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| Mark L. Kolkhorst |
As chairman, Mr. Kolkhorst succeeded Dan Dye, chief executive officer of Ardent Mills L.L.C. The changing of the gavel took place during the NAMA board of directors meeting Sept. 9 at the Salamander Resort and Spa in Middleburg.
“It has been a pleasure working with Dan Dye over the last two years, and we are indebted to Dan for the leadership he provided our association over the past few years,” said James A. McCarthy, president and chief executive officer of NAMA. “He’s been an exceptional chairman, and I want to thank him again for his service to NAMA.”
As president of ADM Milling, Mr. Kolkhorst has responsibility for the company’s flour milling business in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and the United Kingdom. In recent years Mr. Kolkhorst has served as president, ADM Alliance Nutrition, and as president, Milling and Cocoa. He also was president of Specialty Feed Ingredients and earlier in his career held a range of management positions in grain merchandising. Mr. Kolkhorst joined ADM in 1986, shortly after graduating from Illinois State University with a bachelor’s degree in agribusiness. In addition to his work with NAMA, Mr. Kolkhorst sits on the board of the National Association of Manufacturers and the Kansas City-based American Royal Association and the National Parkinson Foundation Heartland Chapter.
New Executive Committee members elected were D. Ford Mennel, president, The Mennel Milling Co., Fostoria, Ohio, and Pat Van Osch, senior vice-president, operations, Richardson International, Ltd., Winnipeg, Manitoba. Stepping down from the Executive Committee following the completion of their three-year terms were Richard C. Siemer, Siemer Milling Co., Teutopolis, Ill., and John Didion, Didion Milling Co., Johnson Creek, Wis.
NAMA awarded Honorary Membership to Donald L. Mennel, Mennel Milling Co. (retired) and Robert “Bob” J. Giguere (1951-2016) of Iowa Corn Processors, Glidden, Iowa.
Mr. Mennel, chairman of the board of Mennel Milling, is the fourth generation of his family to assume the leadership of the business, now being led by the fifth generation, his son D. Ford Mennel. Donald Mennel joined the company in 1973 and succeeded his father, Donald M. Mennel, as president in 1980. He holds an undergraduate degree in English from Macalester College, a master’s degree in English literature from Eastern Michigan University and an M.B.A. from Michigan State University. He is a past chairman of NAMA (the group’s prior organization – Millers’ National Federation). He has served as a member of the Federal Grain Inspection Service advisory board and was chairman of the Eastern Soft Wheat Technical Board.
Mr. Giguere graduated from Beloit College in 1975 and spent time as a history and economics teacher at Notre Dame de Sion in Kansas City before moving to Marion, Ind., where his father was a corn miller. In 1998, Mr. Giguere relocated to western Iowa where he began building a new dry corn mill in Glidden that would become Iowa Corn Processors (I.C.P.). I.C.P. produces corn grits/meal/flour products for the food and beverage industries, as well as co-products for animal feed. Mr. Giguere died in early January, and his widow Rosie Giguere accepted the award on his behalf during the NAMA annual meeting.
