ABERDEEN, SOUTH DAKOTA, U.S. – Mike Nickolas, Agtegra Cooperative executive vice-president and chief operating officer, grain, has announced that he will retire from Agtegra at the end of January 2019.

“Mike’s leadership has been essential to our cooperative,” said Agtegra Chief Executive Officer Chris Pearson. “He has helped lead us through a successful unification to become Agtegra. He has provided valuable leadership to our Grain Division, which not only has handled record grain volumes in our first year, but has positioned us as a market leader to the benefit of our members. His leadership also has been invaluable as we navigate the new world of global tariffs and demand side challenges.

“With all sincerity, we could not have achieved all that we have in our first six months without Mike’s leadership influence at Agtegra. We congratulate Mike on his career accomplishments and we wish him the very best as he prepares for retirement in the coming months.”

Nickoas joined Wheat Growers in 1981 in grain marketing, where he worked for 17 years before joining North Central Farmers Elevator in 1998 as grain division manager. In 2012, he was promoted to general manager for North Central.

He served as a director on the South Dakota Grain and Feed Association and currently serving as a director on the South Dakota Corn Growers Association board.

Agtegra Cooperative was formed in February 2018 from a unification of two farmer-owned cooperatives – 95-year-old South Dakota Wheat Growers (Aberdeen) and 102-year-old North Central Farmers Elevator (Ipswich).