RABOBANK
LEADERSHIP
DINNER-LEADING
IN DIFFICULT
TIMES
REIF SHARPENS AMERICAS FOCUS
EVENTS
What?Rabobank Leadership Dinner
When? 23 July 2009
Where? Art Gallery of NSW, Australia
28 issue 21 THE WORD
Bruce Dick and Peter Barnes, who accepted the award for Robert Hill Smith
Rabobank Australia held its fourth annual
Rabobank Leadership Dinner on 23 July,
themed: 'Emerging from the crisis: the
leadership challenge'. Held at the Art
Gallery of NSW, the dinner brought together
leaders from the food, agribusiness and
beverage sectors to share valuable insights
for the continued growth and development
of their business areas. Over 170 guests
gathered to hearthat Managing Director
of the Yalumba Wine Company, Robert
Hill Smith, was to be honoured with the
2009 Rabobank Leadership Award in
recognition of his contributions at both
a business and philanthropic level. As Mr
Hill Smith was unable to attend the award
ceremonytheChairman of Yalumba, Peter
Barnes, accepted the award on his behalf.
The guest speaker for the evening was
former chief executive of Scottish
Newcastle, Tony Froggatt.
Tony spoke candidly of his time leading
Britain's largest brewing company and of
some of the tough decisions he had to
make to refocus the company to ensure
its long-term viability. The Rabobank
Leadership Dinner is fast becoming a
signature event on the agribusiness
calendar and is a fantastic opportunity
for Rabobank to connect with, and thank,
some of its leading clients.
WhatLaunch of Americas team,
Renewable Energy Infrastructure
Finance Group
WW July 2009
WhereNew York, United States
A new team has been formed to develop
Rabobank's Renewable Energy and Infra
structure Finance (REIF) business in the
Americas. The team is based in New York
and works alongside REIF business teams
in Europe and India.
The new REIF Americas business is headed
by Thomas Emmons, whojoined Rabobank as Managing Director
on 1 July. Tom reports to the Global Head of REIF Marcel Gerritsen,
and locally to Bob Bucklin, Chief Corporate Banking Offïcer in North
America. Ron Klein has transferred from Structured Finance to be
the team's Managing Director and Marcel Veltrop moved from the
REIF Europe team to be Vice President on the New York REIF team.
Marcel Gerristsen said: "Rabobank's goal is to use our financial
services to effectively add to the transition
from a high-C02 to a low-C02 economy.
Within the renewable energy sector, our
mission is the further development of
sustainable energy supplies and technologies
around the world, as we believe these will
yield important benefits in terms of economie
development and a better climate."
The REIF Americas business will pursue three
main strategies: The first is to establish direct
relationships with developers, owners and
operators of renewable energy-generating
facilities and technologies; the second is to
support Rabobank's core Food and Agribusiness
cliënt base in their renewable product needs; and the third is to
advise Rabobank, N.A. on small-scale renewable energy products.
Onshore wind, solar and biomass will be the areas of the team's
initial focus. In the medium term, the team's scope will widen to
include water, geothermal, bio-ethanol and offshore wind. The
team will concentrate its efforts in the United States and Canada
during 2009, while it further develops its Latin America strategy.
