WinField United South Africa announces the appointment of AJ Griesel as the Managing Director for InteliGro Crop Solutions. He will assume his duties on 1 June 2024.
AJ is a seasoned operational and commercial executive with a well-developed strategic mindset and extensive experience in the South African agricultural sector and the food value chain.
He holds both a Master of Business Administration Degree (cum laude) and a Bachelor of Commerce (Management Accounting) Degree from the Stellenbosch University and has a dedicated background and respected presence in the agricultural industry. His professional experience in the South African agricultural industry spans more than 20 years.
AJ’s formative years in the mine and farming community of Virginia in the Free State established a passion for agriculture from a very young age. His teenage years spent in Goodwood, a suburb in Cape Town, inspired his interest in commercial acvies. It was, however, a rugby injury that kickstarted his career in agriculture, aer which he joined Koelfontein Estate in Ceres as a Business Accountant.
Since then, his career in agriculture comprised of various senior roles. These include Director: Trade and Services, Director: Commercial and Executive Manager: Business Development for Kaap Agri Bedryf (Ltd). Most recently he led the South African Table Grape Industry (NPC) as their Chief Executive Officer (CEO). In his role as CEO, he was responsible for the effective strategic and operational management of various portfolios. These portfolios include market development, market access, logistics, transformation, research, information, foresight, and scenario planning, as well as continuous liaison with stakeholders as industry representative.
During his extensive career AJ also served on the Board as a Non-Executive Director for several industry entities. These include Culdevco (Pty) Ltd, Hortfin (Pty) Ltd, Fruit South Africa (NPC), FruitFly Africa (Pty) Ltd and Sapo Trust.
AJ places emphasis on leading people so that business performance, operational excellence and profitable growth are achieved and accelerated. He believes in a values-based culture that supports the delivery of long-term achievements for the organisation and its stakeholders.
In his own words he says: “The attraction of the agricultural industry lies in the people and living close to nature.”
AJ is married to Chantel, and they value their family time with their three boys Jacobus, SJ and D’Niel .We herewith welcome AJ to the InteliGro team. We trust that he will provide strong leadership as Managing Director to advance InteliGro’s business purpose and build on the strong track record of partnerships with the industry, business partners and clients.
