News
Death of Philippe Duval, former Chief Executive Officer of Tereos
Tereos Group, through its Executive Board and its Supervisory Board, is sad to announce the death, on August 22, 2019, of Philippe Duval, former Chairman of the Management Board.
Recognized player of the sugar sector, Philippe Duval guided and accompanied from 1968 to 2012 the Tereos cooperative in its trajectory of development and internationalization. In 1968, Philippe Duval joined the Origny-Sainte-Benoîte sugar refinery in Aisne and then held various positions, including Director of Plant and Industrial Director, before managing Tereos from 1984.
With the elected members of the cooperative who gave him their trust until his retirement in 2012, Philippe Duval worked for the refocusing of production capacities and the regrouping of sugar cooperatives on a basin going from Artenay, in Loiret, to Lille in the North. It was under his mandate that the historic merger of the Sugar and Agricultural Distilleries and Béghin-Say cooperatives took place in 2002.
On an operational level, Philippe Duval has placed industrial excellence at the heart of performance to bring ever greater value to the agricultural world and its customers, calling for a constant improvement of techniques to limit production loss, manage waste and improve quality throughout the value chain.
From a strategic point of view, Philippe Duval was one of the great architects of the development of Tereos, convinced of the potential of sugar and sweeteners to support the growing needs of the food sector, and by the benefits of a multi-local presence:
- In anticipation of the advent of liquid sugars, Philippe Duval introduced Tereos to the starch market and the following products in 1986, paving the way for the diversification of Tereos’ product portfolio;
- It also initiated the pioneering dynamic of Tereos global expansion: Czech Republic in 1992, Mozambique in 2006, Spain and Belgium in 2007, China and Romania in 2012, but especially in Brazil in 2000, the first sugar-producing country in the world, laying the foundations that will then allow Tereos to become today the third largest sugar producer in the world.
The passion, vision and courage of Philippe Duval marked his entire career, and were unanimously hailed, worthy of being named Officer of the Order of the Legion of Honor, and the Order of the Agricultural merit.
