Tim Tierney joined the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) as director of strategic marketing/ethanol, North Asia, on Monday. Based in Signapore, this new position will seek to capitalize on longstanding relationships as well as emerging opportunities for biofuels in North Asia.

Tierney’s position reflects efforts to build and align global resources for the Council’s work to capture near-term demand for U.S. feed grain sales and build long-term demand for ethanol among global customers.

“Over the past year, the Council’s leadership has heard loud and clear that what our members want is new demand, and they are willing to invest in it by allowing us to hire high-quality people around the world,” said Tom Sleight, Council president and CEO. “Particularly as we have pivoted to promoting ethanol exports globally, we have focused on ensuring we have the right people in our overseas offices to do this work well and quickly.”

Tierney came to the organization from Syngenta and DuPont, where he worked on products developed for the ethanol industry. Earlier in his career, he worked for the Council for more than 10 years as director in Japan, director of international operations based in Washington, and as a trade servicer.

“Tim has extensive experience with the U.S. ethanol industry, both from from the corn production and ethanol plant prospectives,” Sleight said. “His background allows him to jump in quickly and hit the ground running with his work to open new markets for U.S. feed grains in all forms.”

The Council’s staff growth over the last year has been meant to help find, develop and capture wholly new demand for corn, sorghum, barley, distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and ethanol.

“We know that farmers need sales now to deal with the economic conditions they are facing. Demand supports prices, and we are in the business of both increasing sales over time and capturing purchases being made for this marketing year,” Sleight said.

Also as part of this effort, the Council has also hired Caleb Wurth as the assistant director of the Council’s Southeast Asia regional office Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Wurth will start in his role at the end of November.

“A robust network of staff and consultants is what makes the Council so effective globally,” Sleight said. “We are appreciative of the support and the confidence of our members, and we have our marching orders to find new sales wherever possible.”

Please join the Council in welcoming Tim back to the organization!