Mark Poeschl is Chief Executive Officer of the National FFA Organization and the National FFA Foundation, where he is responsible for the operations and long term success of the organizations. Together with the National FFA Board of Directors and the National FFA Board of Trustees, he assures FFA’s relevance and service to agriculture and agricultural education.
Poeschl began his career at Ralston Purina in 1983 as manager of Dealer Financial Services. In 1987, he left Purina to serve as credit and human resources manager for Carl S. Akey, Inc. in Ohio. There, he progressed through a number of roles including chief financial officer, vice president of operations and chief operating officer. In 2000, Provimi Holding BV, a global animal nutrition company, purchased Akey, and North American Nutrition Companies, Inc. was subsequently formed. In February 2007, Poeschl was named chief executive officer, president and general manager of North American Nutrition. He was promoted to group vice president for Provimi Holding in September 2009 and relocated to Europe.
In 2011, Poeschl moved to Cargill, Inc. where he became vice president, group director, stakeholder engagement at Cargill Animal Nutrition. During his tenure at Cargill, Poeschl was deeply involved in the successful integration of Provimi Holding BV as well as major capital expansion programs in the United States, South Africa, Jordan, France, Ireland and the Netherlands. In addition, he built and implemented business plans to assure profit objectives were consistently achieved and was actively involved in developing and executing Cargill Animal Nutrition’s global 2020 strategy. Poeschl played a key role in talent selection and career development in the company and was instrumental in collaborating and implementing long-range business strategies. In 2016, he began working on sustainable and responsible animal protein production issues with key stakeholders.
Poeschl earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in agriculture from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He served as president of the Brookville Local Schools Board of Education in Ohio from 1995-1999. Poeschl served on the American Feed Industry Association Board of Directors and Executive Board.
A former FFA member, Poeschl served as Nebraska State FFA President from 1978-1979. He and his wife, Nancy, served as volunteer judges in recent years at the National FFA Convention & Expo. They also established a scholarship endowment for FFA members through the National FFA Foundation.
Poeschl and his wife have two sons, Nathan and Christopher. In his free time, he enjoys family activities, travel, sports, music, reading and automobiles. Poeschl also assists in the oversight of the family farm operation in Nebraska.
