Speakers
in presentation order
Darren Armstrong serves as the Chairman for the U.S. Grains Council, a non-profit organization that promotes the global use of U.S. barley, corn, sorghum and related products including ethanol and distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS). In this capacity, Armstrong serves as member of the organization’s 15-person Board of Directors.
Armstrong grew up working on the family farm alongside his father and two brothers. He has been farming for 26 years in Hyde County, North Carolina, and produces corn, soybeans and wheat. He received an associate degree from the Agricultural Institute of North Carolina State University, has completed industry leadership trainings and has won the North Carolina Farm Bureau Discussion Meet as well as the North Carolina Farm Bureau Achievement Award.
He has been a Council delegate for five years and is a member of the Corn Growers of North Carolina. He previously served as the leader of the Council’s Trade Policy Advisory Team (A-Team) in 2015 and 2016.
Ryan LeGrand serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the U.S. Grains Council (USGC), a non-profit organization that promotes the global use of U.S. barley, corn, sorghum and related products including ethanol and distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS).
LeGrand joined the Council in 2015 as the assistant director and then director of the Council’s Mexico office, where he identified and addressed all relevant trade, technical and policy-related factors relevant to building and maintaining the market for U.S. grains and co-products in Mexico.
Before joining the Council, LeGrand worked for Gavilon as the director of ingredients, located in Guadalajara, Mexico. In this capacity, he managed the company’s feed ingredients trading, import and distribution throughout Mexico. LeGrand also served as the director of exports for Hawkeye Gold, LLC, where he exported DDGS to Latin America and Asia.
LeGrand earned a bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University in international business.
Michael Dwyer serves as the chief economist for the U.S. Grains Council (USGC), a non-profit organization that promotes the use of U.S. barley, corn, sorghum and related products including ethanol and distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS).
As chief economist, Dwyer provides trade, marketing and policy analysis of developments in global supply and demand and helps the USGC staff and its members stay abreast of developments in the global market. Dwyer also directs the Council’s worldwide ethanol market development activities. In addition, he serves on the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee advising the Secretary of Commerce on matters pertaining to biofuels.
Prior to the Council, Dwyer worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA’s FAS) for 35 years, most recently as its chief economist and as a director of global policy analysis. In these positions, he was responsible for conducting and coordinating trade and policy analyses on a wide variety of strategic issues that affected U.S. and world agricultural trade, including those that affected the emerging global biofuels market.
Dwyer earned a bachelor’s degree from Mary Washington College in international affairs and a master’s degree from The Ohio State University in agricultural economics with a specialization in international trade, marketing and econometrics.
Mitch Coulter is the commodity marketing and biofuels director for the Minnesota Corn Growers Association.
His prior experience includes research manager for Minnesota Corn, commodity risk management consultant for AgTrax Technologies and special technologies product manager for John Deere Agri-Services.
Coulter has served on the Governors Biofuels Task Force in Minnesota, the Ag-Auto-Ethanol Alliance and the Air Minnesota Mobile Source working group.
Since October 2018, Geoff Cooper is president and chief executive officer of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), the trade association for America’s ethanol industry. Collectively representing the majority of U.S. ethanol industry leaders and supporters, RFA’s mission is to increase the production and use of renewable fuels and to create a dynamic, robust ethanol industry.
Previously Cooper served as RFA executive vice president, where in addition to overseeing market analysis and policy research, he provided regulatory support and strategic planning for the association and its members. He has also focused on issues related to lifecycle analysis, sustainability and ethanol co-products.
He has served as an appointed member of the California Air Resources Board’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard Program Advisory Panel, as well as the Oregon Clean Fuels Program Rulemaking Advisory Committee. Cooper was also appointed to the Midwest Governors Association’s (MGA) Advanced Transportation Fuels Advisory Group, as well as MGA’s Low Carbon Fuels Policy Advisory Group. He also serves on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Agricultural Advisory Committee and was named to the U.N. Expert Roundtable on Biofuels & Food by the Commissioner for Human Rights.
