Cargill Chairman & CEO David W. MacLennan (MBA '88) will be asked questions by Ecolab COO & President Tom Handley (MBA '81)
Event Details
We're excited to host these two prominent alumni in the Twin Cities business community for a fireside chat on topics including sustainable agriculture to support global population growth, nutrition transparency, and David's career path and advice for early- to mid-career people. They will also take questions from the audience. Hot and cold hors d'oeuvres will be served, and there will be a cash bar. The Lafayette Club is a beautiful venue on the shores of Lake Minnetonka; the Fairway Room has a built-in fireplace and bar. Weather permitting, the patio doors will be open for sunset cocktails after the fireside chat.
5:30 pm = Doors open, networking begins; cold hors d'oeuvres out on the table
6:00 pm = hot hors d'oeuvres served
6:30 pm = Fireside chat begins
7:15 pm = Fireside chat ends
7:15-8:00 = networking and wrap-up
Speaker Profiles
David W. MacLennan (Speaker) '88
Chairman and CEO, Cargill
https://www.cargill.com/
Dave MacLennan has been chief executive officer of Cargill since 2013 and was first elected to the Cargill Board of Directors in 2008. He is the 9th CEO since Cargill was founded in 1865.
He began his Cargill career in 1991 in the Financial Markets Division, helping establish Cargill's proprietary financial business in distressed asset investing and trading, serving in that capacity in the Minneapolis and London offices. After serving as Chief Financial Officer of the Financial Markets Division, he moved to Geneva to head Cargill Energy, which engaged in the trading, hedging, and merchandising of energy products for Cargill and its customers. He also supervised several businesses in Cargill Protein and later, Food Ingredients, before becoming Chief Financial Officer in 2008, and Chief Operating Officer in 2011.
Prior to joining Cargill, he began his career as a runner, phone clerk, and risk manager in the futures and securities sector in Chicago, where he learned the financial and commodities trading businesses from the back to front office. He was a member of the Chicago Board of Trade and Board of Options Exchange and obtained his Series 7 and 63 registrations. Later in his career, he was president of fixed income capital markets at USBancorp Piper Jaffray in Minneapolis.
Outside of Cargill, MacLennan serves on the boards of Ecolab, the Minnesota Business Partnership and the Board of Trustees of Amherst College. He previously served on the boards of public companies C.H. Robinson (CHRW) and First City Financial (FCFC), and has been a volunteer for Junior Achievement. His non-profit board service has included Youth Frontiers, College Possible, and his passion is a focus on the needs of underprivileged youth and their access to education. He holds a bachelor's degree in English from Amherst College and an M.B.A. in finance from the University of Chicago.
Thomas W. Handley (Moderator) '81
COO and President, Ecolab
https://www.ecolab.com
Tom Handley is president and chief operating officer of Ecolab Inc., the global leader in water, hygiene and energy technologies and services that protect people and vital resources.
Handley provides leadership, management and strategic counsel for seven of Ecolab's eight business sectors. Previously, Handley was senior executive vice president and president of Global Food & Beverage and Asia Pacific Latin America. Earlier, he was executive vice president and later president of Ecolab's Industrial and Services North America sector. He joined Ecolab in 2003 as senior vice president of Strategic Planning.
Prior to joining Ecolab, Handley spent 22 years at Procter & Gamble, most recently as vice president of Feminine Care Strategic Planning and Global Marketing. He also held a variety of marketing, strategic planning and general management roles, including assignments in consumer products and foodservice businesses. In addition, he held general management assignments in Asia and Mexico. Handley began his business career managing restaurants for Six Flags in Los Angeles.
Handley serves on the board of directors of Republic Services, Inc., the H.B. Fuller Company, the National Association of Manufacturers and the Ordway Center for Performing Arts (past chair).
Handley graduated with a bachelor's degree in Economics, magna cum laude, from Claremont-McKenna College and has a master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Chicago.
Questions
Tom Brinkmann, '06
President, Chicago Booth Alumni Club of the Twin Cities