Gonzalo Petschen

Cargill
Group President
Food, North America

A passion for building relationships and driving growth with customers have defined Gonzalo Petschen’s nearly three-decade career with Cargill. 

Today, Gonzalo applies those priorities as he leads the company’s Food business in North America, with a team of more than 35,000 members. It plays a critical role in feeding people and serving Cargill’s customers through a broad portfolio of essential ingredients like starches, oils and salt, as well as meat, eggs and alternative proteins. 

Since joining Cargill in 1996, Gonzalo has served in a variety of leadership roles with commercial and strategic responsibilities. He led the global execution of the company’s strategy across all its enterprises and functions, and his more than 20 years of commercial leadership experience spans the globe. From 2018 to 2021, he led Cargill’s global edible oils business – a team of 8,000 employees driving growth with customers in 18 countries. Prior to that, Gonzalo held regional leadership roles for several of the company’s food ingredients businesses across the Americas. 

Outside of Cargill, Gonzalo chairs the board of Ardent Mills, serves on the Board of Trustees for the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and represents Cargill on the Executive Council for MBOLD, a coalition of Minnesota-based companies and organizations working together to solve pressing challenges in food and agriculture. He is also a national senior professional pickleball player. 

Gonzalo earned his B.A. from the University of Dayton and an MBA from The Ohio State University.