BOARD OF GOVERNORS ANNOUNCE THE DEPARTURE OF BEVERLEY POSTMA

KUALA LUMPUR, 17 MAY 2021 – The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Board of Governors has received and accepted the resignation of Beverley Postma, Chief Executive Officer, with a three months’ notice period. The Board of Governors acknowledges the constraints posed by the ongoing global pandemic and wishes to thank Beverley for her valuable contributions in helping develop the organisation’s five-year strategy with an ambitious vision and implementation plan. The RSPO Board of Governors wishes Beverley all the best in her future endeavours.

Ms Audrey Lee has been appointed as Interim Coordinator to assist with a smooth transition to ensure that the RSPO can continue its ongoing projects and initiatives without disruption.

About RSPO:

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was formed in 2004 with the objective of promoting the growth and use of sustainable oil palm products through credible global standards and engagement of stakeholders. RSPO is a not-for-profit, international, membership organisation that unites stakeholders from the different sectors of the palm oil industry including oil palm producers, palm oil processors or traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks and investors, environmental or nature conservation NGOs, and social or developmental NGOs.

This multi-stakeholder representation is mirrored in the governance structure of RSPO such that seats in the Board of Governors, Steering Committees and Working Groups are fairly allocated to each sector. In this way, RSPO lives out the philosophy of the "roundtable" by giving equal rights to each stakeholder group, facilitating traditionally adversarial stakeholders in working together to reach decisions by consensus, and achieving RSPO’s shared vision of making sustainable palm oil the norm.

The seat of the association is in Zurich, Switzerland, while the secretariat is currently based in Kuala Lumpur with satellite offices in Jakarta (ID), London (UK), Zoetermeer (NL), Beijing (CN) and Bogotá (CO).