b'Teaching the Globe About the Beauty of SeedMarco van Leeuwen found wonder in the seed sector. Now, he strives to share that knowledge across the world. Alex MartinIN THE SEEDindustry, its not unusual to hear about some-one whos been at a company for 20 to 30 yearssomeone whos maintained their job, is passionate about what they do and loves where they work. But, among those success stories, rarely do you hear about a person starting as an intern, work-ing hard and rising through the ranks to the point that theyve become the managing director of that same company. Its not a story you hear often, but thats the reality of Marco van Leeuwen. Though, it wasnt a clear-cut path from the begin-ning. There wasnt really a big, ultimate plan, van Leeuwen, man-aging director of Rijk Zwaan and president of ISF, says. There was the connection with horticulture and my passion for itbut as for the rest, it was a lot of coincidence.Born and raised in the world of horticulture, surrounded by greenhouses and the horticulture industry, it seemed logical for van Leeuwen to follow horticulture into his studies at school. Focused on agriculture management specifically, he needed an internship to complete his thesisit was then that the world of Rijk Zwaan opened to him. I never made the connection, he said, noting that through his research and studies, he never realized how nearby Rijk Zwaan was to him. I got this internship, and the whole beautiful world of seeds unfolded in front of meand it felt right. Rijk Zwaan was my first employer and is probably going to be my last.For van Leeuwen, the seed sectorand more specifically, the vegetable seed sectorcaught his attention almost imme-diately due to the multi-dimensional aspect. Imagine a tomato seed, which is really tinyyou have to make sure you get the right result in terms of quality because 16/ SEEDWORLD.COMINTERNATIONAL EDITION 2023'