Mr. Pierre C. Courduroux has been the Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Monsanto Company since January 1, 2011. Mr. Courduroux served as the Chief Financial Officer of Seminis, Inc. since joining in 2007. Mr. Courduroux served as Finance Director for Monsanto's Europe & Africa region. He joined Monsanto in 1990 and has served in a variety of finance positions in both the US and international Markets. For more than 20 years, he has been a valuable asset to Monsanto finance organization. During his career, he has served in a variety of leadership positions throughout Monsanto's finance organization and across its global operating businesses. He assumed responsibility for the global finance organization across monsanto's crop protection and seeds-and-traits divisions. In this role, he also was responsible for establishing processes in conjunction with the controller's function, treasury, tax, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, risk management and investment decisions for the world's leading agriculture business. He served as the Chief Financial Officer for Monsanto's global vegetable business, where he was instrumental in the acquisition of the De Ruiter Seeds business. He also has served in senior finance positions within the areas of corporate strategy, corporate planning, controllership, as well as business operations in Europe and Africa. He holds a business degree with a major in finance from the Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Lyon, which is located in Lyon, France. He also holds an Executive Masters of Business Administration from Washington University in St. Louis.