Cargill Inc. on Monday named 31-year company veteran Brian Sikes as the tenth chief executive officer of the 157 year-old, privately-held agribusiness giant. Sikes, who is currently chief operating officer, will become CEO of the 160,000-employee company on Jan. 1. CEO Dave MacLennan will become executive chair of Cargill’s board of directors. Sikes has worked on long-term planning and has helped grow the company’s global protein and salt enterprise into an industry leader, Cargill said. MacLennan has been CEO since 2013.

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