Hans Reuvers – President

Hans started his professional career in the central research laboratory of BASF in Ludwigshafen, Germany, in 1982 as a research chemist. Prior to joining BASF, he was a visiting scientist at the Max-Planck Institute for Coal Research at Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany (1979 – 1982).

Hans holds Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) and Master of Science (M.Sc.) degrees in chemistry from the Catholic University of Nijmegen in The Netherlands and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree from the University of Alberta, Canada, where he was an Izaak Walton Killam scholar.

He has 30 years of experience in the design, engineering and operation of fertiliser plants. He has been responsible for various fertiliser plants at the Ludwigshafen site, his duties including technology and engineering. In the years before his retirement from BASF (2016), he was production manager of the fertilizer facilities in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

Hans is the author of about 100 technical publications on fertiliser technology, in particular on nitrophosphate and ammonium nitrate based operations, on safety aspects related to ammonium nitrate, and on environmental aspects of fertiliser production.

Hans represented BASF at Fertilizers Europe in a variety of functions. He was a long-time chairman of the Technical Working Group, the Classification Working Group, and of the ammonium nitrate research Working Group, and a member of several task forces within the association. He continues to be a member of the executive board of the AN-NA meeting (USA, since 2006) on ammonium nitrate and nitric acid, responsible for the agenda and liaison duties.

Starting 2017, Dr. Reuvers is an independent consultant to the fertilizer industry..

Debby van Rotterdam – Vice President

Debby van Rotterdam is currently executive manager of the Nutrient Management Institute (NMI) in Wageningen (Nl). NMI is part of the AgroCares holding. In this context she is involved in developing sensors for agriculture and was manager of the analytical laboratory (2016). She has a bachelor’s degree in analytical chemistry (1999) and a master’s degree in environmental geochemistry (2003). Debby received her Ph.D. degree in soil chemistry in 2010 for her work on phosphorus and potassium in soils in relation to crop uptake.

Anthony Zanelli – Immediate Past President

As Vice President at ICL Phosphate Commodity Europe, Anthony Zanelli is responsible for the activities of ICL Phosphate Commodities in Europe including the fertilizer production sites in Amsterdam, (Netherlands), Ludwigshafen (Germany), an industrial service company (Germany) and a feed phosphate company in Istanbul and Bandirma (Turkey).

He started his career as a process engineer within ICL and has now 30 years of experience in the fertilizers industry. He is an active member of many industry defining organizations: Board Member of German Phosphorus-Platform, Council Member of The International Fertilizer Society, Chairman of Meststoffen Nederland (Dutch Fertilizers Industry Association), etc.

Anthony Zanelli has a bachelor’s degree in industrial Operations from the Amsterdam University of Applied Science and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Bradford.

Mark Brouwer

Mark graduated in 1989 at the Technical University of Eindhoven at the faculty of Chemical Engineering. Mark further graduated the postgraduate continuing professional education Safety for Engineers in The Netherlands.

After military service he joined DSM where he worked first seven years as a Process Engineer in an ethylene plant during which he was involved in several turnarounds and revamp projects. In 1996 he joined Stamicarbon as Licensing Manager Urea Revamps. Later he became Manager Stamicarbon Services responsible for all Stamicarbon’s activities in existing urea plants, such as After Sales, Plant Inspections, Debottlenecking Projects, Hardware supply projects etc. In these nearly fifteen years he did visit about one hundred urea plants worldwide and was involved in numerous revamp, relocation, debottlenecking and grass root projects.

Since January 1, 2009, Mark Brouwer left Stamicarbon and started up UreaKnowHow.com. UreaKnowHow.com’s mission is to support, facilitate and promote the exchange of technical information in the urea industry with the target to improve the Safety and Performance of all urea plants worldwide

Filip Colpaert

Filip holds a master’s degree in Bio‑Engineering with a specialisation in Chemistry, completed in 2007. He subsequently pursued doctoral research in organic synthesis, earning his PhD in 2011 with work focused on the use of N‑sulfinyl imidates and halogenated N‑sulfinyl imines as chiral building blocks in organic chemistry.

Following his PhD, he continued in academia as a postdoctoral researcher, including a one‑year appointment at Yale University in the group of Professor Ellman, where he worked on C–H bond functionalization strategies.

