North Carolina, United States: Chen Lichtenstein has been named as Envu’s new Chairman. Lichtenstein has led and run global companies in life science and related fields, including environmental health, for more than 25 years.

He brings a strong track record of accelerating innovation and growth, building winning teams, transforming organisations and generating stakeholder returns.

“As a leader solely dedicated to the environmental science space, Envu has a bold vision for the future that involves continued growth and partnerships while delivering value-added, sustainable innovations for our customers,” said Gilles Galliou, CEO at Envu, a Full Business Member of the Asian Golf Industry Federation.

“We are excited to welcome Chen as our new Chairman of the Board as his extensive experience leading global operations and his deep expertise in our industry will enable him to immediately add value in this role as he works with us toward achieving our ambitious goals, for our customers and the industry,” added Galliou.

Lichtenstein is assuming the Chairman role from Pontus Pettersson, Partner at Cinven, the private equity firm that has majority ownership in Envu. Pettersson served as Chairman since Envu was formed in October 2022 through a carveout from the former Environmental Science Professional business of Bayer, which Cinven purchased.

Pettersson said: “I am very pleased to pass the reins of the Chairman of the Board of Directors role for Envu to Chen Lichtenstein.

“Chen’s expertise in bio-tech and crop protection, his experience in the investment and financial sectors, and his passion for building strong organisations that generate value for their customers, employees and shareholders lends itself well to supporting Envu in the next chapter of its exciting growth.”

As a long-time industry executive, Lichtenstein said that he has followed Envu since its inception. 

He said: “I am impressed by the breadth of innovative, sustainable solutions Envu offers, which drive customer engagement and quality growth.

“Further enhanced by its robust network of innovation partners and selective acquisitions, Envu is well positioned to continue driving forward, and I am delighted to be joining its strong team.”

Lichtenstein was Chief Financial Officer of Syngenta Group from 2020 until the end of 2023. He previously worked as the President and CEO of ADAMA (now a member of Syngenta Group); President and CEO of China National Agrochemical Corporation, ChemChina’s strategic business division, the parent company of Syngenta Group; Deputy CEO, and Head of Global Operations at ADAMA; and in the New York and London offices of Goldman Sachs as an Executive Director in the Investment Banking division.

Lichtenstein holds a PhD. in business administration from the Graduate School of Business, and a JSD from the School of Law at Stanford University; and a bachelor’s in physics from the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, summa cum laude, and an LLB. from the Faculty of Law, cum laude, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

He also serves on the board for Teva Pharmaceutical.