After having worked in the fruit sector with great pleasure and full commitment for over 35 years, François Maes, founder and driving force of Special Fruit, will step down as Business Development Director on January 1, 2015. François has been working in this role since October 2012, when his brother Patrick Maes took over the day-to-day management of the company.
"On September 1, Karel Bolckmans will become a member of Special Fruit's management team, in the capacity of Business Development Director. At first, he will lead the Business Development department together with François Maes, and on January 1 he will fully take charge of this department."
"Karel Bolckmans is an internationally renowned authority in integrated pest management (IPM), sustainable agriculture, and innovation management, having over 20 years of international experience in the industry. The past 16 years, he worked as Global R&D and Production Director at Dutch company Koppert Biological Systems, where he led development of numerous innovations. Koppert is the global market leader and pioneer in organic pest control, pollination with bumblebees, and very active in the field of biopesticides and biostimulants. Karel has also worked on developing the GlobalGAP IPM Toolkit."
"With Karel's arrival, Special Fruit confirms and strengthens its engagement when it comes to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its intention to keep innovating, in order to do everything possible to meet the customers' demands. To that end, Special Fruit wants to be a conversational partner for its clients and growers when it comes to sustainable cultivation techniques, so that food safety, sustainable and socially responsible production, product quality and availability of the product will be optimally ensured, in the interest of all links in the production chain."
"With Karel's arrival, Special Fruit confirms and strengthens its engagement when it comes to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its intention to keep innovating, in order to do everything possible to meet the customers' demands. To that end, Special Fruit wants to be a conversational partner for its clients and growers when it comes to sustainable cultivation techniques, so that food safety, sustainable and socially responsible production, product quality and availability of the product will be optimally ensured, in the interest of all links in the production chain."