We thank Sam for his years of leadership and dedicated service to Corn Products, stated board member William S. Norman. During Sam’s tenure as CEO, the company greatly expanded its international operations, made several key acquisitions and surpassed $3.9 billion in net sales.
Upon learning of his intention to retire, the board refined a robust succession plan that included key criteria for the new CEO. We then focused on a thorough and deliberative search for his successor, Norman added. We selected Ilene Gordon because of her strong leadership skills, international experience, and knowledge of commodity businesses and the food and beverage industry. We are confident this will be an orderly, thorough and thoughtful transition.
Gordon has over 30 years of senior-level, international management experience and an established track record as a leader. Since 2007, she has been the president and CEO of Rio Tinto’s Alcan Packaging, where she is responsible for leading a $6.5 billion global packaging business with 130 factories in 30 countries servicing the food, beauty and pharmaceutical industries, among others. Between 2004 and 2006, she was the president of Alcan Food Packaging Americas (Alcan), where she managed the business with $1.4 billion in sales and 5,000 employees in six countries.
Before Alcan’s acquisition of Pechiney in 2003, Gordon served in the positions of increasing responsibility with Pechiney and Tenneco for over 20 years, and started her career as a strategy consultant at Boston Consulting Group.
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics, Gordon also earned a Master of Science degree in management from the MIT’s Sloan School of Management. She is a director of Arthur J. Gallagher & company, chairing its governance committee, and a director of United Stationers, serving on its human resources and governance committees.
After accepting her new position, Gordon stated, Corn Products has strong operations worldwide, enjoys the support of flagship customers, and has talented and committed employees in markets around the world. I look forward to building on its strong market positions and leading it forward in the years ahead.
Reflecting on his years at Corn Products, Scott stated, Since becoming a public company 11 years ago, by focusing on our core values and pursuing our Pathways strategy, which we introduced in 2003, Corn Products has exceeded each of the five key financial targets we promised our stakeholders.
Corn Products has been able to navigate the challenging global marketplace with discipline and much success to date. 2008 was an exceptional year as the company continued to demonstrate that it can perform well in a climate of unprecedented volatility. Gordon and the rest of the management team have managed through challenging times before at their respective organizations, and are prepared to deal with the global recession of 2009, added Scott.
