COVINGTON, LOUISIANA, US — Eric Slater has been named chief executive officer of CGB Enterprises, a leader in the grain and transportation industries. He succeeds Kevin Adams, who retired May 31 after nearly 20 years at the helm.

Slater joined CGB in 1988 as a summer intern. He was vice president of operations for Zen-Noh Grain Corp. (ZGC), which had significant focus around the operations at ZGC’s export elevator in Convent, Louisiana, US, and as president of forage products supplier Zen-Noh Hay, Inc. before transitioning back to CGB as its chief operating officer in 2021. 

Adams joined Covington, Louisiana, US-based CGB in 1986, and during his tenure as president and CEO the company expanded from about 30 grain elevators to more than 100 while also growing its complementary businesses, including transportation and logistics, soybean processing, risk management and agri-finance. 

CGB, the nation’s fifth largest grain company, was purchased in the late 1980s as a 50-50 joint venture between Covington-based Zen-Noh Grain and Itochu Corp., a global trading firm based in Tokyo, Japan. According to Sosland Publishing’s 2022 Grain & Milling Annual, CGB operates 127 licensed grain facilities with 276.101 million bushels of licensed grain storage capacity.

“As I reflect on our company’s history and my time with CGB, I am inspired, humbled and overwhelmed with gratitude,” Adams said during a recent company meeting. “Some of my predecessors really helped build a foundation, the things that gave us opportunity for the growth and success we’ve had over the last 20 years. I hope the work we’ve done over the last 20 years has provided a base for the next 20; if we’ve done that, we’ve done our job well.”

Slater added, “Kevin’s focus on CGB’s core competencies and subsequent strategic growth served the needs of our company’s diverse stakeholders and created excellent returns for our shareholders. He has been a tremendous leader for the company and a personal mentor of mine for years. It’s a true privilege to have worked alongside him, and I’m honored to have the opportunity to now lead such an incredible organization full of dedicated, brilliant professionals.”