this Proxy Statement for more information regarding the procedures for submission by a shareholder of a director nominee or other proposals.
Set forth below is the age, principal occupation and certain other information for each of the nominees for election as a director.
Nominees for Election at the 2019 Annual Meeting
JAMES CROWLEY, 72, a director
since October 2008, also serves as Chairman of the Audit Committee. Mr. Crowley has been Chairman and Managing Partner of Old Strategic, LLC since July 2006. His previous experience includes service as Chairman and Managing Partner of Strategic
Research Institute, President of Global Investment and Merchant Banking at Prudential Securities, and investment banking at Smith Barney Harris Upham & Co. He currently serves on the board and is Chairman of the Audit Committee of Core
Molding Technologies, is on the board of trustees for the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, and has served on a number of educational and
not-for-profit
boards.
Mr. Crowley has a masters degree in Business Administration from the Wharton Graduate School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Villanova University. He has also
completed corporate governance programs at the Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate Business School, Stanford Law School and Northwestern University. Mr. Crowley is qualified to serve as a director because he possesses the requisite
education and business acumen to serve as an audit committee financial expert along with having served on other boards and as an audit committee chairman of another company.
GENE EDWARDS, 62, a director since June 2014, also serves on the Audit and Compensation Committees. Mr. Edwards served as Executive Vice President and Chief
Development Officer of Valero Energy Corporation until his retirement in April 2014. He began his
32-year
career at Valero as an analyst in Planning and Economics and spent his tenure with Valero in various
managerial positions in Planning and Economics, Refinery Operations, Business Development, and Marketing. Mr. Edwards was a key driver in Valeros entry into the ethanol business and helped the segment become a successful part of its
overall business. He served on the board of directors of CST Brands, Inc. from May 2013 to December 2013. Mr. Edwards holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Tulane University and a masters degree in Business
Administration from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Mr. Edwards is qualified to serve as a director because of his extensive energy, including ethanol, industry experience, providing the Board with valued industry experience.
GORDON GLADE, 48, a director since December 2007, also serves on the Audit and the Nominating and Governance Committees. Mr. Glade was formerly a shareholder of Amur
Equipment Financing (formerly AXIS Capital Inc.), a commercial equipment leasing company, for which he had also served as its President and Chief Executive Officer from 1996 to 2016. In addition, he is a current investor in several other ethanol
companies. Mr. Glade also serves as Vice President and a director of the Edgar and Frances Reynolds Foundation, Inc. and as a director of Heartland Agriculture, LLC and the Brunswick State Bank. Mr. Glade has a Bachelor of Science degree
in both Accounting and Finance from Texas Christian University. Mr. Glade is qualified to serve as a director because his business experience, including his experience as an investor in other ethanol companies, provides the Board with valuable
perspective.
Set forth below is the age, principal occupation and certain other information for each of our directors not currently up for election.
Continuing Directors with Terms Expiring in 2020
JIM ANDERSON, 61, a director
since October 2008, also serves on the Audit and Compensation Committees. Mr. Anderson is currently the Chief Executive Officer of
Moly-Cop,
a position he has held since November 2017. Previously, he
served as Managing Director and Operating Partner at CHAMP Private Equity. In addition, he served The Gavilon Group, LLC as its President and Chief Executive Officer from October 2014 until February 2016 as well as its Chief Operating Officer,
Fertilizer, since February, 2010. From September 2006 to February 2010, he served as Chief Executive Officer and member of the board of directors at United Malt Holdings, a producer of malt for use in the brewing and distilling industries. Prior to
that, beginning in April 2003, Mr. Anderson served as Chief Operating Officer / Executive Vice President of CT Malt, a joint venture between ConAgra Foods, Inc. and Tiger Brands of South Africa. Mr. Andersons experience in the
agricultural processing and trading business includes serving as Senior Vice President and then President of ConAgra Grain Companies. His career also includes association with the firm Ferruzzi USA and as an Operations Manager for Pillsbury Company.
He has also served as a Board Member of the North American Export Grain Association and the National Grain and Feed Association. Mr. Anderson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with a Finance emphasis from the University of
WisconsinPlatteville. Mr. Anderson is qualified to serve as a director because of his commodity experience and agribusiness knowledge, which provides the Board with a relevant depth of understanding of our operations.
WAYNE HOOVESTOL, 61, a director since March 2006, has served as Chairman of the Board since October 2008. Mr. Hoovestol served as our Chief Operating Officer from
January 2007 to February 2007, Chief Executive Officer from February 2007 to December 2008, and Chief Strategy Officer from March 2009 to November 2009. Mr. Hoovestol no longer is an employee of the company. Mr. Hoovestol began operating
Hoovestol Inc., a trucking company, in 1978. He is also President of Lone Mountain Truck Leasing, which he founded in 2005. Mr. Hoovestol became involved with the ethanol industry as an investor in 1995, and has served on the boards of two
other ethanol companies. Mr. Hoovestol also served on the board of CapSource Financial, Inc., a truck trailer sales and leasing company, from May 2005 to March 2007. Mr. Hoovestol is qualified to serve as a director because of his former
leadership as Chief Executive Officer, as well as the business perspective he brings to the Board through his ownership of other entities and investments in other ethanol companies.
EJNAR KNUDSEN, 50, joined the company as a director in May 2016. He also serves on the Audit Committee. Mr. Knudsen is the founder and CEO of AGR Partners, and
oversees the firms strategy with investments totaling over $400 million in food
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