Ard Groot

    Story

    Ard Groot comes from seven generations of seedsmen who formed the foundations of the Dutch seed industry in Enkhuizen, The Netherlands. His father, Simon Groot, founded East-West Seed in 1982. Today it is one of the leading tropical vegetable companies in the world, playing an important role in the development and improvement of tropical vegetable varieties and increasing the income and knowledge of smallholder farmers.

    Ard joined East-West Seed as vice chairman of East-West Seed’s supervisory board in 2012 following a 20-year professional legal career outside the company. He represents the second generation of the founder and majority owner family, dividing his time between the group's Asian operations and his Dutch home base. Besides his role as a non-executive director, Ard leads a variety of projects and tasks in the company in support of the executive team, building on experience gained through his legal and financial background. 

    Ard is a Dutch national and holds an LLM degree in tax law from Leiden University. Together with a delegation of East-West Seed executives and (family and independent) board members, Ard participated in the FAME program of the INSEAD business school in 2011. Ard has also participated in the Leading from the Chair program at INSEAD in 2015. 

    Bio

    Team : Supervisory Board

    Current position : Chairman of the Supervisory Board

    Works for East-West Seed since : 2012

    Based in : Nonthaburi, Global

    Education

    LLM (Tax Law)

    Leiden University, The Netherlands

    Other Team Members

    Mary Ann Sayoc

    Mary Ann is the Public Affairs Lead for the East-West Seed Group. In this role, she represents EWS globally in various policy...

    Read More

    Irene Sion

    "I'm a daughter of a farmer, working in East-West Seed is my simple way of helping my fellow farmers."Irene’s journey w...

    Read More

    Simon Groot

    Simon N. Groot is the founder of East-West Seed and the World Food Prize Laureate 2019.Simon Groot is a 6th generation descen...

    Read More

    Girlie F. Banaña

    Farmers' productivity the measure of success. As one of the longest-serving team members, since 2000, Girlie is very fam...

    Read More

    Dilip Rajan

    Dilip is the Chief Operating Officer on the East-West Seed Managing Board. He joined East-West Seed as General Manager for In...

    Read More

    Julius Sulit

    “I like working for East-West Seed because its sense of purpose to serve farmers is beyond and above me. I remember one...

    Read More

    Arthur Cabacungan, Jr.

    “East-West Seed has a culture of continual career growth which allows flexibility in showcasing talents that leads to b...

    Read More

    Jay Lopez

    Jay has over 24 years of experience in pharmaceutical, nutritional, and consumer health products within the Philippine and In...

    Read More

    Cathlea Barote

    Cathlea is East-West Seed's Chief People Officer with extensive HR experience, both at country and regional level.As CPO, Lea...

    Read More

    Joost van Elzakker

    Joost is East-West Seed's Chief Commercial Officer ensuring we maintain strong connections with - and development of our prod...

    Read More

    Ruby Samonte

    “East-West Seed brings me closer to the farmers-- understanding their needs and working with them. Hearing their succes...

    Read More

    Katalin Pákozdi

    Katalin is East-West Seed's Chief R&D Officer, leading the company's breeding strategy and direction.Katalin brings the r...

    Read More

    Jean-Christophe “JC” Filippi

    Jean-Christophe “JC” Filippi is the Chief Executive Officer of the East-West Seed Group. Prior to joining Ea...

    Read More

    Alkeen Ingal

    With over 20 years of experience in trade sales and farm operations, Alkeen is a seasoned professional in the agricultural in...

    Read More

    Maaike Groot

    Maaike Groot is a 7th generation member of a family of seedsmen. After building a career in art sales and academic publishing...

    Read More

    Thibaut P. Terlon

    Thibaut is the Chief Financial Officer of East-West Seed. He joined the company in 2024.Thibaut has vast expertise in navigat...

    Read More

    This Could Be You !

    Where passionate teams work together to serve farmers, learn, and innovate

    How ?