Alberto Weisser: Global Agribusiness

We sometimes take for granted how food reaches our table. We just buy them from the grocery store. Yet how the food got there can be a very interesting story. It can travel from one country to another. The packaging may come from one place and the food itself from another. In fact ingredients of a food may come from different places.

To make this all happen there must be an organization in place. Someone has to connect all the elements from planting to delivery. It can involve a complicated global supply chain. While there are some many ideals about food production, the reality is there also has to be economies of scale to make the food production and agribusiness activities sustainable. Aside from profitability, sustainability must also be considered.

One company that has for over a century been engaged in agribusiness and has helped in the sustainability of food production is Bunge Limited. It is a leading food and agribusiness company with integrated operations that encompass the world. Its operations start from the farm field to the retail shelf.

The man who had until recently been the CEO and is now the Executive Chairman is Alberto Weisser. He served as Chairman and CEO of Bunge Limited from July 1999 to June 1, 2013 and January 1999 to June 1, 2013 respectively. Weisser joined Bunge Ltd., in July 1993 and served as its Chief Financial Officer from July 1993 to 1999.  Before that he worked for the BASF Group in various finance-related positions for 15 years.

Bunge had been impressed with the performance of Weisser for after spending a little less than six years as Chief Financial Officer he was given the top post.  Weisser has a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.  He has participated in several post-graduate programs at Harvard Business School. He also attended the Management Development Program of INSEAD in France.

Weisser’s over a decade tenure as CEO has greatly influenced Bunge which has been in existence since 1818. The firm has more than 35,000 employees working in around 40 countries.