NatureWorks LLC announces management change

NatureWorks is the first company to offer a family of commercially available polymers derived from 100 percent annually renewable resources. McGrew replaces Kathleen Bader, president, CEO and chairman of the business unit from 2004 to 2006, who has announced her retirement as part of a planned management transition.

�Kathleen has done an outstanding job running this business including the realigning and refocusing of the NatureWorks organization,� commented Guillaume Bastiaens, Vice Chairman of Cargill. �We gave Kathleen the responsibility of moving the company -- technology, manufacturing and commercial -- in a new direction and she succeeded. We thank her for her energy and dedication to the people and the business.�

In 2004, Bader was brought in to move the company from a research-based organization to a commercial business. During her tenure the company has posted triple digit sales growth, highlighted with the announcement in October of 2005 that Wal-Mart will transition 114 million fresh produce grocery packages to NatureWorks� PLA in the coming year. Other major adoptions have included retailers such as Auchan in France, Del Haize in Belgium as well as water bottle launches in North America, Europe and a growing development of non-woven applications. Prior to serving as NatureWorks LLC CEO Bader was business group president for The Dow Chemical Company�s global $4 billion Styrenics and Engineered Products.