Prior to joining RFA, he served as director of ethanol programs for the National Corn Growers Association. In this role, he led research and promotional efforts to increase the production and use of corn-based ethanol. Previously, Cooper served as a captain in the U.S. Army, specializing in bulk petroleum supply and logistics.
A Wyoming native, Cooper graduated from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and earned his master’s degree at Webster University in St. Louis.
Renato D. Godinho moved from technological and scientific journalism to career diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Brazil in 2003. In that capacity, he has served in Brazil and abroad, focusing in multilateral governance, negotiation, process management, agriculture, food security and energy.
From 2009 to 2012, Godinho was a key actor in the reform of the UN Committee of World Food Security (CFS), in Rome. Since 2015, he has been in charge of the Division for Energy Progress in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responsible for international policy dialogue and cooperation for all forms of renewable energy and for the energy transition.
In 2016, the Biofuture Platform of the International Energy Agency launched – a 20-country multi-stakeholder coalition to promote advanced low carbon solutions for transport and industry. Godinho has led the operational team responsible for its coordination/facilitator role since the start of the coalition. Following assumption of the facilitator role and the approval of the Biofuture Governance Framework, he was appointed by member countries as the coalition’s first chairperson for 2019-2020.
Godinho holds a master’s degree in international diplomacy.
Don O’Connor is president of (S&T)2 Consultants Inc. He is a mechanical engineer with a broad background in energy and environmental consulting.
His background includes more than 40 years of consulting, manufacturing and marketing experience – mostly related to transportation fuels. He also provides strategic advice to a number of governments, industry associations and companies on fuels, transportation and greenhouse issues.
O’Connor is the developer of the GHGenius LCA model for transportation fuels, a model widely used in Canada, the United States and other parts of the world. He holds seven patents related to biofuels and food ingredients and has authored five peer-reviewed papers.
He has worked as a corporate director for companies in the agriculture, energy and public sectors and is a member of numerous government and industry advisory committees.
Dr. Miguel Ivan Lacerda de Oliveira is the director of the biofuels department at the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy. He believes that biofuels represent a strategic choice as a policy for economic, social and environmental development not only for Brazil, but also for all countries.
He is also a Class A Analyst at the Brazilian Agricultural Research Company (Embrapa) in its Business Secretariat.
Lacerda de Oliveira is an economist and earned a degree in agribusiness at the Federal University of Goiás. He has also held strategic positions, including manager at Sebrae (Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service), director of regional development programs, National Secretary of Irrigation and international advisor to the minister at the Ministry of National Integration and chief of strategic planning at Metro Enterprise – DF.
Andrea Kent is the vice president of government and public relations with Greenfield Global Inc. She is a public affairs professional with more than a decade of leadership experience in numerous Canadian federal government departments and crown corporations.
Kent served as senior advisor to several Cabinet Ministers and held key positions in both policy and communications on Parliament Hill. Her experience includes working with a variety of national companies, public policy stakeholder, and law enforcement agencies on high-profile issues.
Before joining Greenfield Global Inc., Kent served as president of Renewable Industries Canada (RICanada), formerly the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association, a member-based trade association advocating for the environmental, economic and health benefits of renewable fuels and bio-based products in Canada.
Emmanuel Desplechin is the secretary-general of ePURE. He leads the ePURE team, which he first joined in 2013 as director of government affairs responsible for energy and environmental affairs.
Before coming to ePURE, Desplechin was senior manager for public affairs with Novozymes. His career in public affairs and advocacy also includes positions with UNICA, the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association and the Industrial Ethanol Association.
Desplechin earned a master’s degree from the Institute of Political Studies of Bordeaux and an LL.M in European Law from the University Carlos III of Madrid. A French citizen, he also speaks English and Spanish.
Alex Marquis started as logistics manager at Marquis Energy in September 2012.
During his tenure at Marquis, he has worked in the logistics department as scheduler of ethanol, crude oil and diesel fuel shipments. He also helps manage Marquis’ rail and river transportation at their Illinois and Wisconsin facilities to support the company’s global supply chain. Additionally, Marquis is a member of the company’s ethanol marketing team, focusing on North America.
He has served on the U.S. Grains Council’s ethanol advisory team since 2014.
