John Barnes - Business Unit Head, Africa & Middle East

John Barnes is the business unit head of Africa & Middle East for Arysta LifeScience Corporation and oversees the strategic and operational management of the company’s business in the region. Barnes joined Arysta in June 2007 as the CEO of Southern Africa.

With 25 years of agrochemical and management experience, Barnes was previously the Asia head of the Professional Products Division & Post Patent Strategy for Syngenta. Prior to that, he served as the general manager and country head for Syngenta China (1999-2004), and as the country manager for Zeneca in South Africa (1997-1999). Other roles at Zeneca included marketing manager in sub-Saharan Africa and international market development in the UK.

Barnes’s tertiary studies are in agronomy in South Africa.