December 7, 2007

 

EMD Crop BioScience appoints Paul Schmidt as President

 

press release

 

 

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.

 

Winkofske said Schmidt matches the company's target profile without compromise, adding that 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 and Hoechst Schering AgrEvo..

 

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.

 

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.

 

EMD was 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. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, EMD Crop BioScience is committed to advancing crop-enhancing technologies and making these products available to growers worldwide.