Emily Skor joined Growth Energy as CEO in May 2016. She leads the biofuel trade association, representing 100 producers, 89 associate companies and tens of thousands of ethanol supporters around the country who work to bring consumers cleaner burning, more affordable fuel choices at the pump.
Prior to joining Growth Energy, Skor served as vice president of communications for the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) and as the executive director of the CHPA Educational Foundation. At CHPA, the national trade association advocating for expanded consumer access to affordable over-the-counter medicines, Skor led the industry’s public affairs, strategic communications and marketing.
Before joining CHPA in February 2011, Skor was senior vice president at Dezenhall Resources, a nationally recognized crisis management firm. For over a decade, she led high-stakes communications campaigns for Fortune 100 companies and industry trade groups to protect business and mitigate the impact of issues, scrutiny, policy change and competition on brands, products and corporate reputation. Skor managed successful campaigns that encompassed media, advocacy, coalition-building and consumer education.
Skor graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wellesley College.
Rick Schwark was born and raised on a family farm in Mitchell County, Iowa and is still involved in the family farm.
Since inception, Schwarck has served as the president, chairman and CEO of Absolute Energy, L.L.C., an ethanol plant located near St. Ansgar, Iowa.
Prior to co-founding Absolute Energy, L.L.C., Schwarck had a successful, 30-year
financial services career. He was co-owner of The Schwarck Agency, L.L.C., an insurance and investment firm.
Schwarck was a 30-year member of the National Association of Insurance and Investment Advisors. He was a certified senior advisor and registered representative of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
He also serves as Board and Corridor Committee member of the Renewable Products Marketing Group (RPMG), board and Executive Committee member of the Renewable Fuels Association, governing board member of Growth Energy, board member of the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE), leader of the Ethanol Advisory Team for the U.S. Grains Council and is a member of the board and serves on the Executive Committee of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association; founder of Further Fuels LLC, and is involved in numerous other activities in support of agriculture and the ethanol industry.
Dr. Steffen Mueller leads the Bioenergy and Sustainable Landscapes Research Group. His research activities focus on life-cycle emissions analyses of fuel pathways, including greenhouse gas emissions assessments from land-use change related to biofuels production, quantification of carbon emissions and sequestration effects from production agriculture and tailpipe emissions assessments from biofuels combustion.
Dr. Mueller also serves as a technical expert to the U.S. Grains Council on the sustainability of U.S.-produced biofuels for export markets and has presented his research in Japan, South Korea, China and Mexico.
Dr. Mueller has published more than 20 peer-reviewed papers on life-cycle analysis with a wide network of collaborators including Argonne National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy, Purdue University and North Carolina State University. He served on the Expert Working Group for the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard development in 2010 and presented his biofuels research results to the White House Council of Economic Advisors in 2014.
Brady Anne Seals is the co-founder of Garner Advisors, a social impact consultancy group with a focus on global energy access.
For more than a decade, Seals has worked to advance the commercialization of ethanol fuel to meet household energy needs. Having worked in more than 16 countries, she currently advises nonprofits, corporations, multinationals and foundations on impact strategies and investments in the global market for ethanol cooking fuel. She supports research efforts on the health and climate benefits of ethanol cooking fuel and contributes to flagship studies within the sector.
She began her career at the nonprofit Project Gaia, promoting ethanol cookstoves in humanitarian and commercial markets. She then directed POET’s global household energy business, by scaling operations and developing new business strategies. During this time, Seals helped develop ASTM international standards for ethanol cooking fuel. She continues to organize capacity building workshops in Africa to promote national standards and policy development.
Seals graduated magna cum laude from Gettysburg College and earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of South Dakota.
Dr. Sadaf Sobhani is a postdoctoral researcher at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and will be joining the faculty at Cornell University in July 2020.
Dr. Sobhani’s research activities focus on thermal management and energy conversion. Her work includes the investigation of flow and heat transfer in porous media relevant to thermal protection materials for future space exploration missions; computational modeling and
simulation of electrochemical systems for energy storage, carbon conversion, and advanced manufacturing; and the study of combustion dynamics, pollutant formation and emissions.
