CHS Inc. on July 27 notified employees of some management changes resulting from the June 21 announcement that it will acquire the Agriliance crop nutrients business. Cheryl Schmura, former Agriliance vice president and chief financial officer, will lead the business as vice president, crop nutrients, reporting to Mark Palmquist, CHS executive vice president, chief operating officer, Ag Business. Schmura joined Agriliance in May 2006, and will assume her new role in September after the completion and transition of Agriliance businesses. She will be responsible for supply, logistics, distribution, sales, and customer support.
Prior to joining CHS, Schmura was finance director for 3M Corp.’s Industrial and Transportation business. She earned her B.A. in Accounting and a master’s degree in business administration in finance and marketing from the University of Minnesota Carlson School.
Reporting to Schmura will be Doug Wonnacott, supply; Brian Thoma, product and risk management; and Cathy Eckman, supply chain, administration, and customer support. Eckman will also continue to lead the CN transition from Agriliance to CHS. The company said employees working in customer service, sales and marketing, and supply will continue operating without measurable changes, reporting to Wonnacott, Thoma, or Eckman. CHS will also post a sales manager position, reporting to Schmura.
CHS said corporate support functions will be integrated as follows: logistics will be managed within grain marketing and transportation, whose positions will report to Dan Mack, vice president, transportation; finance positions will report to Melodie Thostenson, vice president, administration and accounting; information technology positions will be managed by Mary Covart, director, IT business applications; and facility management positions will report to Tim Paurus, vice president, terminal operations. Becky Couture, director, human resources, Ag Business, will be the crop nutrients HR contact.
Regarding field sales and support functions, Palmquist said he has been in contact with Land O’Lakes Executive Vice President and COO Dave Seehusen, incoming Land O’Lakes Executive Vice President and COO Rod Schroeder, and incoming Land O’Lakes Sales Director Doug Brunt to “begin the process of sorting through account manager and Service Center functions serving both crop nutrients and crop protection products.” Palmquist said field sales and support functions employees “will transition to Land O’Lakes until we have jointly identified which positions should be with CHS.”
Wendy Jablow Spertus has joined CF Industries Holdings Inc. as vice president, human resources. She succeeds William Eppel, who retired from the company earlier this year. She was most recently chief human resources officer for Fenwal Inc., one of the world’s largest suppliers of products and services to the transfusion medicine industry. Earlier in her career, she was vice president, human resources and administration, for Ideal Industries Inc. Prior to working for Ideal, she held a series of human resources management positions in various FMC Corp. operations. Jablow Spertus holds a B.S. in Economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan Graduate School of Business, and is a Certified Public Accountant.