Patricia A. Woertz

Patricia A. Woertzis an American businesswoman who served as president and CEO of the agricultural processing corporation Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) from 2006 to 2014.

After studying accounting at Pennsylvania State University (B.S., 1974), Woertz joined the accounting firm Ernst & Young in Pittsburgh as a certified public accountant. She moved to Gulf Oil Corporation’s Pittsburgh office in 1977, expanding her purview to such areas as strategic planning, marketing, and the refinery business. Charged with handling asset divestitures as part of Gulf’s 1984 merger with Chevron Corporation, she next led Chevron’s upstream audit group in Houston. By 1991 Woertz headed Chevron’s strategic planning, and she soon advanced into other key positions, including president of Chevron International Oil Co. (1996–98) and of Chevron Products Co. (1998–2001). As the executive vice president of downstream operations (2001–06) for ChevronTexaco (the two petroleum firms merged in 2001), Woertz managed 30,000 employees around the world and handled all operations downstream of oil productions, from refineries to service stations.

ADM’s selection of Woertz to run the company signaled the firm’s commitment to a nonfood branch of business: biofuels. By 2006 ADM already had claimed nearly 30 percent of the American market in corn-derived ethanol (a market projected to double by 2012), and Woertz’s extensive oil-industry experience was expected to secure ADM’s position as a top global producer of crop-based fuels, even as the company dominated markets for soy, wheat, corn, and other food products. While ADM did invest heavily in ethanol, it also continued to diversify under Woertz. Notably, in 2014 it purchased Wild Flavors, a natural-ingredient company, for $3 billion. That year she stepped down as president and CEO. However, she continued to serve as chairman of the board—a post she had assumed in 2007—until retiring in late 2015.