Previously, she worked as a research associate at the NASA Ames Research Center and the United Nations Foundation, Energy and Climate Department.
She received her doctorate degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.
Erick Lutt is a senior director for policy for the Biotechnology Innovation Organization’s (BIO) Industrial and Environmental Section (IES).
In this role, he is responsible for developing and advocating for policies that incentivize development and commercialization of advanced and cellulosic biofuels, biobased products, renewable chemicals and agricultural feedstocks. This policy work entails representing BIO member companies before members of the U.S. Congress and the presidential administration on policy and regulations impacting industrial biotechnology and the biobased economy.
Before coming to BIO, Lutt worked for former U.S. Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Prior to joining Senator Nelson’s office, he worked on Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle’s campaign.
Lutt earned a degree in government and international affairs from Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Rakesh Bhartia is the chief executive officer of India Glycols Limited (IGL), serving in the position since August 2009. The company produces a variety of green specialty chemicals from molasses and ethanol. IGL is also engaged in natural gums, industrial gases, nutraceutical herbal extraction and potable alcohol.
Prior to joining IGL, Bhartia served as CEO of Bajaj Hindustan Ltd., India’s largest manufacturer of sugar and ethanol. He started his career in 1992 with ICICI Securities & Finance Company Ltd (a joint venture between ICICI and JP Morgan). He also worked at various banks, including Standard Chartered Grindlays Bank, Bank of America and Rabobank. He has wide exposure to investment banking, corporate finance and commercial banking activities.
Bhartia is also the past president of Indian Chemical Council (ICC), the apex national body representing all branches of the chemical industry in India.
Olaoluwa Bamikole is the chief agroethanol consultant with the Zenith Group. He focuses on the development of the Nigerian ethanol and biofuels industry through advocacy, community sensitization, biofuels plant construction and product marketing across Nigeria and Africa.
Bamikole’s career in ethanol and biofuels development in Africa started in 1988 after he completed a degree in industrial chemistry in Nigeria. He became the first quality assurance manager in the premier ethanol facility in Nigeria, built in 1973 by volgelbutsch. Bamikole successfully supervised the first commercial cassava-to-ethanol facility in 1994. The Nigerian government nominated him as a key technical member of country’s ethanol and biofuels standards, particularly with regard to beverage, industrial and fuel ethanol.
Bamikole is a global speaker on ethanol production practices, policies and applications. As a biofuels/ethanol consultant and founder of Zenith Agroethanol Nigeria limited, he has provided services in biofuels process design from concept to implementation, training, project evaluation, auditing, environmental systems evaluation, ethanol marketing and distribution within the marketplace.
As a member of the council on environment, council for renewable energy of Nigeria, he also works an ethanol columnist in three local popular newspapers in Nigeria.
Devin Mogler grew up on a fourth-generation farm in northwest Iowa where they raise corn, soybeans, cattle and hogs.
After attending Iowa State University, he worked for a farmers’ cooperative before moving to Washington, D.C. in 2015 to handle agriculture, trade and biofuels policy for Senator Joni Ernst.
Since early 2018, he has served as vice president of government affairs for Green Plains Inc., the nation’s fourth largest ethanol producer.
Daniel Whitley is the Associate Administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In this capacity he is responsible for advising the Administration on trade policy issues to support American agriculture.
Whitley has more than 20 years of experience working on agricultural trade issues at USDA. His responsibilities have included serving on trade negotiating teams in the World Trade Organization (WTO), directing trade analysis to support opening export markets and representing American agriculture in international organizations. He played a lead role in advising the Administration on renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Whitley began his USDA career at the Economic Research Service (ERS), where he worked on market access issues for U.S. agricultural products.
He is a native of Baton Rouge, LA and earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from Southern University in Baton Rouge and a master’s degree in agricultural economics from Louisiana State University.
Stephen Censky is the Deputy Secretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He was sworn-in on October 11, 2017 after being unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Censky previously served for the past 21 years as CEO of the American Soybean Association. He began his career working as a legislative assistant for Senator Jim Abdnor (R-SD). Later, he served in both the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, eventually serving as administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service, where he was involved in running our nation’s export programs.
