Clifford L. Ganschow, Chairman
Mr. Ganschow was an organizer of the Top Farmers of America Association
in 1965, the first and largest organization of leading farm operators
in the U.S., and served as President and Chairman for 17 years. He
was Chairman of Doane Farm Management Company, which during his tenure
in the 1980’s managed the world’s largest farmland equity
portfolio. Concurrently he was Chairman of Doane-Western Company,
one of the industry’s largest farm real estate and mortgage companies,
which managed mortgage portfolios for Aetna, CIGNA and Mutual of New
York. He served for 15 years as Chairman of Market Communications,
Inc., a leading publisher and market consulting firm, which provided
services for a broad spectrum of multi-national food and agriculture
clients. He also was a founder and Chairman of ACI, Inc., whose primary
risk management publication, Farm Futures, was ultimately acquired
by a subsidiary of Capital Cities/ABC, Inc. Additionally, he was a
founder and Director of AgriData Resources, Inc., an early computerized
agricultural information service that included IBM as a stockholder
and later became publicly held. Collectively, these print and electronic
publishing entities comprised one of the largest and most influential
communications organizations in agriculture. Mr. Ganschow was raised
on a Midwest farm and is an honors graduate of Iowa State University
with a Bachelor of Science degree in Agronomic Science and Agricultural
Communications. |
| |
Kip E. Pendleton, President
Mr. Pendleton was the founder, President, CEO and Chairman of DirectAg,
prior to its acquisition by Agristar Global Networks. In the formation
of DirectAg, Mr. Pendleton formed the key strategic and investment
relationships with Rural Press Limited of Sydney, Australia and Merial
Limited of London, England and led the formation of 34 industry partners.
Mr. Pendleton spent 18 years in agribusiness with three seed industry
leaders, Pioneer Hi-Bred International Northrup King, and Mycogen
Seeds. He held the position of Director of Sales and Marketing for
Mycogen (a publicly traded company acquired by Dow AgroSciences) as
it grew from $35 million U.S. company to a $260 million global enterprise.
His career has included senior responsibilities for start up, turnaround
and rapid growth phases and senior assignments in general management,
operations, marketing, sales, product management, business development,
acquisition and strategic planning. He has had leadership roles in
20 mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Pendleton also has had broad experience
in new product development, including seven new category product launches,
and systems integration experience of Platinum, SAP and ATG platforms.
He was named “Ag Communicator of The Year” in 2000 by the
National Agri-Marketing Association. He was born on a central Illinois
farm and his father is a renowned agricultural leader in the U.S.
and internationally. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the
University of Wisconsin in Agronomy and Agricultural Economics and
an MBA in finance from the University of St. Thomas. |
| |
Don Jacoby, Vice President, Industry Relations
Mr. Jacoby brings 38 years of agribusiness experience to Agristar
Global Networks. He was co-founder and Vice President of Administration
for DirectAg prior to its acquisition by Agristar Global Networks.
Earlier Mr. Jacoby was with Syngenta/Northrup King Seed Company where
he was Vice President for North American Sales and Marketing and led
a four-fold growth of the business, several large acquisitions and
the introductions of the industry’s first transgenic seed products.
Prior to that, Mr. Jacoby spent 22 years at Case/International Harvester
where he was involved in all aspects of the business, including Global
Quality Head, Global Parts and Service Head and Vice President of
Sales for North America. He has been active within the U.S. Grains
council since 1988 and is the past Chairman of the organization. He
is also past Director of the Farm Foundation and former Chairman of
the Ag Council of America. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business
and Economics from St. Mary’s College. |
| |
Joseph A. Kruszynski, Vice
President, Finance
Over the past 27 years Mr. Kruszynski has been a chief financial officer
for various technology, financial and real estate companies, including
Vice President of finance and administration for Darome Teleconferencing.