In August 2014, Filip joined Yara Sluiskil as an R&D Engineer. From 2016 to 2018 he led the pilot plant team, after which he took on the role of Department Director for Nitrogen Product & Process Development (NPPD). In this capacity, he oversees the development of urea‑based and nitrate‑based fertilizers, focusing on product innovations and process improvements across Yara’s nitrogen portfolio.

Filip joined the Council of the International Fertiliser Society in 2026.

Fotini Giannakopoulou

Fotini Giannakopoulou has been General Manager at the Hellenic Fertilizers’ Association since 2015. She is an agronomist and holds a MSc in Nanotechnology and PhD degree in Soil Science from Agricultural University of Athens (AUA).

Her research activities cover soil pollution, sorption/desorption phenomena in soils, behavior of radionuclides and nanoparticles in soil-plant systems, biofortification, phytoremediation, nutrient management in farming systems, fertilizer applications and integrated agricultural practice.

She has also an extensive experience in project management, in providing regulation advice and in recommendations on strategic policies. She has professional experience in both academic and private sector. Before joining the Fertilizer’ Association she worked as a Lecturer in Laboratory of Soil and Agricultural Chemistry in AUA, as a Lecturer Assistant in Technological Educational Institute of Kalamata and participated as researcher or coordinator in more than twenty research projects focused. In the private sector, she has also worked as R&D Manager in product development with carbon nanotubes, as well as a Manager in Scientific/Tender Manager. She has more than 20 publications, in international journals and in Proceedings of International and National Congresses.

Patrick Gesualdi Haim

Dr. Patrick Gesualdi Haim is an Agronomist Engineer with a PhD in Soil Science from the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ). He currently serves as Chief Agronomist at ICL Growing Solutions, specializing in specialty fertilizers and technical project management.

Dr. Haim has extensive experience in agronomy, with a focus on soil fertility, controlled-release fertilizers, and sustainable agricultural practices. He has worked in South America, Asia and Europe and manages global trial operations at ICL. With a strong background in research and teaching, he has published numerous scientific papers and is an active contributor to the agronomy community.

Wolfgang Hofmair

Born on a farm in Wels – Upper Austria, I completed my studies in agricultural sciences and agronomy at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU); in 1989 I entered the Austrian fertiliser industry as field trial coordinator for fertilisers and plant nutrition; in 1994 I became Head of the Advisory Service and Agronomy. In 1998/99 I completed a postgraduate course to become a certified HSE auditor. In 2007 I was appointed Marketing Manager.

With the growth of our company, I returned to fertilisation and plant nutrition as Head of Agronomy and was able to get to know France, Germany and the south-eastern European countries with many field trials and a lot of contacts with regional farmers. Since 2017 I have been working as Industry Relations Manager for Borealis Fertilizer and Technical Nitrogen Products. In addition to agronomy, European legislation, decarbonisation of production and the connected level playing field of the new Hydrogen world dominate my everyday life.

Outside of my company, I am spokesman for the Austrian fertiliser industry and a member of the national advisory board for soil protection and soil fertility, as well as a board member of the German fertiliser manufacturer association IVA/BAD.

I am married with 3 children and I love singing, dancing and skiing.

Lionel Jordan-Meille

Lionel graduated in 1994 at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, in Rural Engineering. He then took his PhD degree in biogeochemistry, working on Phosphorus diffuse sources of pollution in agricultural watersheds (INRAE). In 1999, he became assistant professor of Agronomy at Bordeaux Sciences Agro, the agricultural college of the University of Bordeaux. He teaches soil to plant uptake, crop fertilisation, agroforestry systems, and agriculture and energy relationships.

His research (INRAE) has mainly focused on plant K nutrition and its interaction with plant water status. Recently, he aimed to compare how European countries were dealing with their N and P fertilisation rules, in order to contribute to the harmonisation of fertilisation standards across Europe, or at least to help countries understand each other.

In 2021, he took the lead of COMIFER (French Committee for sustainable fertilisation), which could be compared to IFS, but in a French way. Since then, he has been trying to make the two Societies closer, as they globally share the same objectives. He has been driving the “P K Mg working group” of this Committee for 7 years.