Censky received his bachelor’s degree in agriculture from South Dakota State University and his postgraduate diploma in agriculture science from the University of Melbourne, Australia. He grew up on a soybean, corn and diversified livestock farm near Jackson, Minnesota.
Brian Healy serves as the director of global ethanol market development for the U.S. Grains Council. In this capacity, Healy leads ethanol export strategy development, manages program implementation and oversees policy engagement for the Council’s global ethanol program.
Prior to the Council, Healy worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) as an agricultural economist. In this position, he conducted global economic and trade policy analyses on strategic issues impacting U.S. and global agricultural trade. Healy also served as the president of the Junior Professional Advisory Committee at FAS, a role in which he set the strategic direction and lead a team of 14 officers in creating and improving access to professional development activities and resources for 300 junior professionals.
Healy earned a master’s degree in agricultural and resource economics from the University of California, Davis and a bachelor’s degree in agricultural and resource economics from the University of Maryland.
Dave Hirshfeld is co-founder and president of MathPro Inc., a consulting firm specializing in the technical and economic analysis of petroleum refining, the production of transportation fuels and related policy areas.
With his partner, Jeff Kolb, he has analyzed the economics of refining sectors and individual refineries in the United States, Canada, South America, Japan and Europe; the technical and economic effects of fuel quality regulations affecting gasoline and diesel fuel; and refinery energy consumption and GHG emissions. More recent consulting work addresses the economics of gasoline octane, prospective pathways to produce high-octane (> 95 RON) gasolines and the economic value of ethanol under various market and regulatory conditions.
Hirshfeld earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware and a master’s degree in science, specializing in applied math, from Stevens Institute of Technology. He is a fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS) and a past president of INFORM’s predecessor organization, The Institute of Management Sciences (TIMS).
Originally from a small farm community in Central Kentucky, Hagan Rose began his career in biofuels in 2007 with Eco-Energy. Over the last 13 years, he has worked in commercial roles in the ethanol industry, concentrating on international supply and trade.
Today, Rose is director of sales and marketing-international for Eco-Energy, a global leader in ethanol marketing, logistics and distribution. In this position, he coordinates with Eco-Energy’s partner plants and other U.S. ethanol producers to supply fuel grade and industrial grade ethanol to buyers around the world.
Rose also serves on the U.S. Grains Council’s Ethanol Advisory Team.
Collin Watters is the director of exports and logistics at Illinois Corn Growers Association. In this role, he maintains relationships with first purchasers of corn and helps Illinois corn farmers understand the role trade and infrastructure play in their profitability.
Prior, Watters served as the executive vice president of the Montana Wheat and Barley Committee.
He earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in business administration from Western Illinois University.
Michael Lorenz is currently responsible for the petroleum supply and trading at Sheetz, a family-owned convenience store chain that owns and operates more than 600 stores in six states. Having worked in the petroleum industry for almost 40 years, Lorenz has extensive knowledge and experience in refining, domestic and global supply and trading and wholesale and retail marketing.
Before coming to Sheetz, Lorenz spent more than 20 years with Mobil Oil serving in a wide variety of midstream and downstream roles including international assignments in London and Rotterdam.
He was awarded the 2015 TOBI Award from Growth Energy, the 2015 Convenience Store News Alternative Fuels Leader of the Year Award and the 2016 Paul Dana Marketing Vision Award from the American Coalition for Ethanol. In 2019, Growth Energy awarded Lorenz their highest honor – the Americas Fuel Award. The award is presented every year to an individual who has gone above and beyond the call of duty to act as a champion for the renewable fuels industry. Because of his efforts, Sheetz is currently one of the largest retailers of E15 and E85 in the US. Lorenz has also led the effort to install electric vehicle charging stations at now more than 30 of their stores.
Lorenz is on the board of directors at the Fuels Institute and has testified at the federal and state levels. He earned a bachelor’s of science degree in chemical engineering from Clarkson University.
Coleman Jones is the fuels technical fellow for General Motors Powertrain in North America, where he supports GM engineering and public policy worldwide on fuel issues.
