Board of Directors

Jai Shroff is the Chairman and Group CEO of UPL Limited. He is a well-recognized global leader in the Chemical & Agri-Inputs industry with over 30 years experience in India and internationally.

UPL group is focused on strengthening the food security in over 130 countries by offering world class technologies and solutions for sustainable agriculture production. Under Jai's leadership, UPL has been one of the fastest growing agri-input companies in the world with strong presence in the Seeds, Plant Nutrition, Crop Protection and Post Harvest, +Biologicals food preservation value chains. He has driven the transformation of UPL from a largely domestic player to a truly global Indian multinational organization.

Jai believes in the power of collaboration and inter-sectoral partnerships. He is actively involved in the global development agenda, including the World Economic Forum's Grow Africa and Grow Asia initiatives, IFPRI's Sustainable Agriculture and Global Food Security Initiative, WBCSD, Chicago Council, IGD and ICAR.

Vikram Shroff is part of the leadership team of UPL, he has been passionately driving continuous organizational improvement with his dynamic leadership, sound strategic insights and outstanding people management skills.

Blessed with the ability to look into the minutest details, Vikram has set challenging cross-functional aspirations for the company, leveraging the organizational values towards excellence. He is instrumental in making strategic decisions for the Company, leads many of the functions and has been responsible in the execution of several projects of the group.

A philanthropist to the core, Vikram is leading the war against COVID – 19 with various initiatives.

He is very enthusiastic about the social development projects and the educational endeavours of the Shroff family that benefits more than 5,600 students annually. He believes in spreading the light of knowledge through innovative learning methods and leads a team that constantly strives for the same.

Mr. Hardeep Singh is BA Hons in Economics from Pune University and Advanced Management Programme Kellogg School of Management.

He was Executive Chairman of Cargill South Asia until 2006 and was responsible for all Cargill companies’ businesses in India and Pakistan. Cargill Inc is a global leader in the agriculture/ food domain. He has served as Chairman Amalgamated Plantations, a Tata Enterprise. APPL holds all of the erstwhile Tata Tea plantation assets in Eastern India. He has also served as Non Executive Chairman of HSBC Invest Direct India Limited and Invest Direct Financial Services India Limited. Mr. Hardeep Singh started his career with the Tata Group and rose through the ranks to be Director – Agrochemicals Rallis India Limited. During his stewardship Rallis Agrochemicals become the largest Agrochemicals business in India with unique assets and capabilities.

Mr. Hardeep Singh has chaired Confederation of Indian Industry [ CII ] national task force on food security and is a past member of National Council of CII and the National Committee for Agriculture of FICCI.He is a keen observer and practitioner in the Global and Indian Agriculture and Food arena. He has been an invited speaker on food and Agriculture at Global Forums including the World Bank, US Department of Agriculture Global Conference, International Food Policy Research Institute [ IFPRI ] in Washington DC, Imperial College UK. He has been a guest lecturer at IIM Ahmedabad.

Dr. Vasant P. Gandhi is Ph.D. from Stanford University and a Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA). He holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management (MBA) from IIM Ahmedabad and a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from Pantnagar. He has been Chairman of IIMA's Centre for Management in Agriculture, a Board member of IIMA, and the founder Chairman of IIMA's Post Graduate Programme in Agri-Business Management which is ranked no.1 agri-business programme in the world. Dr. Gandhi has worked with the World Bank and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, and at the grassroots level in agriculture and development in India. He has been Visiting Professor at University of Sydney, and James Cook University in Australia, and is adjunct Professor at the University of South Australia. He has produced numerous books and over 100 research papers on issues ranging from economics, finance, food & agriculture policies, institutions & technology in agriculture, as well as markets & agribusiness. A well-known economist and management expert, he has been on a Prime Minister's Task Force, and consultant & advisor to numerous public and private organizations and, is on the Boards of several companies.

An MBA from Harvard Business School, Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai brings in rich experience in the areas of banking and finance. She makes regular appearance on listings by Fortune and others of international women in business. A recipient of many awards and honours, she was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India for her contribution to Trade and Industry.

Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai is presently the Chairman of Advent Private Equity India Advisory Board; a Non-Executive Director on the Boards of LafargeHolcim, Max Financial Services, Gland Pharma and Cipla; Trustee of Asia House in the UK; India Advisory Council member of the US-India Business Council (USIBC); and Past President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). She retired in December 2015 as an Executive Director from the Board of HSBC Asia Pacific and Chairman of HSBC India, and in April 2018 as Non-Executive Director on the global board of Nestle.

She has published several articles in mainline dailies and has authored 3 books, “Survive Or Sink - An Action Agenda for Sanitation, Water, Pollution and Green Finance”, “Contemporary Banking in India” and “30 Women in Power: Their Voices, Their Stories.”

