August 26, 2013
ADM appoints president for feed business unit
Agricultural processor, Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM), has appointed Brent Fenton as president of ADM Animal Nutrition.
Fenton, who joined ADMin 1992, will be based in Decatur, Illinois, US, and oversees the company''s specialty and value-added feed business which serves the livestock and aquaculture industries. He was previously the president of ADM''s European operations, with responsibilities of implementing strategy and coordinating growth activities across all business lines in the region. In addition, he has managed the company''s European oilseeds business.
Fenton sits on the board of ADM Hamburg AG and FEDIOL, the federation representing the European vegetable oil and protein meal industry in Europe.
He holds a bachelor''s degree in agriculture and agricultural economics from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada.
ADM Animal Nutrition is formed to bring together the company''s specialty feed business, which provides amino acid-based feed ingredients, with ADM Alliance Nutrition, Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary and a leading producer of livestock feed ingredients.
Meanwhile, Joseph Taets, senior vice president and president of the Agricultural Services business unit, will take on additional responsibilities for strategy and growth activity across business lines in Europe, Africa and India. He will be relocated to the company''s European headquarters in Rolle, Switzerland.
Taets is currently responsible for commercial activities and operations of ADM''s agricultural origination and transportation network, which spans more than 75 countries, as well as overseeing the company''s wheat milling and rice businesses.
A member of ADM''s global operating committee, Taets was previously president of ADM''s
grain group, and took charge of the company''s US and export grain businesses, grain-merchandising operations, destination-marketing business, and ocean freight and vessel operations. Before that, he was managing director of European oilseeds operations.
Taets, who joined ADM in 1988, serves on the boards of the North American Export Grain Association, Golden Peanut Company, ADM Grain River System Inc and Kalama Export, an ADM joint venture. He also represents the company on boards in Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, the Netherlands, Mexico, Panama and Switzerland.
He holds a bachelor''s degree from Iowa State University, US, and a Master of Business Administration from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
According to Juan Luciano, ADM''s executive vice president and chief operating officer, the recent appointments are part of the company''s efforts to leverage on the earning potential of its growing network following the pending acquisition of GrainCorp and the recent growth of ADM''s crop origination and processing assets in Eastern Europe.