We’ll start with some steadily performing companies. Page took over as CEO of America’s second-largest private company in June from Warren Staley. During his 38-year tenure, Staley helped quadruple the Minnetonka-based firm’s earnings, primarily by turning it into a dynamic global supplier not only of grain but also eggs, meat, and specialty ingredients for animal feed and food processors. He also made what had been a somewhat secretive company more open to publicity.
Page, a longtime Cargill employee and Staley’s number-two man, hopes to follow Staley’s philosophy. “If you asked a Cargill person 10 years ago what they did at Cargill, they would describe the product they made: ‘I’m in flour,’ or ‘I make corn sweeteners,’” Page says. “Today, most of our team would answer, ‘I solve problems for bakers,’ or ‘I help beverage makers.’ That shift in mindset is a sea change.”
