FABI was honoured to host a visit by the newly-appointed Vice President: Sappi Forests, Duane Roothman on 2 December. He was joined by Prof. Jolanda Roux, Programme Leader: Pests and Diseases and Mr Giovanni Sale, General Manager Research Planning and Nurseries at Sappi Forests. The group visited the FABI Biocontrol Centre at the University of Pretoria’s Hillcrest Campus, as well as the Future Africa and Engineering 4.0 facilities before visiting the Institute’s laboratories on the Hatfield campus. Here they were shown the facilities and engaged in a round table discussion with Tree Protection Co-operative Programme (TPCP) Mancom members. Duane succeeds Dr Terry Stanger, who retires at the end of August. Duane has been with Sappi for 25 years and has held various roles within Sappi Forests, most recently as General Manager Sappi Forests, KwaZulu-Natal. Sappi and the TPCP has partnered for more than 30 years on solution oriented research and training for tree health, and the visit reinforced the value and strong foundation of this partnership that will continue to impact the South Africa forestry and research landscape for many more years to come.