Carlson served as Senior Vice President - Corporate Planning and Development, Senior Vice President of International and Senior Vice President and General Manager - Institutional North America. Prior to his retirement in 1998 after a thirty-two year career at Ecolab Inc., a global provider of cleaning and sanitation products, systems and services, Mr. Carlson served as the Commissioner of Trade and Development for the State of Minnesota from 1999 to 2001. Carlson joined us as Chief Executive Officer in May 2002 and served in that position until his appointment as Chief Operating Officer. Carlson serves as a member of our Board of Directors and was our Chief Operating Officer from March 2014 until June 2016. Mr. Bendheim is qualified to serve on our Board of Directors due to his extensive management experience in all facets of the animal health, mineral nutrition and performance products businesses during his tenure with the Company and his management role within BFI.
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Bendheim and, together with certain other family members, is a manager of BFI Co., LLC (“BFI”), an investment vehicle of the Bendheim family, with respect to certain economic rights pertaining to shares of our stock owned by BFI. degree with honors from Harvard Law School in 1996. degree in political science with honors from Yeshiva University in 1993 and a J.D.
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Prior to joining us, Mr. Bendheim worked as an analyst at South Coast Capital, a boutique investment bank. He was elected as a director of Phibro in November 2013. He was appointed Vice President of Business Development in 2001 and was later appointed President, Performance Products in 2004, and then Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy in March 2014. Bendheim serves as a member of our Board of Directors and is our Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy.