OMAHA, NEBRASKA, US — Ag Processing Inc. (AGP) plans to promote from within for two new leaders to succeed the retirement of the chief financial officer (CFO) and vice president of operations.

Kyle Droescher, AGP vice president of finance, has been selected to be AGP’s next group vice president and CFO, starting January 2021 following the retirement of Scott Simmelink’s at the end of the year. Simmelink has been AGP group vice president and CFO since January 2013.

Droescher joined AGP in 2012 as director of finance. He has more than 28 years of work and leadership in accounting, audit, business management and finance.

Lou Rickers has been appointed to vice president of operations and will succeed Ernie Kiley, senior vice president of operations for AGP, who will also be retiring at the end of 2020. Kiley has been with the company since 1980.

Rickers started in 1994 as a lab technician at AGP’s Manning, Iowa, US, facility. During his career Rickers also managed AGP’s Sergeant Bluff and Algona, Iowa, US, biodiesel plants. Rickers has been at the AGP corporate office in Omaha, Nebraska, US, since 2014, when he was promoted to the director of biodiesel operations. He has held the role of senior director of operations since 2018.

“We appreciate Scott and Ernie’s many contributions to AGP’s success,” said Keith Spackler, chief executive officer of AGP. “The have both provided exceptional leadership during their careers and we wish them both the best in their well-deserved retirements.

“At AGP, we are committed to our employees, which is evidenced by a strong history of promoting from within. Kyle and Lou are experienced and accomplished professionals with a track record of success at AGP. We have the highest degree of confidence in their ability to continue providing leadership for the company in the future.”

Omaha, Nebraska-based AGP is an agribusiness with primary operations as a major US soybean processor/refiner producing and marketing soybean meal, refined soybean oil, and biodiesel. AGP businesses also include agricultural product trading in domestic and international markets and numerous US grain elevator operations.

According to the 2020 Grain & Milling Annual, AGP has 44 grain facilities and 102 million bushels of total licensed grain storage capacity. It also has 23 country elevators and 15 processing plants. AGP is owned by local and regional cooperatives representing farmer producers across the United States.