Meet Mark Schermer, our new Head of Marketing

Mark, what was your role before becoming our new Head of Marketing?

“I ran my own company for two years. As an entrepreneur, I worked for clients in the horticulture trade and outside the industry focusing on marketing and agile scrum projects, mainly in delivering complex websites. I also represented two European seed companies in North America as they had no presence there; and did a lot of marketing training for hotels, restaurants and cafes.”

What are you looking forward to in this new role?

“‘Agility’ seems to be a popular buzzword but I am using it anyway to indicate what I want to contribute. Syngenta’s ‘customer first’ strategy also really appeals to me. It’s close to my heart and I want to ensure that we walk the talk. Also, I want to translate market demand into our – already phenomenal – breeding pipeline. I want to support our customers to get maximum value out of our products by means of marketing, technical support, and retail account management.”  

What do you love most about working in horticulture?

“I love the passionate people; I feed off that. It’s the passion of my team and within Syngenta Flowers but more so the passion to succeed from our customers and retail partners. It’s incredibly fulfilling to work with people like that.”

Tell us a little more about your background.

“I graduated in Business, specialising in International Marketing Management. I was then a consultant in strategy, marketing and communications projects in horticulture for six years. I moved to another company as Product Manager before being promoted to International Manager, Marketing and Communications. I was then given the chance by that company to work in the US for five-and-a-half years before returning to my native Netherlands in 2014. There, I worked as Manager Corporate Communications, for 18 months, to manage a global rebranding before deciding to work for myself. Two years later, Syngenta came along.”

Are you a gardener yourself?

“We always have plants in the garden year-round. But living in the centre of the city of Delft, we’re modern, urban, patio gardeners.”

What is the best piece of gardening advice you've ever had?

“While walking in a glasshouse in California where I worked previously, one of the senior scientists told me, ‘Plants never lie’. It’s true. They always tell you what’s happening to them.”