Monsanto Company announced today the appointment of Mitch Barns to the company’s board of directors. Barns is chief executive officer of Nielsen Holdings plc, a global data and measurement company, and has served in that role since January 2014. Since joining Nielsen in 1997, Barns has lived and worked on three continents and has held leadership roles across all major parts of Nielsen’s business. He served as Nielsen’s president of global client service from 2013 to 2014 and was president of Nielsen’s U.S. media business from 2011 to 2013. He also served as president of Nielsen’s Greater China business from 2008 to 2011.
He began his career at Procter & Gamble where he spent 12 years in marketing research and brand management.
“On behalf of Monsanto, I am pleased to welcome Mitch Barns as an independent director to our board,” said Hugh Grant, Monsanto’s chairman of the board and chief executive officer. “His experience with one of the world’s leading data analytics companies will enable him to bring valuable perspective to our board on matters related to operating in a complex and global environment, including how we continue to effectively leverage data and insights to deliver a broad range of integrated solutions to help meet the needs of our customers.”
Barns’ appointment is effective immediately, and he will stand for election to the board at the 2017 annual meeting of shareowners. He will serve on the science and technology committee and the sustainability and corporate responsibility committee.
Barns holds a bachelor of science degree in business administration from Miami University and completed the Stanford Executive Program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
