April 9, 2016

Mr. Duerksen is Chairman & CEO of Kincannon & Reed, the world’s leading retained executive search firm in the agriculture and food value chain, and a top 25 firm globally amongst all industries.  The firm counts among its clients many of the world’s most important companies and non-profit institutions, and has placed senior executives in all functions in all corners of the globe.  Kincannon & Reed’s motto is, “We recruit leaders for organizations that feed the world and keep it healthy.”

Before entering executive search, Mr. Duerksen was a senior international executive.  As CEO, he led the successful turnarounds of a Pepsi-Cola® bottling company in Mexico and of Latin America’s largest fertilizer producer and exporter. Prior to these posts, he was Vice President, Marketing & Development for a Fortune 500 crop input company. As chairman of the Food Safety Committee of the Chemical Producers & Distributors Association, he twice testified in Congress on food safety issues. In his early career he was a consultant for McKinsey & Company and as an Associates Fellow wrote case studies for Harvard Business School’s acclaimed Agribusiness program. He received a B.A. from Augustana College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He is a native of South Dakota, where he grew up on a mixed grain and livestock farm and experienced early career failure as a classical musician.