Warren Staley is the former chief executive officer

Chief executive officer

A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...

 of Cargill, Inc. of Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...

, USA.

Staley is a graduate of Kansas State University

Kansas State University

Kansas State University, commonly shortened to K-State, is an institution of higher learning located in Manhattan, Kansas, in the United States...

 (1965), and Cornell University

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

, receiving an M.B.A. from Cornell in 1967. He joined Cargill in 1969, became president and chief operating officer in 1998, CEO in 1999, and chairman of the board in 2000. He retired in 2007.

Kansas State University gave Staley and his wife Mary Lynn Staley (also a KSU graduate) their Medal of Excellence in 2009.