News

ExCo 2020-2022: A conversation with Leon Mol

30th June 2020

Representing retailer Ahold Delhaize, Leon Mol takes a seat as one of the new additions to SAI Platform’s Executive Committee.

Having already participated in various Working Groups and Committees, Leon believes that it is important to contribute by playing an active role and taking the responsibility that comes with being a part of the leadership and management.

“What comes across with SAI Platform is the ability to leverage the relationships through collaboration. Our motivation in being a member of SAI Platform is to be part of this community and be connected.”

Exclusively for SAI Platform members, Leon Mol openly addresses in this recorded conversation the role of farming in sustainability, improving relations between producers and consumers and his enthusiasm for SAI Platform as a place of action and collaboration between companies.

Leon’s ambition to join SAI Platform’s Executive Committee is with the aim of bringing the voice of the retailer to the table. His career spans the length of the supply chain from agronomist to supplier and now as retailer. Having grown up on a farm, Leon learned from an early age that in order to grow or produce something it is essential to look after animals and take care of the soil. His father taught him the important life’s lesson that if you don’t do that, you will eventually see your mistakes, but by then it’ll be too late.

“Supply chains are resilient and flexible enough to catch up over time – assuming there are no other unforeseen events taking place.”

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic has exposed certain weak points in supply chains. Leon acknowledges that from a retail perspective where operations are people centric such as store workers and logistic teams, a pandemic on this scale is really disruptive. Retailers are having to quickly adjust to shifts and trends in how people shop. Online sales for example are now used to the maximum, a trend which Leon foresees as part of the “new normal” post-pandemic.

People will soon fall back into their old pattern and behaviour, unless we do something.”

As an enthusiastic member of SAI Platform, Leon sees real benefits of impact for retailers. He also sees SAI Platform with an important role in building the momentum and the right initiatives that will ensure that life post-pandemic is not a return to business as usual. For Leon, SAI Platform is a place where things are happening and where collaboration between companies results in action.  

Click here for the full conversation with Leon along with his views on supply chain resilience, bridging the gap between producers and consumers, and the importance of transparency and visibility to sustainability.