Advisory Board
HighQuest Partners formed an Advisory Board in 2010 for feedback about how best to serve our clients through our consulting, event, and media businesses. Advisory Board meetings take place semi-annually for this purpose.
Alan Boyce
Director, Adecoagro,
Former Portfolio Manager, Soros Fund
Alan Boyce is an active member of the board of directors of Adecoagro, a food and renewable energy-producing company that owns and operates highly productive land throughout Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. Adecoagro became a public company on February 2011. He is also CEO of Absalon, a joint venture between George Soros and the Danish financial system that is assisting in the organization of a standardized mortgage-backed securities market in Mexico; consultant for Soros Fund Management, where he works to implement the Danish mortgage system in the United States; and President of Boyce Land Co.
Boyce Land Co. has acted as the General Partner in a series of U.S. farmland limited partnerships since 1986, and owns and manages farmland in 6 U.S. states with a concentration in Indiana and California. Boyce was formerly the director of special situations at Soros Fund Management, where he managed a portfolio of assets of the Quantum Fund and had principal operational responsibilities for the bulk of the fund's investments in South America.
Before joining Soros Fund Management, Boyce served as managing director in charge of fixed-income arbitrage with Bankers Trust. He previously worked for the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C.
Boyce graduated with a degree in economics from Pomona College, and has a Masters in Business Administration from Stanford University.
Charlie Carey
Vice Chairman, CME Group,
Former CBOT Chairman
Charles P. Carey is vice chairman of CME Group. Previously, he was Chairman of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). CBOT, the third largest U.S. exchange, merged with CME in July 2007, creating a new company, CME Group Inc., a CME/Chicago Board of Trade Company. Today, CME Group is the largest and most diverse exchange in the world, with a market capitalization of approximately $30 billion.
Carey was elected Chairman of CBOT in 2003, and remained in that role until assuming his current position in July 2007. Previously, he served on the CBOT board of directors for 11 years in various roles, including vice chairman, first vice chairman and full member director. An independent futures trader, Carey became a member of CBOT in 1978 and is a partner in the firm Henning and Carey.
In addition to a leading role in the 2007 merger, Carey spearheaded the transformation of CBOT, a member run institution for more than 155 years, into a for-profit, NYSE-listed public company in 2005.
Carey has received a number of civic, industry and community service awards. Most recently, he was presented with the Western Illinois University Distinguished Alumni Award for his business and professional accomplishments. Other awards include the Rerum Novarum Award from St. Joseph College Seminary, Ellis Island Medal of Honor from the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations Foundation, Inc., and the Gold Medallion Award from the International Visitors Center of Chicago. In addition, Carey is President of the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame.
A lifelong resident of Chicago, Carey received a B.A. degree in business administration from Western Illinois University.
Randy Linville
Industry Consultant,
Former CEO of The Scoular Company
Randal Linville has over 35 years of experience and success as a commodity market trader, international business executive, and corporate board leader. He brings expertise and a myriad of connections in the following sectors: agriculture, capital markets, commodity, government, infrastructure, nonprofit, private equity, professional, and transport.
Linville co-founded, led as CEO, and recently sold Agspring, a top 40 grain logistics company. It was formed in 2012 as a private equity backed consolidator of agribusiness firms to supply grains, oilseeds, and related products to growing global markets.
Previously Linville was at The Scoular Company for a 25-year career during which he earned positions of increasing leadership and management responsibility. As president and CEO from 1999-2009, Linville led Scoular through a decade of extraordinary success from building a portfolio of diverse business operations based in North America with international reach.
Today, Linville is managing director of ClearSight Ventures. He serves as advisor, board member, entrepreneur, executive, and investor for a portfolio of marketplace and nonprofit groups summarized below:
Current
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Boards - CropWorks Co-Founder and Chairman, The FarmHouse Foundation Trustee Emeritus, Global Scholars, Halftime Institute
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Advisory - Acumen Sage Chair, GlobalHouse Group, and HighQuest Partners
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Memberships - Church of the Resurrection, Economics Club of Kansas City, Heritage Foundation, National Association of Corporate Directors, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Past
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Boards - Agspring Founding CEO, Commodity Markets Council Founding Chairman, FarmHouse Foundation Chairman, Transportation, Elevator and Grain Merchants Association President, BNSF Railway Customer Advisory Board, National Grain and Feed Association, Scoular, and The World Soy Foundation.
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Advisory - Adventures in Missions Kingdom Journeys, Back to the Bible goTandem.
While growing up on a farm in Holcomb, Kansas, Linville developed a passion for both agriculture and business that led him to Kansas State University where he earned dual degrees in agricultural economics and business finance in 1976, followed by an M.S. in agricultural economics in 1977. Upon graduation, he began his career with Central Soya Company and later joined The Pillsbury Company.
Linville resides in Leawood, Kansas, with his wife Debbie and children Grace and Jake. Their special interests include Exclusive Resorts family travel in the USA and abroad, and Pilate’s fitness training.
Paul Smolen
Industry Consultant,
Former Bunge & Conti-Grain VP
Paul Smolen is an agribusiness leader with expertise in commodity risk management, marketing strategy, new business development, and industry logistics. An accomplished and sought after speaker at agribusiness industry groups worldwide addressing value capture and joint venture management, Smolen has held executive and senior advisory positions at Bunge, United Soybean Board, and Continental Grain.
Smolen has led market development for enhanced output trait soybean meal and oil for the Bunge Dupont Biotech Alliance, coordinated Bunge’s global food and feed safety and quality programs, and developed animal nutrition expertise to improve protein and byproduct valuation. For USB, Smolen utilized USB’s neutral platform to improve recognition and utilization of soymeal attributes and value capture from grower to feeder and continuously challenged directors and administrators to improve effectiveness and efficiency in both domestic and international marketing programs by developing closer alignment with commercial stakeholders. At Continental Grain as vice president and general manager, Smolen led one of the most profitable trading businesses in terms of capital committed and consistency of performance and set the pace for industry in the export of processed feed ingredients.
Smolen was also active in creating, implementing, expanding, and managing a succession of joint venture export trading companies involving Continental Grain Company and its soybean processing partners, Quincy Soybean Company and Bunge Corporation. He holds an MBA from New York University and a B.A. In economics from Cornell University.
Mark Zenuk
Managing Director, NGP Funds,
Former ADM Oilseed Division President
Mark Zenuk joined NGP in 2010 and serves as a managing director of the NGP funds. He leads the firm’s efforts in the agribusiness sector, leveraging his global reputation and 20-year industry expertise in acquiring and operating large scale assets in the storage, processing, transportation and merchandising of agricultural commodities.
Prior to joining NGP in 2010, Mr. Zenuk served in many roles with Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM), most recently serving as president the Oilseeds Business Unit, the largest Global Business Unit at ADM, comprising over $24 billion in sales and operating profit of $1.3 billion. The business unit operated 116 inland terminals, and 112 oilseed, crushing, refining, packaging, and industrial facilities. In 2005, he was elected as a corporate vice president of ADM.
From 2000 to 2007, Mr. Zenuk served as Managing Director for Europe and Asia, senior VP North American and European Oils, Fats, and Biodiesel, VP North American Oils and Fats, and VP Moormans/ADM Animal Health and Nutrition.
Prior to joining ADM, he served as General Manager Commodity Marketing Group for the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool and Marketing Manager for the Canadian Wheat Board.
Mr. Zenuk received a B.S. in agricultural economics in 1990 from the University of Saskatchewan.