New to the board are Alia Malik (director for sustainability – Better Cotton), Yahya Saleem (regional director for Pakistan), Jagan Gopinath (regional director for India), Ismail Nohutlu (regional director for Turkey), Ashok Hegde (ordinary director – Olam Global Agri Pte Ltd), Hope Brooks (ordinary director – Staple Cotton Cooperative Association), and Marco Antonio Aluisio (ordinary director – Ecom Agroindustrial Corp Ltd, according to a press release by the ICA.
Comprising 24 members, the new board line-up continues to represent the ICA’s global membership across all sectors of the supply chain and builds on its commitment to engage the entire global cotton community.
“Becoming president of the ICA is a great honour. And as I reach the latter stages of my career, the opportunity to lead the International Cotton Association is something I assume with great pride. As the ICA president, I must tell you all that I recognise the importance of being a president to all participants in the textile chain—from the field to the end user and all those involved in that process. It is my duty to serve you. The textile chain is more transparent than it has ever been. It is essential that the ICA continue to evolve and keep pace with changes as they occur. Traceability using science and block chain capacity is holding the whole chain more accountable. There is a need and thirst for knowledge, especially on the retail side of the business,” ICA president Tim North said regarding his new role. “For too long, there have been virtual walls between various sectors of the industry. It is important that the ICA engage with brands and retailers as they play a vital role in the whole process. The inclusion of Andrew Olah on the board offers a great opportunity for us to engage in more dialogue with brands and retailers due to his extensive contacts in the industry.”
“Sustainability is here to stay. It will evolve and the ICA can play a role in this important space. Whereas the raison d’être of the ICA is to provide arbitration services and help to maintain integrity in the marketplace, having contact with all segments of the industry is essential to assist in contract sanctity. My intention is to be able to stand before you in a year’s time and speak about important progress made in these various areas that will surely serve to create an increasingly safer trading environment,” added North.
North entered the cotton business in December 1978 joining Weil Brothers-Cotton as a management trainee. In January 1983, he moved to South America to establish operations for Weil in Paraguay and to develop Weil’s South American business. He returned to the US to Weil’s head office in December 1988 to oversee Weil’s South American business. North then went on to become the senior vice president for Weil Brothers-Cotton, Inc in 2004, in charge of Weil’s non-US operations and overseeing Pima US and C/A operations.
In December 2009, North joined Ecom cotton group in Dallas, Texas and became co-CEO of Ecom, USA in January 2016. He then relocated to Pully, Switzerland in March 2019 for Ecom as global head of merchandising.
North has held a variety of board and association positions in the industry, including president of Western Cotton Shippers Association (2016-2018) and chairman of American Cotton Shippers Association (2019/20) as well as serving on the boards of Cotton Council International and the US National Cotton Council.
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