He concentrates on petroleum and bio-derived fuels including properties, standards, manufacturing processes, costs and interactions with vehicles. Jones also chairs the ASTM Gasoline and oxygenated fuels subcommittee and several ASTM task groups.
Jones was formerly the manager of fuels and lubricants for GM Powertrain. His group was responsible for product support for fuels, engine oils and transmissions fluids for General Motors.
After completing degrees in chemical engineering and materials science, his first GM positions were at the Powertrain Advanced Materials Development Center working on process and material development.
Marlon Arraes is the ethanol coordinator of the Biofuels Department at the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy, a position he held since 2005. Under the RenovaBio Committee, he coordinates the economic modeling that defines RenovaBio policy targets.
In 2014, he coordinated test programs for high ethanol blends with Petrobras, the Brazil’s National Association of Automotive Vehicle Manufacturers (ANFAVEA) and the Brazilian Motorcycle Manufacturers Association (ABRACICLO).
Arraes earned degrees in mechanical engineering and political science at the Federal University of Brasilia, a specialization in public policy and government management at the National School of Public Administration and a master’s degree in business administration in oil and gas management at the Brazilian Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels’ Institute.
Pat Geng is a global fuels technical specialist with General Motors (GM) LLC. In this role, which he has held since August 2014, he leads a comprehensive, global fuels team to ensure all of GM’s fuel activities and processes are aligned to support vehicles development for all applicable markets, track and resolve fuel-related warranties and meet fuel economy regulations.
Geng has served in a variety of technical and leadership positions since joining GM’s fuel group, including focuses on fuel chemistry and quality, regulatory analysis and the fuel effect on vehicle development and emission compliance. He also led the fuel engineering group as engineering group manager, providing the primary engineering interface for GM vehicle development on fuels. Prior to that, he worked as a supplier quality engineer on numerous GM critical engine programs launches.
Geng earned a bachelor’s degree from Nanjing University, a master’s degree in engineering from Purdue University and a doctorate in chemistry from Michigan Technology University.
Edson Orikassa is the manager of certification for regulatory and government affairs for Toyota do Brasil. He has more than 32 years of experience working for Toyota in Brazil in addition to three years with Toyota in Japan in product development and quality. During his career with Toyoto do Brasil, Orikassa was involved in the development of flex-fueled hybrid vehicle from the onset of the project.
He serves the current vice-president of AEA, the Brazilian Association of Automotive Engineering, following two terms as president of the association in 2015-2016 and 2017-2018. He also represents Toyota do Brazil LTDA as the vice-president of ANFAVEA, the National Association of Automotive Vehicle Manufacturers.
Orikassa graduated from the Paulista Engineering Institute and earned a master’s degree in business administration, with a focus on management, from the Getúlio Vargas Foundation – FGV.
Evandro Herrera Bertone Gussi currently serves as the president and CEO of UNICA (Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association).
Prior to this role, he served his first term as a member of the Brazilian Parliament from 2014 to 2018, representing constituents from the state of São Paulo. He also worked as a professor at the State University of São Paulo (UNESP) in the areas of constitutional, administrative and environmental law.
Gussi earned a law degree from UniToledo – Presidente Prudente, a master’s degree in Constitutional Law from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) and a doctorate degree in State Theory from the University of São Paulo (USP).
Craig Willis joined Growth Energy in June 2018 as senior vice president of global markets. In this role, He oversees the organization’s market development efforts to increase ethanol’s footprint both at home and abroad.
Prior to joining Growth Energy, Willis worked 25 years in various roles of increasing responsibility at ADM. He spent 11 years in the company’s ethanol business, serving most recently as president of the business since 2015.
Willis held various roles throughout his career at ADM, including experience as the commercial manager of several large U.S. oilseed and corn processing plants. He also managed origination and transportation assets within the origination segment of the company.
Willis has been active as an advocate of the ethanol industry serving on many boards and committees at various times including Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, Renewable Fuels Nebraska, Prime the Pump, Little Sioux Corn Processors and the U.S. Grains Council Ethanol Steering Committee.
Craig grew up on a farm in Monmouth, Illinois during 1980’s farm crisis. The memories of those times drive him to grow more demand for corn to prevent a similar crisis from occurring again.