“I welcome the appointment of Mella Frewen, confident that her knowledge and understanding of the agri-food sector as well as her experience of European affairs will keep CIAA on a continued strong course and further strengthen the European food and drink industry representation in Brussels,” stated Jean Martin, CIAA President.

An Irish national, Mella Frewen has a Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from the National University of Ireland, and also completed a post-graduate course in marine biology at the Free University of Brussels. She also holds an INSEAD diploma on International Operations Management.

Mrs. Frewen has worked in the agri-food sector in Europe for 20 years. Most recently she was Director, Government Affairs – Europe & Africa for Monsanto, a position which she took up in 2002 and where she worked with a team spread throughout this region on issues related principally to agricultural biotechnology but also conventional agriculture and agri-chemistry. Prior to her engagement with Monsanto, she was International Relations Director for Cerestar, Europe’s biggest starch producer. From this role and her earlier ones in the Ferruzzi and Eridania Béghin-Say Groups, stationed in Brussels, she has a wide experience of relations with the different Institutions of the European Union and trade associations within the food chain.