Five Points, California, USA
January 6, 2015
S&W Seed Company (Nasdaq: SANW) announced today that alfalfa industry veteran, Robin Newell, has been appointed as the Company's Vice President of North American Sales. Mr. Newell will have overall responsibility for alfalfa seed sales and marketing, with primary responsibility for S&W's North America sales. His responsibilities include the dormant portion of the S&W brand including the key distribution relationship with DuPont Pioneer where he will provide continuing alfalfa product line guidance, as well as developing private label business relationships for dormant alfalfa varieties and expansion of the company's overall presence within North America.
Mr. Newell comes to S&W Seed Company following 32 years in the seed industry with DuPont Pioneer, having served in various marketing, sales management, agronomy and business improvement roles. Since 2007, he was Senior Business Manager, Forage Products, based in Johnston, Iowa. In this role, he developed and implemented strategies for forage business growth including alfalfa seed. Mr. Newell held P&L responsibility for the Pioneer alfalfa product line worldwide, with the Pioneer brand holding the top market share in dormant alfalfa. He led the Pioneer Worldwide Alfalfa Planning Team, a multi-disciplinary group in place since 1994 representing finance, supply planning, production, research and product development, marketing and sales.
Mr. Newell maintains a working knowledge of dairy farming and agronomy. He developed and taught Pioneer training courses in forage agronomy for Pioneer field sales employees. He authors occasional articles for dairy and forage magazines, and industry newsletters. He was an invited speaker on the topic of alfalfa risk management at USDA's Outlook Conference in February 2013, and is a frequent invited speaker at alfalfa industry and seed grower conferences. Mr. Newell is currently the elected chairperson of the National Alfalfa & Forage Alliance (NAFA), an alfalfa industry organization that strives for the furtherance of alfalfa and forage uses on farms and in feedstuffs in the US. NAFA seeks to influence US Ag policy and legislation with respect to alfalfa, and interfaces with USDA's various agencies on behalf of alfalfa and forage priorities, including NASS, RMA, ARS, and NIFA. He attained Six Sigma "Master Black Belt" certification during his role in a business improvement initiative at DuPont Pioneer, conducting projects as well as teaching and mentoring for the statistical and business process improvement methodology that Six Sigma entails.
Mr. Newell received a B.S. degree in Agronomy from The Pennsylvania State University, and M.S. in Crop Physiology from the University of Nebraska. He completed a Masters of Business Management curriculum in a program sponsored by Pioneer Hi Bred in affiliation with Purdue University's Center for Agricultural Business and the Krannert School of Business Management.
Robin Newell, Vice President of North American Sales for S&W Seed Company, commented, "I am extremely excited to be joining S&W Seed Company at this very exciting time in the company's history. Following the acquisition by S&W of DuPont Pioneer's alfalfa production and research assets, S&W has positioned itself to become a global market leader across the entire alfalfa seed spectrum. I look forward to building upon the success the company has had to date and further expanding upon the opportunity that this acquisition creates."
Mark Grewal, chief executive officer of S&W Seed Company, commented, "Robin is one of the foremost leaders in the alfalfa industry and will become a valuable member of the S&W team. He brings a tremendous track record of developing sales and marketing strategies that have resulted in the current Pioneer alfalfa product line being the dormant market share leader. Robin's deep understanding of the alfalfa industry, and his relationships within it, will significantly strengthen our distribution capabilities going forward."
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