ADM, Bunge, Cargill, Louis Dreyfus Company and Glencore Agriculture create Covantis

Covantis seeks to modernize global trade through blockchain-based digital technology

Covantis will use blockchain technology to bring trading among international companies up to date. Image source: www.covantis.io

Petya Sechanova, newly appointed Covantis CEO

Covantis, the industry initiative that aims to modernize global trade operations, has received all required regulatory approvals and has incorporated as a legal entity in Geneva, Switzerland, as Covantis SA. The company is co-owned by its founding members: ADM, Bunge, Cargill, Louis Dreyfus Company and Glencore Agriculture.

Covantis also announced its governance structure and executive appointments. “After a thorough search process, we are very pleased to appoint Petya Sechanova as the company’s CEO,” says Stefano Rettore, an independent advisor to the organization. “Petya brings a wealth of industry knowledge to Covantis and has been fundamental in shaping the initiative since its inception in 2018.”

Sechanova has more than 20 years of experience in multinational companies, including 11 years with Cargill, during which she has served in a series of leadership positions, including, most recently, trade operations leader. Stefano Rettore will continue in his role as an independent advisor to the board until June, after which his successor will be announced.

“We’re excited to create Covantis as a company. This paves the way toward launching the first release of our industry-changing digital solution, focusing initially on grains and oilseeds post-trade execution processes,” says Sechanova. “In conversations with stakeholders around the world and up and down the value chain, we’ve heard time and again how critical it is for our entire industry to modernize our outdated global grain trading operations. Now that we’ve received regulatory approvals and incorporated Covantis as a legal entity, we focus on the preparation of the 2020 launch of the new platform.”

Earlier this year, the initiative announced the selection of ConsenSys, a market-leading Ethereum blockchain technology company, as the lead technology partner to develop its transformative set of digital solutions. ConsenSys will leverage its enterprise-ready blockchain products and services, including, Codefi, PegaSys Orchestrate, Kaleido, and MythX to build the blockchain network on Ethereum.

For more information, visit Covantis SA.

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Wayne Labs has more than 30 years of editorial experience in industrial automation. He served as senior technical editor for I&CS/Control Solutions magazine for 18 years where he covered software, control system hardware and sensors/transmitters. Labs ran his own consulting business and contributed feature articles to Electronic Design, Control, Control Design, Industrial Networking and Food Engineering magazines. Before joining Food Engineering, he served as a senior technical editor for Omega Engineering Inc. Labs also worked in wireless systems and served as a field engineer for GE’s Mobile Communications Division and as a systems engineer for Bucks County Emergency Services. In addition to writing technical feature articles, Wayne covers FE’s Engineering R&D section.