Diamond V recently welcomed Chris Van Anne back to the company's Cedar Rapids headquarters as the Director of Knowledge Transfer. In this new role, Van Anne supports the global sales and marketing teams through international sales training and extension of the Life Stage Solutions programs worldwide. He also is leading development of the new Diamond V Learning Center.
"Chris comes back to Iowa following six years successfully leading Diamond V’s European operations," says Mike Johnson, Strategic Marketing and Portfolio Director with Cargill Animal Nutrition. "As Managing Director based in the Netherlands, Chris and his team collaborated with the company's 15 European Union business partners. They succeeded in doubling Diamond V's EU business in a few short years."
Johnson adds that Van Anne grew up on a fourth generation beef ranch and dairy farm in western Nebraska, "where Chris discovered that helping to feed the world was his life’s mission."
Van Anne earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln before completing his MBA at Regis University in Denver with an emphasis on International Business. He continued his academic career by completing the Colorado Agriculture Leadership Program and the Sales Professional Course. He also qualified as a Certified Crop Advisor.
Van Anne also has served in a volunteer capacity as chairman of the board for “Toys for God’s Kids” a non-profit organization in Denver, and as a member of several agriculture boards and advisory committees. His lifelong passion for agriculture has remained strong, as he recently told the Diamond V team: “My perfect relaxing vacation is to spend a week baling hay, running a combine, working cattle, or fixing fence around one of the pastures on my brother’s farm.”
