SEATTLE – Darigold announced the hiring of Stan Ryan, long-time Cargill executive, as its new President and CEO effective Feb. 22. Ryan brings 25 years of international leadership experience from Cargill, a global food, agribusiness and trading company. At Cargill, Ryan was platform leader of the Agricultural Supply Chain in Shanghai, China, where he oversaw the agricultural commodities origination, trading and processing for this multibillion dollar division with more than 30,000 employees and 700 facilities. Most recently, Ryan served as interim CEO and Board director for Eagle Bulk Shipping, based in New York.
“Ryan is a highly accomplished international executive,” says Mark Wesen, Chairman of the Darigold Board of Directors. “He is both customer and employee focused. He is accomplished at delivering value, inspiring innovation and building teams. He has high leadership standards that mirror Darigold’s commitment to stewardship for our family farm owners.”
Over his Cargill career, Ryan served as president and general manager of seven divisions in five countries. He managed both branded and commodity products and drove growth through customer-focused innovation and strong organizational development.
“I’m truly excited to join the Darigold team, an organization so rich in history and substantial in capabilities,” said Ryan. “I look forward to building on that legacy and creating many successes with my new colleagues, our customers, and all of our farmer owners.”
Ryan was raised in Janesville, Wisconsin, the oldest of four children. He earned both an MBA and MA from the University of Chicago, and a BA in economics from the University of Notre Dame. Ryan and his family will be relocating to Seattle from Shanghai, China.
About Darigold:
Headquartered in Seattle, Darigold, Inc. is the marketing and processing subsidiary of Northwest Dairy Association (NDA), which is owned by nearly 500 dairy farm families. NDA members ship approximately 8.9 billion pounds of milk annually from farms in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Northern California, Utah and Montana. Darigold, Inc. produces a full line of dairy-based products for retail, foodservice, commodity and specialty markets, and is one of the largest U.S. dairy processors. Darigold, Inc. operates 11 processing plants throughout the Northwest, processing high-quality milk produced by its dairy farm families. For more information, see www.darigold.com.
Source: Darigold
