Bill joined the cotton business in 1996 as a trainee at Ralli Brothers & Coney in Liverpool. After spending a number of years in Liverpool and a year living in Abidjan, he moved in 2001 to join The Seam to build and manage their international cotton trading platform. In 2007 Bill joined Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) as a trader in Geneva. He then spent the years 2008 to 2014 managing LDC’s cotton businesses in India and China, living in Gurgaon and then Beijing, and eventually managing the Asia region out of Beijing. In 2014 Bill once again moved to Geneva and managed the European & Black Sea regions, China, Singapore and Australia for LDC.

 

At the end of 2017 Bill left LDC to start his own company, called Dragontree Commodity Trading, focusing on online auctions for commodities. From 2018-19 Bill served as President of the ICA and during his time in office Bill championed the Women in Cotton and ICAspire initiatives, handing over the Presidency to Azeez Syed in Liverpool, 2019.

Session: If not now, when?

Bill Kingdon has lived and worked overseas for much of his professional life as a soldier and senior leader in UK Defence. Bill and his family have been based in Washington DC, Germany and Cyprus and enjoyed being part of those communities and cultures. Bill learned the benefits of collaboration and partnering as a member of international teams all over the world, including Afghanistan, Iraq and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

 

As brigade commander, Bill prepared large organisations for deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the British Army in Germany; managed a varied and fascinating strategic portfolio as the chief operating officer for British Forces in Cyprus and provided the focus for collaboration between international organisations, the Afghan government, diplomats and NATO in Kabul.

 

Most recently, as a consultant, Bill led a team acting as a catalyst for cultural change within the British Army. Bill holds masters' degrees in law from Cambridge and defence studies from King's College, London.

Session: ICA Update & ICA AGM

 

Camille is a cotton trader at Louis Dreyfus Company. She is a French national and studied at Dauphine University, Paris, where she graduated with a degree in Finance, and a master’s in International Affairs.

 

In 2014, she joined LDC, and in the 5 years which followed, worked her way through various departments and countries, eventually taking responsibility for trading the physical flow between the USA and Asia, notably China and Vietnam. Working for a market leader in the industry provides her with a unique opportunity to contribute to the presence and influence of women at every level of the cotton value-chain. She is currently based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Session: If not now, when?

 

After a brief stint in the City of London, Colin began his career in the cotton industry in 1995 with Cargill Cotton. His major focus was trading African origin cotton, which led to a posting in 2006 to Johannesburg to run Cargill's Southern and east African ginning business. In 2008 Colin moved to Cargill's headquarters in the US to become its Global Trading Manager, a position he held for nearly three years until 2011 when he transferred to Cargill's Geneva office to lead its sugar trading desk. After 16 years at Cargill, in 2012 Colin took up the opportunity to join Glencore to head up its cotton business, working out of its office in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Colin is an Alumnus of the London School of Economics.

 

Eimear joined Namoi Cotton in 1999 having previously held cotton marketing positions with Cotton Trading Corporation Pty Ltd. Eimear has been involved in the agricultural industry in various management capacities since 1992, both in Australia and in other countries. Eimear has been instrumental in successfully establishing the China, Southeast Asia and Subcontinent markets for Namoi Cotton, she is responsible for export sales, client management, quality and logistics from warehouse to spinning mill.

 

Eimear has over 20 years of specialised cotton industry experience and is currently a director of the Australian Cotton Shippers Association (ACSA) and of the Australian Peak Shippers Association (APSA).

 

 

Jerry Marshall is the owner of The Yiyang Company, an independent futures and options trading company he started in 2007. Prior to that, he spent 29 years at Cargill Cotton, where he was Senior VP responsible for the risk management of global cotton trading activities.

 

During his time at Cargill, he spent a total of six years living in the UK and Hong Kong where he traded Australian, Turkish, Uzbek, Pakistani, Indian and Chinese cottons. He spent several years in charge of Cargill's Far Western USA trading, as well as working with Cargill’s OTC swaps business.

 

He is a past Chairman of the American Cotton Shippers Association, and serves or has served on the boards of numerous cotton industry associations, including ACSA, the National Cotton Council of America, the Western Cotton Shippers Association, the Memphis Cotton Exchange, and the International Cotton Association, Ltd. From 2003 until 2007, he served as a Director of The Seam LLC. From 2017 until this year’s Covid-related shutdown, he served as Program Director at the ACSA International Cotton Institute.

 

Jerry is a graduate of Columbia University with a degree in Economics.

Session: Has the context for global trade changed?

 

Kim Hanna is a founding partner and director of TransGlobal Inspections LLC., a leading international inspection company specializing in raw cotton. Kim entered the cotton business over three decades ago as a secretary at Edward T. Robertson & Son Ltd. With the support of her husband and having one of the best mentors in the cotton inspection field, Frank Wakefield, Kim managed to juggle raising 5 children while learning the cotton industry from the bottom up. Developing strong relationships along the way, Kim has cultivated the trust and respect of her associates and other industry professionals. She is an advisor to the TCA, WCSA, SCA and ASCA Foreign Affairs Committees, an associate member of the ICA and participant in the Controllers Working Group and Women in Cotton Committee. In her leisure time, Kim loves to spend time with her family and friends on their boat aptly named “Luv-n-Life”.

Session: If not now, when?

 

Marcus is head of the Metals and Bulks Commodity Strategy team, having joined Macquarie in 2019 from ICBC Standard Bank. He is responsible for analysing cross-commodity macro themes and trading dynamics whilst also leading coverage of precious metals. Since starting in commodities with the top-ranked Credit Suisse research team, he has developed extensive experience across precious and base metals, as well as bulk commodities, having been a principal analyst for each of the sectors at different points in his career. Marcus holds an MPhil in Modern Chinese Studies from the University of Oxford and a BA in Economics, first class, from the University of Durham.

 

Ron graduated from the University of California, Davis, with a B.S. in Livestock Production Management. Out of school, he was a Field Representative with McCormick Schilling, subsequently moving to run the seed propagation and raw materials receiving at their Gilroy, CA plant. Lured away from McCormick by the noted fresh Garlic industry leader, Christopher Ranch, he helped establish the internationally renowned Gilroy Garlic Festival.

Dr. Rubana Huq is a businesswoman, and a poet. Whilst she is the first female President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), she is the first occupant of the post who has a PhD. She is also the Managing Director of Mohammadi Group, a family business conglomerate whose journey began exporting readymade garments, and has since diversified into software, digital distribution, real estate, power generation and the group’s latest is the launch of a television channel called Nagorik. She was featured in BBC’s 100 Women. Huq won the SAARC Literary Award for her poems in 2006. Her first book of poems is titled Time of My Life. She is the former CEO of TV Southasia, a collaborative platform of South Asian electronic media based in Kolkata. She also sits on the board of trustees for the Asian University for Women. Dr. Huq holds a PhD in English Literature from Jadavpur University in Kolkata and a M.A. in English from East West University in Dhaka. In earlier years she was educated at Viqarunnisa Noon School and Holy Cross College. Dr. Huq was married to Annisul Huq, the late mayor of Dhaka North City Corporation.

Session: Has the context for global trade changed?