Beth Ford (left) will head all Land O’Lakes Businesses and Brad Oelmann will head all Land O’Lakes Services.
Photo courtesy of Land O' Lakes.
Beth Ford will head all Land O’Lakes Businesses and Brad Oelmann will head all Land O’Lakes Services.
“As Land O’Lakes continues to deliver year-over-year record earnings, we are solidifying our management strategy for the future,” said Chris Policinski, president and chief executive officer, Land O’Lakes, Inc.
As COO of Land O’Lakes Businesses, Ford will expand her responsibilities to include oversight of the WinField United business. In addition, she will continue P&L responsibility for both the Purina Animal Nutrition and the Land O’Lakes Dairy Foods businesses and retain her previous responsibilities for system-wide supply chain, operations and IT. With the evolving omni-channel expectation of consumers and customers, Ford also will lead development of Land O’ Lakes e-commerce platform. The company noted the portfolio enables Ford to make integrated decisions for the company and to respond to market opportunities and challenges with agility.
Since being named the head of the food and feed businesses, Ford has guided successful strategic and financial years. In Feed, she has led record performance both years, leveraged innovation through R&D and amplified the strength of the Purina brand. In Dairy Foods, she has led record growth in Foodservice, and was key in identifying the opportunity and leading the Vermont Creamery acquisition.
Ford joined Land O’Lakes in 2011 from International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF). At IFF, she was responsible for optimizing the company’s global manufacturing infrastructure, including consolidation of multiple international facilities, as well as the construction of new manufacturing facilities in India, China and Singapore. Prior to IFF, she held a progression of supply chain and operations management roles with Mobil Corp., PepsiCo and Pepsi Bottling Co., Hachette Book Group and Scholastic, Inc. She received a master’s degree in business administration from Columbia University Business School and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Iowa State University.
Brad Oelmann has been promoted to chief operating officer, Land O’Lakes Services. Oelmann was named executive vice-president of member relations, business development services in the spring of 2017. His new role will bring together all services Land O’Lakes offers to its valuable co-op members. In addition to his current responsibilities for member services and business development services, Oelmann will add overall responsibility for Land O’Lakes SUSTAIN, Crop Nutrients, FLM Harvest and government relations.
