ST. PAUL, Minn., Jan. 25, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CHS Inc., the nation's leading agribusiness cooperative, announced today it has named Brandon Smith executive vice president and general counsel. Smith will join CHS in late March 2021. Smith succeeds James Zappa, the company's executive vice president and general counsel since 2015. As part of his career transition plan, Zappa will assume another leadership role in the company.

Smith brings more than 15 years of experience as a global leader and business partner focused on driving compliant and profitable growth, achieving continuous improvement and developing diverse teams. Most recently, Smith served as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at Tenneco Inc., a multinational industrial company based in Lake Forest, Ill. Prior to joining Tenneco in 2008, Smith was an attorney with Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Chicago, Ill.

Smith earned a juris doctor degree from Cornell Law School, Ithaca, N.Y., and a bachelor's degree from Hiram College, Hiram, Ohio. He is an active community volunteer, including serving as a board member for The 100 Club.

"We are excited to bring Brandon's energy and global experience to CHS. He is a smart leader who brings a proven record of success in building relationships, delivering results and thriving in a collaborative business environment," said Jay Debertin, CHS president and chief executive officer. Smith will be a member of the CHS strategic leadership team and will report to Debertin.

CHS Inc. (www.chsinc.com) is a leading global agribusiness owned by farmers, ranchers and cooperatives across the United States. Diversified in energy, agronomy, grains and foods, CHS is committed to creating connections to empower agriculture, helping its farmer-owners, customers and other stakeholders grow their businesses through its domestic and global operations. CHS supplies energy, crop nutrients, seed, crop protection products, grain marketing services, production and agricultural services, animal nutrition products, foods and food ingredients, and risk management services. The company operates petroleum refineries and pipelines and manufactures, markets and distributes Cenex® brand refined fuels, lubricants, propane and renewable energy products.

This document and other CHS Inc. publicly available documents contain, and CHS officers and representatives may from time to time make, "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "goal," "seek," "believe," "project," "estimate," "expect," "strategy," "future," "likely," "may," "should," "will" and similar references to future periods. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on CHS current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of its businesses, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of CHS control. CHS actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not place undue reliance on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause CHS actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements are discussed or identified in CHS public filings made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including in the "Risk Factors" discussion in Item 1A of CHS Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2020. Any forward-looking statements made by CHS in this document are based only on information currently available to CHS and speak only as of the date on which the statement is made. CHS undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

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SOURCE CHS Inc.