Florian Schattenmann

Florian Schattenmann is Cargill’s Chief Technology Officer and Vice President for Innovation and Research & Development (R&D). He oversees a global team that is driven by the vision of relentlessly creating value for Cargill and its customers via research, application and product development, and technical service support across agriculture, food, animal feed and bioindustrial markets. He also leads the Strategic Growth Business Accelerator, designed to accelerate and scale cross enterprise innovation, and science-driven strategic growth businesses with a current focus on alternative proteins.

Prior to joining Cargill in November 2018, Florian spent eight years at The Dow Chemical Company. His most recent role was Vice President for Performance Materials & Coatings R&D, where he led innovation across a diverse set of specialty businesses. Florian has also held leadership roles at SulphCo Inc., Momentive Performance Materials and General Electric (GE)-Bayer Silicones. Earlier in his career, Florian managed several research laboratories at the GE Global Research Center.

Florian is a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt, holds seven U.S. patents and has numerous publications. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Vernay Laboratories Inc., a privately held specialty elastomer parts manufacturer. He serves on multiple advisory boards including the College of Science and Engineering at University of Minnesota, the Department of Chemistry at University of Wisconsin-Madison and the American Chemical Society CTO forum. He earned his Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and his Diplom Chemiker degree from the Technische Universität München in Munich, Germany. Florian and his family live in Golden Valley, MN.  Besides spending time with his family, he loves playing the bass, road cycling and working out.