As Land O’Lakes Inc. continues its strong growth trajectory, the company today announced the promotions of Beth Ford and Brad Oelmann. Ford will head all Land O’Lakes Businesses and Oelmann will head all Land O’Lakes Services.

“As Land O’Lakes continues to deliver year-over-year record earnings, we are solidifying our management strategy for the future,” says Chris Policinski, president and CEO, Land O’Lakes Inc.

Ford has been promoted to chief operating officer of Land O’Lakes Businesses. Her role will expand to include overall responsibility for the WinField United business. In addition, she will continue P&L responsibility for both the Purina Animal Nutrition and the Land O’Lakes Dairy Foods businesses and retain her previous responsibilities for system-wide Supply Chain, Operations and IT. With the evolving omnichannel expectation of consumers and customers, Ford will also lead development of the company’s e-commerce platform. This portfolio enables Ford to make integrated decisions for the company and to respond to market opportunities and challenges with agility.

Since being named the head of the food and feed businesses, Ford has guided successful strategic and financial years. In Feed, she has led record performance both years, leveraged innovation through research and development and amplified the strength of the Purina brand. In Dairy Foods, she has led record growth in Foodservice, and was key in identifying the opportunity and leading the Vermont Creamery acquisition.

Ford joined Land O’Lakes in 2011 from International Flavors and Fragrances. At IFF, she was responsible for optimizing the company’s global manufacturing infrastructure, including consolidation of multiple international facilities, as well as the construction of new manufacturing facilities in India, China and Singapore. Prior to IFF, she held a progression of supply chain and operations management roles with Mobil Corp., PepsiCo and Pepsi Bottling Co., Hachette Book Group and Scholastic Inc. She earned an MBA from Columbia University Business School and a BBA from Iowa State University.

Oelmann has been promoted to chief operating officer, Land O’Lakes Services. Oelmann was named EVP, Member Relations, Business Development Services in the spring of 2017. His new role will bring together all services Land O’Lakes offers to its valuable co-op members. In addition to his current responsibilities for Member Services and Business Development Services, Oelmann will add overall responsibility for Land O’Lakes SUSTAIN, Crop Nutrients, FLM Harvest and Government Relations.

In addition to being CEO of both United Suppliers Inc. at a time of exponential growth and Aligned Ag Distributors, a wholesale crop inputs distribution company, he played key marketing roles for United Suppliers and spent a year with United Agri Products as director of products and markets. In addition, he spent 13 years with American Cyanamid in various sales, marketing and management roles. He holds a bachelor of science degree in Ag Business from Iowa State University and grew up on a farm in north central Iowa.

Both promotions are effective Jan. 1.

About Land O’Lakes Inc.
Land O’Lakes Inc., one of America’s premier agribusiness and food companies, is a member-owned cooperative with industry-leading operations that span the spectrum from agricultural production to consumer foods. With 2016 annual sales of $13 billion, Land O’Lakes is one of the nation’s largest cooperatives, ranking 209 on the Fortune 500. Building on a legacy of more than 96 years of operation, Land O’Lakes today operates some of the most respected brands in agribusiness and food production including Land O’Lakes Dairy Foods, Purina Animal Nutrition, WinField United and Land O’Lakes SUSTAIN. The company does business in all 50 states and more than 60 countries. Land O’Lakes Inc. corporate headquarters are located in Arden Hills, Minn.

Source: Land O’Lakes Inc.