Ernie Micek awarded honorary degree

It the PhD commencement ceremony this past May, UW-Madison Chancellor David Ward presented ChE alumnus Ernest S. Micek (BS 1959) with an honorary Doctor of Science degree in recognition of a career of extraordinary accomplishment. Ernie also presented the charge to the graduates at the ceremony for undergraduate and master's candidates from the College of Engineering and the School of Business.

Chancellor David Ward (left) awards Ernest Micek with an honorary degree. (23K JPG)

Ernie built an illustrious career with Cargill, Inc., a major supplier of the world's food. His achievements within the company were highlighted by his 1995 election as chairman and chief executive officer of Cargill. He joined Cargill in 1959 as a shift supervisor at a soybean processing plant in Virginia. Over the course of Ernie's career, Cargill emerged from a grain trading company with earnings of about $5 million per year to an international marketer, processor and distributor of agricultural, food, financial and industrial products with recent earnings in excess of $700 million per year. Under Ernie's principled leadership, Cargill has developed some of the most rigorous and forward-looking operating guidelines of any company working in the third world. In 1998, the influential Financial Times named Cargill as one of the world's most respected companies.

Ernie played a major role in Cargill's development over the years. During his first 10 years with the company, Ernie was part of the Oilseed Processing Division, where he was directly involved in soybean processing, vegetable oil refining and soy protein processing in both engineering and technical production management. He then moved to the position of general manager of the Corn Wet Milling division, which he built from a 10,000 bushel/day business in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to an international business that processes more than 700,000 bushels of corn per day into sweeteners, starches, oil, citric acid, ethanol and feed products.

Ernie was at the forefront of the movement within the company to add value by focusing on processed products rather than raw commodities. For example, in the late 1970s he committed Cargill to begin supplying Coca Cola with fructose as an improved substitute for sugar--despite Cargill's lack of the technology or a facility to produce fructose at that time. In 1990, under Ernie's leadership, Cargill moved into the bioprocessing arena and began producing citric acid. Since then, Cargill has made major investments in biotechnology, including hiring former ChE Professor Douglas Cameron as their director of biotechnology.

In addition to his duties at Cargill, Ernie has become involved in global affairs. He is chairman of the Emergency Committee for American Trade and serves on the President's Export Council in the United States and the Advisory Council on Foreign Investments in Ukraine. He regularly visits Asia Pacific countries as one of three U.S. business representatives to APEC. In 1998, Ernie accompanied President Clinton on a trade mission to Africa aimed at establishing a free trade zone. He is past chair of the U.S. Trade and Technology Policy Group of the National Association of Manufacturers, and a former member of the Trade and Policy Committee of the Business Roundtable.

Ernie received the college's Distinguished Service Award in 1991. He has provided valuable guidance and advocacy as a member of our department's Visiting Committee since 1994. He also served on the college's Industrial Liaison Council from 1995 through 1998, serving as chair in his final year. Ernie's effort in having Cargill name UW-Madison as a "core school" has led to the support of faculty interns, the Cargill China Scholars Program, the college's Diversity Scholarship Program and LeaderShape 1999, an intensive leadership development program for UW students. Ernie currently serves as a member of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation board of trustees, and has been assisting the university in the Luminaries Lobbying Program, urging members of the U.S. House and Senate to look favorably at the strong record of accomplishment resulting from federally sponsored research at universities.

The department is fortunate indeed to count Ernie among our many distinguished alumni, and we were delighted to be able to nominate him for this honor.