CF Industries Holdings Inc. said Sept. 16 that Chairman and CEO Stephen Wilson has informed the company’s board of directors that he plans to retire as CEO effective Jan. 1, 2014. W. Anthony Will, senior vice president, manufacturing and distribution, has been selected to succeed Wilson at that time. Wilson will remain a director of the company and serve as non-executive chairman.
Will, 48, joined CF in 2007 as the company’s first vice president, corporate development. He led the company’s acquisition of its 50 percent interest in Keytrade, played a major role on the core team that executed the Terra Industries Inc. acquisition in 2010, and led the successful integration of the five Terra manufacturing facilities with the legacy CF operations. He was promoted to his present position in 2009 and has been responsible for annual production of 15 million tons of fertilizer and its distribution through some 70 locations. Will had a prominent role in developing the company’s capacity expansion strategy and currently is responsible for its execution.
Wilson, 64, has been an officer of CF for nearly 23 years, joining the company as CFO in 1991 and being named CEO in 2003. He was elected a director and appointed chairman in 2005 upon completion of the company’s initial public offering. Under his leadership, the company was transformed from a cooperative to a public company, acquired and successfully integrated Terra, and currently is executing a significant expansion of its North American nitrogen platform. Today CF is the second largest nitrogen fertilizer producer in the world, and its market capitalization has increased from about $880 million in 2005 to over $11 billion as the share price rose from $16 to $194, an increase of some 1,100 percent.