Sarah Kendall

Sarah Kendall is a Crop Physiologist working at ADAS whose research focuses on improving the understanding of crop nutrient requirements and optimisation of its management through experimentation and collaboration with farmers and the wider industry. She has led research that has resulted in updates to AHDB’s Nutrient Management Guide (RB209) recommendations for Nitrogen management in winter and spring barley. Currently, Sarah is leading the Horizon Europe funded project, NUTRI-CHECK NET which aims to build farm-level adoption of the best field-specific nutrient management practices across Europe.  Sarah lives on a mixed farm with her family and has a PhD in plant molecular biology from the University of York.

Tim Kerr

Tim is Crop Nutrition Manager at H L Hutchinsons Ltd, a position he has held for 10 years. In this role he manages the company’s fertiliser business and leads the technical support function in all aspects of crop nutrition.
Prior to this, Tim worked for several solid and liquid fertiliser manufacturers, and has been involved in the UK fertiliser industry for over 30 years.
Tim supports the FACTS scheme as both an examiner and a trainer. He is also a member of the industry (AIC) Agriculture & Environment committee.

Avdhesh Mathur

As the President & CEO of NAQ GLOBAL, a group of companies that provides safe and clean fertilizers for sustainable and economical agriculture, Avdhesh has been working for the last 16 years to develop and apply innovative and environmently friendly products and technologies for fertilizer mining, processing and production globally. He has a background in engineering and a passion for green technology and social impact.

With his expertise in fertilizer process and quality improvement, he has led multiple projects and partnerships with various stakeholders, such as fertilizer mining and production plants, farmers, governments, NGOs, and research institutions, to deliver customized solutions that meet the diverse needs and challenges of different fertilizers, regions and crops. He has also been a research mentor and a technical entrepreneur, creating and patenting new formulations and methods that enhance the efficiency and safety of fertilizers, while reducing the environmental and health risks. His mission is to promote the use of safe and clean fertilizers as a key driver for food security, poverty alleviation, and climate action.

Marc Sonveaux

Marc Sonveaux holds a master degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Louvain (UCL), Belgium.

He started his career as Industrialisation Manager in the pharmaceutical, Vaccine, industry at GlaxoSmithKline (Belgium). He gained experience in different departments and worked on several processes within the Industrialization Business unit.

In 2008, he entered the phosphate business by joining Ecophos (Belgium).  A company that was active in the development and commercialization of processes based on the use of low-grade raw materials to produce high quality phosphate products and clean co-products.  Starting as Process and project Manager he became Director of Ecophos Technology Department.  He participated to the development and industrialisation of several processes and applications of Ecophos Technologies worldwide.

In 2020, with the acquisition of Ecophos technologies by Prayon,  Marc joined Prayon as Lead of HCl Based Processes Technology.  There, he manages the integration and further development of Ecophos processes based businesses

Luis Torres

Luis Torres is Vice-President for agronomic and R&D in Yara based at the Centre for Plant Nutrition and Environmental Research Hanninghof, located in Duelmen, Germany.

Luis is an agronomist engineer with specialisations in plant nutrition, fertilizers and Biostimulants, with 25 years’ experience in the fertilizer sector. Luis started his professional carrier in Venezuela as an extension officer and advisor on crop and fertilizer management, before joining Hydro Agri Venezuela (today’s Yara) as sales and development agronomist and product development coordinator. He has an MSc in Tropical and International Agriculture from the University of Goettingen (Germany) with specialisation in nutrient dynamics in the soil-root interface, and obtained a PhD in Plant Nutrition from the University of Hannover (Germany) after working in topics related to plant nutrition and development of “intelligent” fertilizers and nanotechnologies for improved nutrient use efficiency (NUE).

Luis has held several roles in both global offices and domestic markets including Venezuela, Brazil and Germany, spanning fertilizer sales, market development, product and project management, and product quality, as well as in product and agronomic R&D as a scientist and also as area lead. His main areas of technical expertise are plant nutrition, fertilizers and synthetic and biological inhibitors development to improve nutrient use efficiency. Latterly his main focus is on crop bioregulation (biostimulants) technologies for abiotic stress alleviation and NUE for improved and resilient crop performance. He has publications related to novel fertilizers, and NUE, as well as on agronomic efficiency and environmental impacts of fertilizers for low carbon food production. Luis is member of the German society for Plant Nutrition, and active in several global scientific forums.