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The Emerging Team (2)

Robynne Anderson – President of Emerging Ag Inc.

Robynne Anderson is an international expert in agricultural and food policies. Her engagement reaches throughout the value chain providing support in issues management and strategic development to a broad range of clients ranging from farmers to food processors, scientists to governments.

Robynne represents accredited organizations at the United Nations, bringing the voice of agriculture in multi-governmental processes. She distinguished herself in establishing the first Private Sector Mechanism representing agribusinesses at the UN Committee on World Food Security. Her savviness at international diplomacy broke new grounds in bringing new issues to prominence in the international policy fora, such as the role of women in farming, the importance of post-harvest losses and food waste in food security. She led the two-year long negotiations for obtaining the declaration by the UN General Assembly of the International Year of Pulses and then co-ordinated the activities for the year on behalf of the Global Pulse Confederation reaching over 21 million people on social media. She also represented business in the negotiations that led to the Voluntary Guidelines on the Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests, as well as the Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Security.

In the context of her work on outreach to international organizations, Robynne also founded the Farming First coalition in 2007 and her company serves as the Secretariat of the International Agri-Food Network (IAFN).

Robynne is a spokesperson and public speaker on international agricultural, food and nutrition issues. She spoke at the UN General Assembly, Rio+20, the UN Committee on World Food Security, the UN negotiations on the Sustainable Development Goals.

Prior to founding Emerging ag, Robynne established Issues Ink, a Canadian-based publishing company specializing in magazines on Canadian and American agriculture. She managed the company for over seventeen years until selling in 2008. In that time, she founded Germination – Canada’s seed magazine, reconceived the Alberta seed guide, and purchased Seed World magazine and ran a total of 12 titles, plus several electronic newsletters.

Robynne is a graduate of Carleton University. She started her career in Canadian politics as legislative assistant to the then Deputy Prime Minister of Canada. In addition to her role at Emerging ag, Robynne is involved in the management of her family’s seed farm in Dugald, Manitoba, Canada. She is also the founder and current chairman of the Manyinga school project, a non-profit organization that supports orphans to learn agricultural skills through schools.

Paulina Ceballos – Outreach Coordinator

Paulina helps Emerging with commercial market outreach, in particular with delegation coordination for trade missions. She is also our lead event planner, coordinating the planning and onsite logistics of all sizes of events around the world. Paulina is also very involved in Emerging’s online and offline communications, in particular content and community management, branding and marketing activities.

Prior to Emerging ag, Paulina started working as a radio broadcaster at the age of 16 and developed a following during the seven-year run of her feature show in her home country of Mexico. She has worked for many national and international media networks covering different events – not only in front of the microphone, but also as advertising sales consultant, media relations, marketing manager and host for official and public events. Her experience in Rome includes working in digital communications for the private sector and as press officer for the United Nations agency International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Paulina is a Mexican national. She is fluent in Spanish, English, Italian and Portuguese. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from the Universidad Mexicana and a Laurea Magistrale in Journalism from the Università di Roma Tre. Paulina has been living in Europe for the past 7 years and is currently based in Rome, Italy.

Isabelle Coche – Vice-President of Strategy

Isabelle is Emerging’s strategy visionary. She monitors global issues, and manages many crisis communications projects. She is our in-house expert on technology and innovation as well as climate change policy and negotiations.

Isabelle has significant experience in advocacy and communications at the international and regional levels, and a broad knowledge of development and agriculture issues acquired through previous work in international organizations, private sectors and NGOs. Prior to Emerging, Isabelle was also involved in the Farming First coalition. Leveraging the value of media and social media to complement outreach and advocacy into holistic strategies for public relations is at the core of Isabelle’s approach. She has also successfully led key public affairs projects in highly sensitive issues, such as agricultural biotechnology and intellectual property rights.

Isabelle is a French national and is fluent in both French and English. She holds a Master’s in Gender Studies from the London School of Economics and a BA Honours in Political Science and Economics from McGill University. Isabelle has lived in Africa and Asia, and does not currently have a home base as she is a citizen of the world.

Morgane Danielou – Vice-President Operations

Morgane oversees client project management at Emerging. She is particularly active in the Secretariat of the International Agri-Food Network (IAFN) by managing client interactions with the UN Rome-based agencies. Internally, she manages Emerging’s overall operations and is our in-house expert in fertilizers and the UN Committee on World Food Security.

