Cargill has elected Gregory Page as chief executive officer and president, effective June 1, 2007. Page will succeed Warren Staley, Cargill’s chairman and chief executive officer, when he retires as CEO on June 1, having reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 for Cargill executives.

Staley will continue to serve as chairman of the Cargill board of directors until its annual meeting on September 11, 2007.

Page was named to his current position as Cargill president and chief operating officer in June 2000. He was elected to the Cargill board of directors in August 2000.

“I’ve worked closely with Greg for the past seven years, and I know he has the capacity to lead Cargill to become an even greater company than it is today,” says Staley. “Greg’s extensive global travels and leadership experience in and outside of the US have given him deep insight into all of our businesses. As a result, he believes strongly in harnessing the knowledge and capabilities of Cargill’s diverse businesses to benefit our customers. We are excited to have Greg lead Cargill forward.”

After joining Cargill in 1974 as a trainee, Page held a number of positions in the company’s US animal nutrition business before transferring to Singapore in 1985 to lead its animal nutrition operations in Asia. In 1989, he moved to Thailand to build Cargill’s poultry processing business in that country. He returned to the US in 1992, where he assumed leadership of Cargill’s North American and Australian beef and pork operations in 1995.

In 1998, Page was named corporate vice-president and sector president, with responsibilities for the company’s financial markets and beef and pork groups. He was elected executive vice-president in 1999.

Staley was elected president of Cargill in February 1998, CEO in June 1999 and chairman of the board in August 2000. He was elected to the Cargill board in August 1995.

Staley joined Cargill as a trainee in 1969 and held merchandising, management and leadership positions in the US, Europe and South America.

“Under Warren’s leadership, Cargill’s earnings have tripled. As exceptional as those results are, his contributions are far greater,” says Page. “Warren led the company’s transformation to a customer-based solutions provider; he instituted a new model of shared leadership; he reshaped the organisation in ways that generated new growth, and he exemplified what it means to be a corporate citizen.”