Her interests in water, sanitation and the environment and empowerment of women are reflected in her engagements at Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, International Advisory Council of the Inquiry of United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Commissioner for the Global Commission on Economy & Climate, Advisory Board Wildlife Conservation Trust, The Rockfeller Foundation Economic Council for Planetary Health, Chair of FICCI’s Water Mission and founder and Chair of the India Sanitation Coalition.

She chairs the Financial Services Working Group of the BRICs Business Council and is a member the INDO-ASEAN Business Council. She is also a member of the Army Group Insurance Fund’s investment advisory committee, Harvard Business School’s South Asia Advisory Board and Standard Chartered Bank’s International Advisory Council.

She has been a member of the Government of India’s Industry Task Force, the Prime Minister’s Trade and Industry Council, the National Manufacturing Council, the National Trade Council, and on the Working Group on Banking, Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission and the National Institute of Bank Management.

Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics from Lady Shriram College, Delhi University and Master’s in Business Administration from Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, Boston, USA.

Mr. Suresh Kumar was the Chief Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister of Punjab from 2017 to 2021. Mr. Kumar joined the Punjab cadre of the Indian Administrative Service, Government of India in 1983. He has held positions at various levels in the Federal and Provincial Governments to implement and manage reforms, business process re-engineering, and pro-poor development programs. Mr. Kumar has more than 30+ years of core experience in public policy, planning, public administration and governance, and program implementation in the State of Punjab, India. He also has experience in governance and regulatory issues concerning Power, Water Resources, Agriculture, Environment, Water Supply, and Sanitation. Mr. Kumar played a key role in the formulation and implementation of the Punjab State Policy on Rural Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation in 2014. He also led the preparation of a comprehensive Punjab State Agriculture Diversification Plan of Rs.8775 crores, which was aimed at increasing the sustainability of agricultural operations in Punjab. He drafted the State Water Policy in 2008 and facilitated the preparation of the State Agriculture Policy in 2018.

Mr. Kumar holds a Master's in Social Policy and Planning from the London School of Economics and a Post-graduate in Commerce from Delhi University, Delhi. He was a member convener of Inter UN Agency Working Group on Primary Education in India and a member of Inter UN Agency Working Group on Gender issues. Mr. Kumar also served as the Translation and Implementation Adviser, TIGR2ESS Project, at the University of Cambridge, and is a Continuing Policy Fellow with the Centre for Science and Policy (CsaP), University of Cambridge.

A Post-graduate in Agrochemicals from Federal University of Viçosa, Mr. Carlos Pellicer holds B.S. in Agricultural Engineering from UNESP. He has done MKT Specialization from Fundação Getúlio Vargas and Senior MKT Executive Program from Citicorp Center – Chicago, USA. He has also done Senior Executive Program from Columbia University, USA and is currently a part of the OPM Programme by Harvard Business School. He has held different leadership positions in several companies like Stauffer, Dupont, Citibank, American Cynamid, FMC and Monsanto and served as a guest professor for MKT Strategic at FGV for 10 years. In the year 1999, he kicked off his career as an entrepreneur, building up an innovative business concept branded as DVA Agro Brazil which was later acquired by UPL.

Mr. Carlos Pellicer served in the role of Global Chief Operating Officer of UPL until April 1, 2022. He was driving UPL group’s growth strategy, leading multiple projects under OpenAg^®, including UPL’s post-harvest business, carbon and digital projects, as a member of the Group Executive Committee to enhance farmer resilience. He became part of UPL as the CEO for its business in Brazil in the year 2011, through the acquisition of DVA in Brazil. In 2017, he moved to the role of COO – Global Strategy, Innovation and New Product Development and focused on defining the long-term strategy roadmap for the Crop protection business along with managing the business responsibilities for Decco and Sinagro. With the acquisition of Arysta, he become Global Integration leader and transformed UPL in a Purpose Led company. In his past role as Global COO – Strategy, Innovation & Integration, he worked closely with marketing, R&D and strategic alliances to drive strategic growth initiatives for UPL. He also led Decco and Sinagro Brasil.

Mr. Raj Tiwari has been with UPL since 2011 and is responsible for defining and delivering Operational Excellence, Supply Chain, business strategy and also providing overall leadership to UPL’s Global Operations. He started in the role of Global leader for Manufacturing Projects & Lead for Indirect Procurement. He has been a part of the Global Supply Chain & Manufacturing leadership team at UPL. He has been known for successfully leading change management, manufacturing transformation & large turnkey projects that enabled UPL for meeting its growth objectives. He managed the role of Head - Technical Manufacturing for India for a year before he took on the role of Chief Supply Chain Officer in 2017.

Mr. Raj Tiwari has long experience in varied roles of Operations, Projects, Strategic Planning and general management. He has done his Electrical Engineering from NIT Allahabad and is an alumnus of IIM Calcutta and Harvard Business School.