Prior to joining Emerging ag, Morgane was Director of Communications and Public Affairs at the International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) where she co-chaired the Farming First coalition. She has also worked for the World Bank and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Working for international organizations, NGOs, and the private sector, Morgane has been a spokesperson for specific industries as well as business groups in international policy processes and has conducted fieldwork in Latin America and Africa. For two years, Morgane represented the private sector at the UN Committee on World Food Security where she helped found the Private Sector Mechanism. Morgane was also vice-chair of the Food and Agriculture Committee of the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) to the OECD. Having worked in international development and communications of the agri-food sector for the past 15 years, Morgane has a strong background in corporate and digital communications. She is passionate about building engagement with diverse stakeholders and representing civil society in United Nations processes and agencies.

A French national, Morgane is fluent in French, English, Portuguese and Spanish. She holds a Master’s of Science in Development Studies from the London School of Economics, an MBA from the Sorbonne Graduate Business School, a BA in History from the Sorbonne University and a BA in Chinese from the International Institute of Oriental Languages. Morgane has lived in Europe, Latin America and North America. She is currently based in Paris, France.

Hapsa Dia – Strategy Manager

At Emerging, Hapsa deals with strategy development and stakeholder engagement planning and tracking. She engages in training and capacity building efforts around crisis management and strategic communications for specific clients, and also supports the team with general communication and content development.

Hapsa began her professional career as a junior editor for an engineering company Suez Environment. She has experience with Weber Schandwick as a Digital Consultant, and was involved with an independent Mauritanian online media as an editor and radio broadcaster. Hapsa managed several projects from brand auditing to writing for a French parliament journal and also lobbying for media liberalization in Mauritania. With an interest to make a difference on key development issues, Hapsa created a development magazine with the support of UNDP and UNFPA. She then joined a publishing company where she coordinated the team for a national magazine and Financial Afrik, an international publication. Hapsa has worked as a consultant for a gold mining company in situations of crisis management and as an assistant to the Director of Strategy Sahel, a European Union program, on workshop, conferences and strategy building focusing on finding the right solutions to address the security issues in the Sahelo-Saharian region. Hapsa currently volunteers for “Santé sans frontières” a Mauritanian NGO aiming to raise awareness about key public health issues particularly on how to prevent Malaria and HIV in exposed populations.

Hapsa studied Materials Sciences and Applied Physics at the University of Orleans. As her interest in development grew, she went to Paris where she graduated with a Master degree in Public Affairs at Inseec Business School Paris and London College of Communication. Currently based in Nouakchott, Mauritania, Hapsa is fluent in French, English, Fulani and Wolof.

Maria Diaz – Intern

Maria Gabriela works as an intern with Emerging, providing services in the area of the International Agri-Food Network, mainly in the planning and implementation of the Private Sector Mechanism at the 43rd UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS43).

Prior to joining Emerging, Maria Gabriela was pursuing her Masters in International Development at the Paris School of International Affairs of Sciences Po, with concentrations on African studies and project management. During her program, she worked as a research assistant at the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI), focusing on the contribution of the private sector in food and nutrition security in Africa.

She holds a Bachelor degree in Political Science from the Universidad Central de Venezuela, and a graduate diploma on Corporate Social Responsibility. She has three years of professional experience working in media communications and corporate sustainability programs in her hometown Caracas. She currently lives in Paris and speaks fluent English, French, and Spanish. She looks forward to specialize on joint development initiatives that can increase private sector engagement in the promotion of sustainable agriculture, and the achievement of food security and improved nutrition.

Tracey Foster – Global Operations Manager

Tracey has joined the Emerging Ag and the Global Operations team in the capacity of Global Operations Manager.

Tracey brings with her many years of event planning and administrative experience. Over the past twenty years Tracey has been fortunate to have worked with a wide range of organizations from grass roots all the way up to large scale, most notably the famed Calgary Stampede.

Tracey has a great love of the outdoors, her passions also include travelling and all things equine related.

Tracey was born and raised in the majestic Canadian Rockies town of Banff, Alberta, had the opportunity to live abroad for three years and currently calls the small but progressive agriculture focused community of Olds, Alberta home.

