Gary Mohr, CEO
Gary grew up on a farm in southeast Nebraska. He attended college at the University of Nebraska, earning a B.S. in business administration. After graduating from college in 1977, he went to work for a cooperative in Sibley, Iowa, and has been employed by cooperatives ever since.
Gary began managing a co-op in 1979 at the Pipestone Cooperative Association in Pipestone, Minnesota, after attending the Midland Management Training program, and has since managed cooperatives in Sibley, Iowa, and Mountain Lake, Minnesota, prior to moving to Owatonna, Minnesota, in 2002. He currently is the CEO of Central Valley Cooperative, a full service cooperative serving southeast Minnesota in 11 communities.
Gary and his wife Metalynn reside in Owatonna and have three grown sons.
Albert McLean, CFO
Albert has over 20 years of experience in senior level Finance roles in the Agricultural industry, both in the United States and Canada. Albert has gained a wide range of experience working for Grain handling, Ethanol, Agronomy, Food manufacturing and Commodity trading companies. Albert is a graduated from Red River College in Winnipeg, Manitoba and obtained his professional accounting designation, Certified General Accountant (CGA) in 1990. Albert is married with 2 children and enjoys Cycling and Outdoor activities.
Patrick Hawkins, COO
In the role of COO, Pat assists the CEO in overseeing the operations of the Grain, Feed, Agronomy and Energy divisions. His primary role will be helping to coordinate our efforts to work as a team, allocating people, assets, and resources across divisions to operate more efficiently and profitably.
Pat joined the Co-op in 2009 as a Special Projects Manager/Producer Finance Manager. He has worked in the financial services industry since 1990. Much of that time was spent with the Farm Credit system in southern Minnesota. He also worked for 2 1/2 years in commercial/business lending in Owatonna. From 2004 until 2009, Pat held the position of Vice President, Business Development, with AgQuest Financial Services serving agricultural producers in the Upper Midwest. He attended the University of Minnesota in agricultural business administration. Pat lives with his wife and three children in Owatonna, Minnesota, is active in the 4H program and is a past member of Leadership Owatonna.
Steve Johnson, VP Energy
Steve grew up on a farm near Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He attended Chippewa Valley Technical College while serving an apprenticeship at Automotive Machine Works in Eau Claire as an Automotive Machinist, receiving a journeyman’s card upon completion of the apprenticeship. He worked on dairy farms in Wisconsin and Illinois from 1976 to 1986.
Steve began working at Augusta Farmers Co-op managing their Fall Creek, Wisconsin, branch in 1986 and has been involved with co-ops ever since. He has held several positions including Livestock Production Specialist, Feed Department Manager, General Manager, Energy Risk Manager, and currently is Energy Division Manager at Central Valley Co-op. He served as President of the Minnesota Energy Managers Association from 2003 to 2009 and remains an active member today.
Steve has attended several management development classes put on by Wayne Feeds, Farmland Industries, Land O’Lakes, and Cenex Harvest States. He obtained his Series 3 and 30 commodity brokers licenses in 2000 and is currently an associated person with Country Hedging Inc.
Steve and his wife Kim live in Owatonna and have two grown children and three grandchildren. Steve enjoys fishing and playing with the grandchildren in his spare time.
Chuck Wagner, VP Agronomy
Chuck manages the Agronomy Division with the aim to create superior value through the effective use of products, services, technology, and data collection. He has an associate degree in agronomy and brings over 33 years of experience to the position. He received his CCA certification in 2005.
Tim Donelan, VP Grain
Tim grew up on a grain and hog farm near Waseca, Minnesota. Tim graduated from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor of agricultural business administration degree in 1988. Upon graduation Tim was employed by LaSalle Farmers Grain Company as an Assistant Office Manager from 1988 to 1991. At that time Tim took a job with Dill Company of Janesville, Minnesota, as a Grain Merchandiser until 1992. He progressed on with Prairieland Cooperative as a Location Manager from 1992 to 1993. From 1994 to 2003 he worked with CHS Country Operation as a General Manager in Hartland/Janesville, Minnesota.
Tim got his Series 3 and 30 licenses in 2003. Upon completion of his brokerage license he joined the Interstate Mills team as the Country Hedging Branch Manager. He obtained his property/casualty insurance license in 2007 and has proceeded to sell crop insurance along with his other duties as part of the risk management program.
Ken Langer, VP Feed
Ken has been the Interstate Mills Feed Mill Operations Manager since 2005. His responsibilities include overseeing daily operations of the Owatonna and Hayfield feed mills. In his role, he works closely with producers to secure feed contracting needs.
Ken is a native of rural Owatonna, Minnesota, and currently resides there. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, Waseca, with a bachelor’s degree in ag business management. Ken started in the feed and grain business in 1987. While at Interstate Mills, Ken has been actively involved with feed mill production, feed sales and nutrition, feed mill management, and feed mill and grain elevator location management.
Kim Jones, PHR Human Resources Manager
Kim grew up east of Sargeant, MN and attended Hayfield Community Schools. She earned an AA Accounting degree from the University Center Rochester and she received her B.S. in Business Administration through a long distance learning program from Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, MN. Kim also has her Professional Human Resources (PHR) certification from the Human Resource Certification Institute. Her career in the agriculture industry began in 1998 with a temporary assignment of invoicing feed for a small feed mill. Since 1998, Kim has performed many administrative and accounting functions and is currently the Human Resources (HR) Manager for Central Valley Cooperative. As HR Manager, Kim supports the hiring and payroll processes, coordinates benefits administration, facilitates employee relations, and ensures compliance with the ever-changing employment laws. Kim is a member of the National Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), treasurer of the local South Central SHRM Chapter and a member of the Land O’Lakes HR Council.
Kim enjoys, volunteering, cooking, camping and spending time with our granddaughters.
Stephanie Peterson, Recruiting/ Marketing/ Development Manager
Stephanie is focused on recruiting & retaining the best employees and encouraging continuous learning and growth opportunities. The marketing part of her position includes communications both internal and external, Newsletters internal and external, advertisements and website.
Stephanie joined Central Valley in 2012 as the Energy Sales Manager, she moved into the recruiting/marketing/development position in Nov. of 2013, prior to that she was a College Sales Representative for Jostens, Inc. and also a Wholesale Nursery Sales Representative for Bailey Nurseries, Inc. covering the states of Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota.
Stephanie has a Horticulture degree from the University of MN, is a member of SHRM, trained in Crisis Management and Media, ACES certified and a member of the Land o’ Lakes HR Council. She enjoys watching her 2 children at sporting events, reading and traveling.
Dave Picha, Safety Director
Dave grew up on a small dairy farm in rural LeSueur County MN.
After graduation he worked at home on the family farm for a year & a half. He than took a position as laborer and applicator with Harvest States Co-op. In 1987 he joined Cannon Valley Coop in
Northfield where he gained experience as a feed truck delivery driver, propane bobtail driver and did HVAC service and installation. In 2009 he transitioned to his current position as the Safety Director for Central Valley Coop and Interstate Mills.
He and his wife Colleen have 2 children and they enjoy hunting and fishing at the family’s cabin in Wisconsin in summer and hibernating during the winter.