Ceres Global Ag Corp. announces that Robert Day is stepping down as president and CEO, effective August 23, 2022.
Day will also resign his board seat but will continue to support the company for several months on a consultative basis.
The board has unanimously appointed Carlos Paz as president and CEO, effective immediately.
Paz joined the company in January 2020 as vice president and commercial director where he has been instrumental in developing the company's network of assets.
He has over 25 years of experience in a wide variety of leadership, trading and merchandising roles across North America, Latin America and Europe. Paz will also assume Day's vacant board seat.
"Leading this company and our dedicated employees since 2016 has been an immense honor," said Day. "I look forward to working with Carlos to ensure a smooth transition and I am confident in his ability to build upon what Ceres has developed thus far.
"Especially in the current environment, Carlos's deep industry expertise, operational excellence and experience in supply chain management will prove invaluable as the Company leverages its newly added assets to create value for its customers."
James Vanasek, Ceres chairman of the board, noted Paz has been head of the commercial team for the past two and a half years and is ready to continue growing the company's core oats, durum and spring wheat merchandising businesses as well as further developing its logistics hub located at Northgate, SK.
The company announced in July that it was suspending its previously-announced canola crush project at Northgate.
The company's decision to pause the project is due to a variety of factors, including inflationary pressures resulting in higher costs than initially projected and shifting macroeconomic conditions.
The $350 million state-of-the-art facility was announced in May 2021 and would have had the capacity to process 1.1 million metric tons of canola and refine over 500,000 metric tons of canola oil, for both food and fuel annually. The facility was expected to be operational by summer 2024.
"I am honored and excited to be leading Ceres." Paz said. "I am eager to continue working with our strong network and building on Ceres' vision to partner with farmers and other suppliers to enable our customers to do great things in the food, agriculture and energy markets."
