTRS Representative in Brazil, Daniel works in close cooperation with the RTRS Secretariat and is in charge of promoting the certification RTRS in Brazil and coordinate the development of the project entitled “RTRS Broad Scale Maps and HCV Guidance for Soy Expansion”.

Contact with Daniel Meyer