Bunge Limited, White Plains, N.Y., announced on Jan. 22 that Gregory A. Heckman, 56, has been appointed acting CEO, effective immediately. He replaces Soren Schroder, who previously announced his intention to step down. Bunge said its CEO search committee continues its “thorough and deliberate” work to find a permanent CEO as soon as practicable.
Bunge referred to Heckman as a “seasoned agribusiness executive” with more than 30 years of experience in the agriculture, energy, and food processing industries. He joined the Bunge board in 2018, and is a founding partner of Flatwater Partners, a private investment firm. Heckman previously served as CEO of The Gavilon Group LLC, prior to the sale of its agriculture business to Marubeni Corp. and its energy business to NGL Energy Partners. Heckman led the formation of Gavilon, the successor to ConAgra Trade Group, and oversaw the spinoff of ConAgra Trade Group from ConAgra Foods after a 24-year career at ConAgra Foods.
“Greg has been a valuable addition to our board and Strategic Review Committee and we are pleased to appoint him as our acting CEO,” said Kathleen Hyle, Bunge’s Non-Executive Board Chair. “Our committee has benefited from his counsel and expertise. With Greg in this role, we have a greater opportunity to leverage his perspective, deep industry knowledge, and leadership experience, as we take action to improve our results and sharpen our operational focus and execution.”
Bunge also announced that L. Patrick Lupo, Ernest Bachrach, and Enrique Boilini, three of its longest-serving board members, will not stand for re-election at the company’s 2019 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. Each will remain on the board until their terms expire in May 2019.
In addition, Bunge announced on Jan. 11 that Brian Zachman has been named President of Global Risk Management. Zachman, 47, has held portfolio management positions focused on agricultural commodity derivatives since 2012, most recently with Millennium Limited Partners. He previously worked at Bunge from 1999 to 2012, serving in a number of commercial and trading roles within Agribusiness. Prior to that, he held various commercial and merchant roles with Cargill and ConAgra.