APPOINTMENT OF RSPO CEO

Kuala Lumpur, 10 March 2022: The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Board of Governors is pleased to announce the appointment of Joseph D’Cruz (JD) as Chief Executive Officer with effect from 15 March 2022.

D’Cruz has over twenty years’ experience in sustainability, having worked on a range of global development challenges from environmental conservation and climate change to poverty reduction, economic development and disaster recovery. In his most recent position as Special Advisor, Strategic Planning & Innovation at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in New York, he led UNDP’s global strategy development, futures and innovation functions, working directly with the head of UNDP. He oversaw the creation of a global network of solution-finders for sustainable development, connecting experts in 170 countries and territories to address world challenges. During his career he has worked with governments, industries and communities at all levels across the Asia-Pacific as well as globally. He has previously also held the position of Co-Chair of a Global Future Council at the World Economic Forum. He began his career in management consulting, working in a range of sectors and industries prior to joining the UN.

D’Cruz is Malaysian, and was educated in Malaysia, Australia and the United Kingdom with degrees in politics, economics and international development.

The Co-chairs of the RSPO Board of Governors, Ms Anne Rosenbarger and Dato’ Carl Bek-Nielson said, “We are glad that we could engage such an expert in sustainability and development who will, with our strong existing team, increase RSPO’s impact on the sustainability of the palm oil industry. We are confident that D’Cruz will be highly effective in leading RSPO and bringing diverse groups of stakeholders together to facilitate and accelerate the global scale-up of certified sustainable palm oil.”

RSPO’s Chief Executive Officer, D’Cruz said, “I am honoured to be joining RSPO in advancing one of the most important sustainability agendas in the world. An oil palm sector that is environmentally, socially and economically sustainable is critical for our collective global future. I look forward to working with our members and partners to make this vision a reality in the coming years.”

The appointment of D'Cruz follows the departure of Beverly Postma in May 2021.

The RSPO Co-Chairs added, “We would like to sincerely thank Ms Audrey Lee, Mr Adam Harrison and Dr Gan Lian Tiong for supporting the RSPO Secretariat and fellow RSPO members as Interim Coordinators during this period of transition.”

About RSPO:

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was formed in 2004 with the objective of promoting the growth and use of sustainable oil palm products through credible global standards and engagement of stakeholders. RSPO is a not-for-profit, international, membership organisation that unites stakeholders from the different sectors of the palm oil industry including oil palm producers, palm oil processors or traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks and investors, environmental or nature conservation NGOs, and social or developmental NGOs.

This multi-stakeholder representation is mirrored in the governance structure of RSPO such that seats in the Board of Governors, Steering Committees and Working Groups are fairly allocated to each sector. In this way, RSPO lives out the philosophy of the "roundtable" by giving equal rights to each stakeholder group, facilitating traditionally adversarial stakeholders in working together to reach decisions by consensus, and achieving RSPO’s shared vision of making sustainable palm oil the norm.

The seat of the association is in Zurich, Switzerland, while the secretariat is currently based in Kuala Lumpur with satellite offices in Jakarta (ID), London (UK), Zoetermeer (NL), Beijing (CN) and Bogotá (CO).

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