Milwaukee, Wisconsin
December 6, 2007
Paul Schmidt has joined
EMD Crop BioScience as
President, succeeding Tom Winkofske, who will retire at the end
of the year. To aid in the transition, Winkofske will
temporarily serve in a consultant role.
Schmidt brings 25 years of experience in the crop bioscience
industry and most recently served as Vice President of New
Business Ventures for Bayer CropScience, developing new business
opportunities in the areas of nutrition, health and
biomaterials.
“Our search for a new President was a long and rigorous one, and
it brought us to the best possible outcome,” said Winkofske.
“Our criteria demanded the skills necessary to lead our business
and to reach the high goals we have set. Paul matches our target
profile without compromise. He has the far-reaching expertise in
global strategy for plant biotechnology products, a successful
record in business alliance management and multifaceted
background in sales, marketing and product management. ”
Born and raised on a grain and hog farm in Saskatchewan, Schmidt
earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agronomy at the
University of Saskatchewan, Canada. Prior to Bayer CropScience,
Schmidt had held positions with Aventis CropScience, Hoechst
Schering AgrEvo and Hoechst.
"As a company founded almost 120 years ago, EMD Crop BioScience
has a long and remarkable history of providing high value plant
enhancers for yield enhancement,” says Schmidt. “My job is to
see that continue. With the growing global demand for food,
feed, fiber and fuel, the need for innovative technologies and
solutions to enhance plant production has never been greater.
“We intend to expand our global product portfolio and
continuously improve our people and services as we strive to
meet the needs of customers and increase the value of global
agriculture."
Schmidt and his family are presently planning their relocation
from North Carolina to the Milwaukee area.
Winkofske joined EMD Crop BioScience in 1975 as National Sales
Manager, was promoted to Vice President of Sales in 1980 and
finally to President in 1986. His major achievements include
growing the EMD Crop BioScience and legacy businesses by more
than 500 percent, establishing Argentinean operations in 1990,
and restructuring the legume inoculants business after the
divestiture of the LiphaTech business in 2002. Most recently, he
led the successful acquisition of Agribiotics and the efforts to
establish external partnerships with other key plant technology
companies to help expand the product portfolio of EMD Crop
BioScience.
Originally founded as the Nitragin Company in 1898 after a
Milwaukee entrepreneur purchased rights to a commercial process
for the production of nitrogen-fixing rhizobia, Nitragin
remained privately owned until 1982. In 1991 Merck KGaA,
Darmstadt, Germany purchased the business. Now headquartered in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, EMD Crop BioScience is committed to
advancing crop-enhancing technologies and making these products
available to growers worldwide.
Merck is a global pharmaceutical and chemical company with sales
of EUR 6.3 billion in 2006, a history that began in 1668, and a
future shaped by 30,962 employees in 61 countries. In 1917 the
U.S. subsidiary Merck & Co. was expropriated and has been an
independent company ever since. |
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