Corteva, Inc. Announces Management Changes

Published: 2026-04-14 16:53:36 ET CTVA

Published on 04/14/2026 at 04:53 pm EDT

Corteva, Inc. (Company) previously announced on October 1, 2025 its intent to separate its seed business (SpinCo) from its remaining crop protection business (New Corteva) into two independent, publicly traded companies through a tax-free  spin-off (spin-off). As of April 10, 2026, it has been determined that effective at the spin-off, the following named executive officers of the Company will resign from the Company and become employees and officers of SpinCo as outlined in the table below: David P. Johnson expected to Chief Financial Officer from Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer; Samuel R. Eathington, Ph.D. as Chief Technology Officer from Executive Vice President, Chief Technology and Digital Officer; Judd M. O?Connor as Chief Commercial and Operations Officer from Executive Vice President, Seed Business Unit. On April 10, 2026, the Company?s board of directors appointed Luther (?Luke?) Kissam, age 61, the Chief Executive Officer of New Corteva effective at the spin-off.

Prior to the spin-off, Mr. Kissam will join the Company June 1, 2026 as Chief Executive Officer of the Crop Protection Business Unit. Mr. Kissam most recently served as a Partner of Bernhard Capital Partners Management, LP, from January 2021 to September 2023 and Senior Advisor from September 2023 to July 2025. He previously served as President and CEO of Albemarle Corporation, a global specialty chemicals company with leading positions in lithium, bromine and refining catalysts, from September 2011 until his retirement in June 2020.

He was also elected to its board of directors in 2011 and served as Chairman of its board from 2016 to June 2020, remaining a board member until May 2021. Mr. Kissam joined Albemarle in 2003 as Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary and served as Senior Vice President, Manufacturing and Law, and Corporate Secretary from January 2008 until his promotion to President in March 2010. Prior to joining Albemarle, Mr. Kissam served as President, General Counsel and Secretary of Merisant company, a manufacturer of artificial sweeteners.

Mr. Kissam has served as a director of OGE Energy Corp. since 2020 and Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. since 2024. Mr. Kissam joined the DuPont de Nemours, Inc. board of directors in June 2019, but will resign on or before June 1, 2026 as a condition of his employment with the Company.

Additionally, the Company effective with the spin-off will appoint Jeff Rudolph, age 43, Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Rudolph has served as the Company?s Senior Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer since June 2025, where he is responsible for leading enterprise strategy, mergers and acquisitions, economic and competitive intelligence, sustainability strategy and strategic enablement. Mr. Rudolph has served the Company and its heritage companies for 14 years, including most recently as Vice President, Finance for the Crop Protection business beginning in June 2022, where he supported the development and execution of the Crop Protection operations strategy to drive cost competitiveness and Corteva?s biologicals acquisitions.

Prior to that, Mr. Rudolph served as Vice President, Investor Relations from December 2021 through June 2022. The Company also appointed effective with the spin-off, Brook Cunningham, age 45, Chief Commercial Officer and Ralph Ford, age 47, Chief Integrated Operations Officer. Since June 2025, Ms. Cunningham has served as a Senior Vice President and President of Corteva Asia-Pacific, where she leads a commercial business spanning 17 countries.

Prior to that Ms. Cunningham served as the Company?s Senior Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer since joining the Company in December 2022, where she led enterprise strategy, mergers and acquisitions, economic and competitive intelligence, sustainability strategy and strategic enablement. Prior to joining the Company, Ms. Cunningham spent over 12 years at the investment banking division of Lazard, Inc., most recently as Managing Director and Head of Global Agribusiness and Nutrition from February 2017 to December 2022. Mr. Ford joined the Company in January 2023 as Vice President, Operations for Crop Protection and in April 2024 became Vice President, Integration Operations for Crop Protection.

Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Ford spent over 17 years at Celanese Corporation in various global manufacturing and operational leadership roles, including most recently roles in Germany as Senior Director, Operations for Mergers & Acquisitions from June 2022 to January 2023 and as Senior Operations Director from January 2022 through June 2022. As of April 10, 2026, Robert D. King, currently the Executive Vice President, Crop Protection Business Unit will transition to a strategic advisor role to Mr. Kissam effective July 1, 2026, to support a smooth management transition through the spin-off. To support this transition, Mr. King will continue with the Company through the 2026 year-end and will be eligible for a $1 million transition incentive bonus subject to the achievement of certain milestones established for this transition.

The company announced the executive leadership team that will lead ?New Corteva,? the publicly-traded, differentiated crop protection company resulting from the current company?s planned separation in the fourth quarter of 2026. This follows an earlier announcement naming Luke Kissam, former Albemarle Chairman, President and CEO, as the New Corteva CEO.

Luke will join the current company on June 1, 2026. The New Corteva executive leadership team will also assume their roles at separation, which is on track for the fourth quarter of 2026. As follows: Jeff Rudolph will be the company?s chief financial officer; Brook Cunningham will be chief commercial officer; Ralph Ford will be chief integrated operations officer; Reza Rasoulpour will be chief technology officer; Jim Alcombright will be chief digital and information officer; The roles of chief legal officer and chief people officer are open, with internal and external searches underway to fill them.

Robert King, current executive vice president of the Corteva Crop Protection business unit, will, effective July 1, 2026 become a strategic advisor to the incoming New Corteva CEO, ensuring a smooth transition through separation for the entire leadership team. Robert will remain on the current Corteva ELT until separation, and after separation, serve on the New Corteva ELT until the end of 2026, after which time he has elected to leave the company to pursue other leadership opportunities.