Business Briefs

Chad Campbell was recently promoted to plant manager of Aventine Renewable Energy Inc.’s plants in Aurora, Neb. He will be responsible for overseeing future operations, including repair and maintenance of the 45 MMgy Nebraska Energy LLC plant and the 108 MMgy Aventine Aurora West Delta-T plant. Campbell has eight years of experience in the biofuels industry. Aventine also recently promoted Chandi Earnest as director of quality control for the company’s 165 MMgy wet mill and dry mill plants in Pekin, Ill. Earnest joined Aventine in 2008 as a fermentation specialist and lab manager at the Mt. Vernon, Ind., facility. She previously worked for Lallemand Inc. as a technical sales representative.
 
The National Corn Growers Association has announced that Rick Tolman will step down as CEO of the NCGA at the end of September. He has been with the organization for 14 years, and has spent 37 years working in agriculture. The NCGA is expected to announce members of a CEO search committee soon.

Valero Energy Corp. has announced that Bill Klesse will step down as the company’s CEO, effective May 1. He will remain a Valero director and chairman of the board. Joe Gorder, who was named Valero’s president and chief operating officer in 2012, will take on the role of CEO. He has also been elected a director by the board of directors and will join the board immediately. Klesse spent his entire 45-year career with Valero and its predecessor companies. Gorder has been with Valero and its predecessors for 27 years. The company also recently announced that Gene Edwards, its executive vice president and chief development officer, will retire effective April 30. Edwards began his career with Valero in 1982.

The American Coalition for Ethanol has elected its 2014 board officers. Ron Alverson, founding chairman and current board member of Dakota Ethanol was re-elected president of the ACE board of directors. Duane Kristensen, general manager of Chief Ethanol Fuels, was elected vice president of the board. Dave Sovereign of Golden Grain Energy was elected secretary.

Archer Daniels Midland Co. has promoted Juan Luciano to president. He is the 12th person to serve as president in the company’s 112- history, and assumes the role in addition to his position as chief operating officer. Luciano oversees the commercial and production activities of ADM’s corn, oilseeds and agricultural services businesses, as well as its research, project management and risk management functions. He will continue to report to ADM Chairman and CEO Patricia Woertz. Luciano joined ADM in 2011 after spending 25 years at The Dow Chemical Co., where he most recently served as executive vice president and president of the performance division.

Arisdyne Systems Inc. has add three new members to its team to prepare the company for new installations, service the existing customer base and continue to build its reputation as a leading technology provider in the field of ethanol and oil enhancement with its proprietary Controlled Flow Cavitation technology. The new team members include Nick Berchtold, chief financial officer; Andrea Wearsch, marketing and business development associate; and James Wolfe, field service engineer.

Greg Krissek was recently appointed CEO of the Kansas Corn Growers Association, Kansas Corn Commission and Kansas Grain Sorghum Producers Association. He has nearly 25 years of experience in agriculture, ethanol, renewable energy and public policy. Krissek previously served as assistant secretary at the Kansas Department of Agriculture, director of operations at Kansas Corn and Kansas Grain Sorghum, director of government affairs at ICM Inc. and manager of Kennedy and Coe LLC. He replaces Jere White, who announced his retirement in February. 

Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy has joined the Renewable Fuels Association. The company operates a 120 MMgy ethanol plant in Council Bluffs, Iowa. In addition to ethanol, the facility produces more than 330,000 tons of dried distillers grains annually. SIRE also produces corn oil coproduct. The company was formed in 2005 and began commercial production in early 2009.