Today, the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) announced the appointment of Andreas Wais as secretary-general. He will begin his responsibilities with ISTA June 1.
Wais joins ISTA from Eurofins Regulatory AG in Switzerland, where he has served as managing director since 2012.
He studied chemistry under the supervision of the Federal Research Centre for Agronomy, dealing with residues of pesticides in soil, at University of Braunschweig in Germany. After completing his diploma, Wais joined Schering AG in the analytical quality control department before joining the Institute of Radioagronomy at the Forschungszentrum Jülich. Here, he completed his doctorate in agronomy from the University of Bonn, and afterward, Wais became the scientific secretary of the Senate Commission on Chemicals in Agriculture of the German Research Council.
Then in the mid-1990s, Wais joined RCC, a global contract research organization, first in the German branch, then in Switzerland, as head of the residue and field trials departments.
As a result of developing a substantial number of client contacts in 2002, Wais was promoted to project leader of the newly formed business unit Agro. He was responsible for RCC-client relationships, including with Asia with respect to studies and regulatory affairs. In 2006, Wais was appointed to deputy head of Agro and a year later, the business units Agro and Chemicals were merged under his leadership. In early 2008 Harlan/RCC implemented a new business unit as a result of the acquisition of SPL. Wais was promoted to global director of AgroChemicals and Biocides and promoted again in June 2011 to general manager of Global Registration and Strategic Consulting.
