10 June 2021, Oslo: Pablo Barrera, EVP Communications & Procurement in Yara, is seconded to IMAGINE Food Collective, where he will work with leading global companies and stakeholders to help drive systemic change of the food value chain.
Pablo Barrera is today Executive Vice President Communications & Procurement in Yara and has since April 2018 been a member of the Yara Group Executive Board where he has held various positions.
IMAGINE, a social venture co-founded in 2019 by Paul Polman, Valerie Keller, Jeff Seabright and Kees Kruythoff to mobilize industry leaders around the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, is accelerating transformation in value chains such as food, fashion and finance. It has brought together 25 CEOs from across the ag-food value chain to address one of the biggest threats facing our society and our planet – the broken food system. Individually these CEOs are pushing their businesses to be more regenerative, equitable, and healthier. Together in the Food Collective, and in partnership with governments and civil society, they are pushing the broader ag-food system from a historical source of planetary and human decline, towards future solutions for planetary and human health.
“The transformation of global agriculture depends upon close collaboration across the whole value chain, from input companies to retailers. Having Pablo Barrera lead this effort with IMAGINE offers a unique opportunity to contribute to nature-positive food production and consumption,” says President & CEO of Yara, Svein Tore Holsether.
“We are running out of time. There are less than nine harvests left to 2030, and we cannot afford to waste another minute. We therefore need leadership more than ever. Having key players like Yara lead the way is therefore critical, and their secondment of Pablo Barrera signals strong leadership and commitment to address one of the biggest threats facing the planet – the broken food system,” says IMAGINE Co-founder and Chair, Paul Polman.
“At IMAGINE we believe in the power of a ‘courageous collective’ – CEOs coming together as human beings – doing together what they cannot do alone. We convene courageous leaders who care about reversing climate change, biodiversity extinction and rising inequality — and who can actually do something about it through pre-competitive collective action. With the world’s eyes on the ag-food system, Pablo is joining at a critical time where his energy and expertise can help CEOs, government leaders and activists accelerate systemic, seismic shifts across the value chain, from how we grow to what we eat.” Says IMAGINE Co-founder and Co-Chair, Valerie Keller.
“Food and agriculture is at the center of the global sustainability agenda, and systemic change is needed if we are going to meet the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. I am very excited and thankful for the opportunity to work on this with IMAGINE and some of the main players in the ag-food value chain,” says Pablo Barrera.
Pablo Barrera will take up his new position effective 1 July, and a process to identify his successor has been initiated.