Mike Frank is the CEO of UPL’s Global Crop Protection business. He joined UPL in January 2022 as President and Chief Operating Officer. He brings a depth of industry knowledge and expertise from almost 30 years in the global agricultural industry in a variety of strategic and leadership roles.

Mike began his career at Monsanto where he spent 25 years in sales, marketing, business strategy, and general manager roles, and between 2014 and 2017 he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, leading Monsanto’s global commercial operations. In 2017, Mike moved to Nutrien, the world’s largest agriculture retail organization, where he served as Executive Vice President and CEO until 2021. At Nutrien, Mike oversaw a wide-ranging modernization of the company, focused on improving value for customers and supply chain execution, alongside geographic and digital expansion.

Mike is a passionate agriculture advocate, and is focussed on developing solutions to strengthen global food security whilst driving environmental and economic sustainability for farming communities and the industry at large. Mike is excited to draw on his extensive experience in driving growth, digitalisation, and customer-centric approaches as UPL looks to expand its collaboration, innovation, and farmer-focused product line with new projects, initiatives, and partnerships across the globe.

Roberta was Duke Energy’s Chief Sustainability Officer from 2008 until 2012. She joined Duke Energy in 1986 and has over 30 years of experience in energy and environmental issues. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Blue Cross North Carolina (since 2005), Echo Health Ventures (since 2016) and was an Independent Director of Healthcare Trust of America, Inc. (from 2018 to 2019). She is a former Board member and Board Chair of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (“LPGA”) (from 2011 to 2017). In 2018, she accepted a limited term role with the LPGA as the association’s Chief Brand and Communications Officer.

Davor has a Bachelor’s in Economics and Politics from Exeter University and a Master’s in Political Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has more than thirty years of business leadership experience in agrochemicals, seeds and agricultural biotechnology, including nine years as Chief Operating Officer of Syngenta AG.

Stephen graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario and has 30 years of experience in the Agricultural sector. Stephen spent the majority of his career with Agrium (now Nutrien) developing broad operational, financial and leadership experience base allowing his to progress to increasingly senior positions. He has a proven track record as in a senior executive in positions, which have included Vice President of Operations, Chief Financial Officer and President Retail Operations. Stephen is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta (APEGGA) and the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD).

Paul is the current Executive Chairman of luxury automotive, motorsport and technology company McLaren Group after working as a Chairman of Compass Group Plc and various senior roles in Private Equity. He was also previously the Chief Executive Officer of Diageo plc for 13 years. He is also a non-executive director of FedEx Corporation and McDonald’s Corporation.

Jerome graduated from Instituts d’études politiques, Paris, France in 1975 and is currently handling board assignments as Director at Ashland, Covington, Ohio and Xylem, Whiteplains, New York. He has professional experience in Sealed Air Corporation as President and Chief Executive Officer from March 2013 to December 2017. Prior to his role in Sealed Air Corporation, he was the Executive VP at Dow Chemical, and the CEO of Dow Advanced Materials, where he spent more than 35 years, serving in a variety of leadership roles internationally.

Peter Scala is the Managing Director at Dunes Point Capital. Prior to joining Dunes Point, he was a member of the Executive Committee and Head of Industrials for the Private Equity Department at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. Peter previously held positions with the investment banking teams at Apollo Global Management and Goldman Sachs & Co.

Mr. Scala holds a BS from Trinity College and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Puneet is Co-Managing Partner and Country Head of India of TPG Capital Asia. Prior to joining TPG in 2002, he was the Chief Executive of the Private Equity group of GE India and a member of the Project and Corporate Finance group at ICICI Limited. He serves on the Boards of Directors of several TPG portfolio companies including Jana Capital, Manipal Hospitals, Shriram Capital, Union Bank of Colombo, RR Kabel, and Sai Pharma. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) degree from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi, and a Master’s in Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.

Mr. Kabir Mathur is Head of India and South East Asia within the Private Equities Department of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), and is responsible for leading ADIAs investment and portfolio management activities in these regions.

Prior to joining ADIA in 2018, Mr. Mathur worked at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) where he was responsible for sourcing, executing and managing private equity investments in Asia. Mr. Mathur joined KKR in 2008, having previously worked at TPG Capital, also in their Asian private equity business. Mr. Mathur began his career in the Investment Banking division of Citigroup/Salomon Smith Barney.

Mr. Mathur graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science with a BSc (Hons.) in Economics.

Uttam is a fellow member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. He has more than 12 years of experience in the global business sector and has been involved in pre-incorporation tax advice, company set up, and administration, secretarial and accounting services. He is currently responsible for the finance and administration of UPL’s subsidiaries.

Doomraj is a Fellow Member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, UK. He has around ten years of professional experience in the global business sector as well as prior audit experience. He is involved in the Corporate Services Team of IQ EQ. He also sits on the board of several companies.