Mr. Kruszynski performed the due diligence resulting in the acquisition
of the Chicago White Sox Major League Baseball franchise and the Chicago
Bulls National Basketball Association franchise by their present ownership
groups, and assisted in developing the operating plan for On-TV, a
subscription-based sports channel subsequently sold to Sportsvision
(now part of Fox SportsNet). Earlier, Mr. Kruszynski was Chief Financial
Officer of The Balcor Company, a national real estate investment banking
firm, and President of Balcor Property Management. He developed the
strategic plan to produce maximum earnout upon the sale of The Balcor
Company to American Express Company. Mr. Kruszynski is a Certified
Public Accountant. He holds an MBA from Ohio University and earned
his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from John
Carroll University. |
| |
Timothy C. Ganschow, Vice President, Operations
Mr. Ganschow served as Vice President of American Land Resources,
LLC from 1998 to 2001, with primary responsibilities for farmland
portfolio analyses and director of external market communications
programs, including all online applications. Mr. Ganschow was involved
in special project work with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter from 1997
to 1998. From 1994 to 1996 he was a senior consultant with Peterson
Consulting, LLP, an international litigation support firm specializing
in dispute economic analysis, where he assisted on and directed projects
involving intellectual property disputes, leveraged buyouts, mergers
and acquisitions and debt restructuring. Mr. Ganschow graduated cum
laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Amherst College. |
| |
C. James Conner, Vice President, International
Business Development
Mr. Conner was formerly Vice President, South America and Africa for
IMC Global, the world’s largest producer of concentrated phosphates
and potash. Prior to that he held various executive positions with
the Phosphate Chemical Export Association, including Director of Sales,
and Vice President of Marketing for Latin America and the Caribbean
area. Earlier in his career, Mr. Conner was employed by Texasgulf
Inc., where he was International Sales Manager in charge of Europe,
the Middle East and Africa with responsibilities for the company’s
fertilizer line. Mr. Conner was based in London during this time and
later opened the Paris office for Texasgulf. Mr. Conner is a graduate
of Northern Illinois University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology
and he also holds a Master’s Degree in International Management
from the American Graduate School of International Management. He
received a Certifact des Etudes de la Langue Francaise from the Alliance
Francaise in Paris. |
| |
Kelly Paradis,
Director of Web Technology
Ms. Paradis manages the myAGRISTAR.com web portal, the integrated
environment which Agristar subscribers use to access e-mail, agricultural
news, weather and markets. She also maintains Agristar's technology
infrastructure which hosts the centralized network for billing, customer
support and sales. Ms. Paradis formerly was a founder and partner
in a mid-sized ISP, providing dial-up Internet, web hosting and design
services to the National Capitol region of Ottawa, Ontario. Her company
provided custom Internet solutions to government, business and NGO
clients. Ms. Paradis is experienced in growing customer bases by creating
Internet product launches and live webcasts for various audiences.
She formerly was Editorial Operations Manager for DirectAg, now a
subsidiary of Agristar, where she managed daily e-mail newsletters,
news content and site advertising. Ms. Paradis holds a BA in English
from Luther College. |
| |
Orion Samuelson, Director of Audio/Video
Programming
Mr. Samuelson has been Agricultural Services Director for the Tribune
Company’s WGN Radio and Television since 1960, where he is heard
on hundreds of syndicated television and radio stations around the
country. He has distinguished himself as the premier agricultural
broadcaster in the nation, and has served as an effective food and
agriculture communicator to non-farm audiences. Mr. Samuelson has
traveled extensively internationally to cover agricultural production
and trade for his radio and television shows and also has been involved
in four official government exchanges, including a 1989 trip to Taipei
where he received the International Communicator of the Year Award
from the President of the Republic of China. His life-long commitment
to agriculture is widely recognized: He is a Laureate of the Lincoln
Academy of Illinois, the highest award bestowed by the state of Illinois,
and is a recipient of the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Distinguished
Service Award, the 4-H Alumni Award and the Honorary FFA American
Farmer Degree. Mr. Samuelson has served as a director of the Chicago
Board of Trade, a Trustee of the Farm Foundation, President of the
National Association of Farm Broadcasters, and is active in many other
agricultural organizations. |
| |
| |
 back
to top |
| |
|
