Derek Norman (pictured) has today taken over from Alex Steel as head of Switzerland-based agricultural company Syngenta’s corporate venturing unit.
Steel, who had been a GCV Powerlist 2014 awardee, took over leadership of Switzerland-based agricultural company Syngenta’s corporate venturing unit at the beginning of 2012. He moved to the role having been a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) project leader at Syngenta, where he has worked since 2009, and will now be Syngenta’s territory head Europe north, based in the UK.
Syngenta Ventures has been one of the most active investors in agriculture having invested more than $100m in early-stage companies since 2006.
Syngenta’s partial list of investments from its now-eight strong team include AgBiome, AgriMetis, Agrinos, Agrivida and Biognosys. Norman is director at Biognosys and chairman of AgriMetis.
A managing director at the unit since mid-2009, Norman was selected for the GCV Rising Stars 2016 awards and has been with Switzerland-based crops company Syngenta for nearly seven years. He joined shortly after its corporate venturing arm was established, attracted by his interest in the agriculture industry following his PhD from Harvard University in chemistry after graduating in the subject from Stanford.
In his GCV Rising Stars 2016 profile, Norman said: “There was the question of whether VC could have a meaningful impact in the agricultural industry.
“This was a question I was interested to explore. In 2009, when I joined, the agricultural VC sector was miniscule compared with today. I was leaving a healthcare-focused VC firm, and while there were many interesting parallels to the pharma industry, there was a dearth of agricultural investing relative to pharma. I think I am a contrarian by nature, so I found this disconnect compelling.”
He holds a BS degree in chemistry from Stanford University and a PhD in chemistry and chemical biology from Harvard University.