Southern States Cooperative has announced several promotions and changes to its management team. Greg Adlich has been promoted to senior vice president, commodities, and will have responsibilities for the crops division, feed division, wholesale petroleum division, and the aquaculture operation. Danny Dillon will be promoted to vice president, crops division, to replace Adlich and will be responsible for the wholesale seed, fertilizer, and crop protectant sales of Southern States.
Other management changes and promotions include Jobie Miller, who has been promoted to senior vice president, retail operations, with responsibility for the retail ag store division, retail petroleum stores, and managed local cooperatives. He will also have responsibility for distribution and logistics, customer service, and loss prevention. Donny Dunbar will be promoted to vice president retail ag store division to replace Jobie Miller, and will be responsible for the retail ag stores and the retail petroleum stores.
Todd Fleer has been promoted to senior vice president, general merchandise manager and will be responsible for Southern State’s northern Agway division, farm and home division, store planning, modular planning, and real estate and construction.
Jeffersonville River Terminal (JFT) reports it has made organizational changes to facilitate further business growth and provide additional support to administrative functions. Ken Cruce and Steve Powell have been promoted to regional sales managers. Ken will have sales and marketing responsibility for the Naples, Clayton, and Arkansas River market areas. Steve will have sales and marketing responsibility for JRT’s Ohio River locations, which includes the Jeffersonville and North Bend warehouses and several leased locations.
Kay White and Shirley Jenks are being promoted to administrative managers and will be responsible for all administrative functions supporting the JRT business structure.
Mike Routh has joined JRT as business development manager. Mike’s area of concentration will center on commercial growth and improvement initiatives within the JRT marketing framework. He can be reached at his office at 319-752-2688, or cell phone at 319-850-8221.
Ben Gavica has accepted the position of area manager, Western Canada, for Simplot AgriBusiness. Gavica currently resides in Boise, Idaho, and will work out of the company’s Idaho office until he relocates to Canada in the coming months. “I am thrilled to have Ben on board, and am confident he will bring the next level of outstanding service and support to each of you within the Western Canadian territory,” said Mark Auchampach, director, Central Region Sales. “The Western Canadian marketplace is one of long-term importance to the J.R. Simplot Company.” Until his relocation, Gavica can be reached at 208-672-2702 (office); 208-850-4808 (cell); 208-672-2760 (fax); and by email at ben.gavica@simplot.com.
COMPO GmbH & Co. KG has announced that Ingo Müller has been appointed director of the COMPO division’s K+S North America. He is charged with analyzing the value chain of the North American specialty fertilizer market, setting up the COMPO business in the U.S. In his eight years with COMPO, Müller gained extensive experience in product and regional management and developed expertise in the marketing of specific fertilizer technologies. Müller holds a Ph.D in Agricultural Sciences from Justus Liebig University Giessen.
COMPO, a 100 percent subsidiary of K+S AG, is a European manufacturer and marketer of specialty fertilizers with $ 1 billion in sales, headquartered in Münster, Germany.
Dan Hutson II, 54, of Murray, Ky., was killed in a plane crash June 18 while making an emergency landing near the Lebanon-Springfield airport in Washington County. He was alone in the plane, having just dropped his wife off in Lexington, so that she could be with their daughter during the birth of a grandchild, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. He was in route back to Murray when he reported engine trouble.
The Hutson family sold off their Midwest fertilizer retail and storage assets in 1997 to IMC AgriBusiness (GM Archives). IMC AgriBusiness was later sold to Royster-Clark Inc., which in turn was sold to Agrium Inc. John Hutson Sr. passed away this past February at the age of 84.
The younger Hutson went on to develop his own equipment business, now known as Hutson Inc. It has five locations in Kentucky and Tennessee, and is one of the premier John Deere dealerships in the nation.