 

Stefanie Hyde – Digital Media Strategist

With a passion for creativity, marketing and communications, Stefanie contributes to Emerging’s online communications and brand management, develops graphic visuals, and provides communications support to Emerging and its valued clients. Stefanie has grown up in a family with a long history in agriculture. Her family roots and exposure to farming and agri-business has nurtured a natural love for the industry and the wonderful people who work in it.

Prior to joining Emerging, she has gained career experience working with Parks Canada in a Promotions and New Media role and developed skills including videography, advertising, marketing, social media and graphic design.

Stefanie is a Canadian national and speaks both French and English. She graduated from Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario, with a Bachelors Degree of Design. Stefanie was fortunate to spend a term of her degree program studying at the Copenhagen School of Design and Technology where she specialized in Sustainable Communications which included sustainable design, communications and marketing. Stefanie has lived in Denmark and is currently based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Jessica MacKinnon – Client Services Co-ordinator

At Emerging, Jessica is involved in the support of day to day operations of the business. As a Client Services Summer Intern she is also involved in client research and other special projects.

Prior to joining Emerging, Jessica lived in Ireland for 2 years while on a Working Holiday Visa. While in Ireland, Jessica gained valuable experience in communications and human resources, having worked as a Political Representative Liaison and Trainer for a National energy company.

Jessica leads a busy student life as a Student-Athlete. She plays on the University of Calgary Fastball team and is in her 4th year of the Bachelor of Arts program. Jessica is a double major in Political Science with Linguistics and Language, specializing in French. After completing her first 2 years at the University of Toronto Jessica moved back home to complete her bachelor degree and be closer to family. Jessica is fluent in English and French and is a Canadian National based in Calgary.

Tilly MacRae – Policy Co-ordinator

At Emerging, Tilly works in policy research and communications. She is involved in Emerging’s communications, secretariat functions, and the management of committees. She has always had a passion for sustainable business development, stakeholder engagement and international development.

Prior to joining Emerging, Tilly was completing her Masters of Science in Sustainable Energy Development. During her masters degree she was gaining work experience as the newsletter editor for the SEDV program. In addition, Tilly worked as an intern/writer for a local non-profit that aims to connect environmentally responsible businesses in Calgary.

Tilly is a Canadian national. She graduated from the University of Calgary with her Master of Science in Sustainable Energy Development. She holds a Bachelor of Science with an Honours Specialization in Animal Behaviour from the University of Western Ontario. Tilly has lived across Canada including Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick. In addition, she spent a 10 month working holiday in New Zealand. Tilly is currently based in Calgary, Alberta.

Ben Robinson – Client Services Co-ordinator

At Emerging, Ben works to facilitate private sector engagement with the UN by organizing private sector representation, monitoring UN activities relevant to agribusinesses, as well as performing stakeholder communications and outreach.

Ben has worked with the Office of Evaluation of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and has contributed to the University of Toronto’s Journal of Middle East Studies. He has an abiding interest in international relations and development.

Ben is a Canadian national who is fluent in both French and English, and dabbles in a variety of other European tongues, both living and dead. He has studied European Politics and Human Geography at both the University of Toronto and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris. Ben has lived in places as diverse as Brussels, New Delhi and Tehran. He is currently based in Rome, but soon relocating to London, UK.

 

Tanja Riedel – Office Manager

Tanja keeps financial and organizational matters straight at Emerging ag. She works to maintain internal operational processes, HR procedures and assists with client and stakeholder contracts and proposals. She enjoys exploring the family ties to agriculture in her work life.

Joining from KPMG, Tanja has worked in various industries, including Banking, Recruitment and Energy. Tanja’s skills focus on finances, team management and human resources. Prior to Emerging ag, Tanja has gained experience as an Executive Assistant to VP’s, CEO’s and Management Boards, as well as an Administrative Assistant and Consultant.

Tanja is a German national and speaks both English and German fluently. She holds a BA in Economic Law obtained at the University of Applied sciences in Cologne, Germany. She has lived in Germany, the U.S.A and Canada. Tanja is currently based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Anna Zailer – Global Operations Manager

Anna comes to Emerging with nearly two decades of experience in finance, HR, administration and management, as well as Financial Transactions and reporting analysis center of Canada (FINTRAC) administration.

She holds an advanced diploma in Business Administration – Accounting and is currently working towards obtaining her Bachelor of Applied Business Administration – Accounting.

Living in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Anna speaks fluent English and Russian and has worked in various industries, including real estate and accounting. She’s looking forward to exploring the agriculture industry.

 

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