WESTERN MILLING CEO and leadership

Before Mr. Kruse started Western Milling in early 2000, he was President and Operating Manager of West Coast Grains for PM Ag Products, a division of publicly traded Tate & Lyle, and is President/Stockholder of Kruse Investment Company (KIC).

Mr. Kruse joined O. H. Kruse Grain & Milling in 1987 after graduating from California Polytechnic State University SLO with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Agriculture Business. His first assignment with O. H. Kruse was Vice President in charge of production and transportation. In 1989, Mr. Kruse was put in charge of building and developing business for a dairy feed plant in South Central San Joaquin Valley of California. The site of Pixley, California was chosen in early 1990 and construction of the new plant began in October of that year and was in operation within one year. Within four years it was the largest single site feed plant in California. In 1992 Mr. Kruse became President of O. H. Kruse and oversaw operations in California, Arizona, Texas and Idaho producing under the O. H. Kruse Grain & Milling Label and in Washington State under the Ferndale Label. Total sales of such operations for the calendar year 1995 were over 1.2 MM tons. In 1995, as President of O. H. Kruse Grain & Milling, Kevin was approached by PM Ag Products and negotiated the sale of the then family run business. Under new ownership, Kevin was involved with integrating the operations of O. H. Kruse with Ferndale Grain.

In 1997, he built a state-of-the-art flour mill in Colton, California, and acquired Capitol Flour Milling, which he grew to 9,500cwt/day and sold to Con Agra in 1998.

Mr. Kruse then acquired a feed mill and started Western Milling in mid-2000. He remodeled the facility using the latest technology. Western Milling became profitable within the first six months of operation. Today as CEO of Western Milling, Mr. Kruse oversees close to 700 employees in 33 locations with sales volume of 4.3 MM tons per year. The company has diversified into food, pet food and agronomy products as well as commercial feed.

Mr. Kruse is a past director of California Feed and Grain Association as well as a past director and President of the Los Angeles Grain Exchange. Currently he holds a seat on the AFIA Board and PFI Board.

Mark Bounty is a Chief Operating Officer for Western Milling at Western Milling and is based in Goshen, California.