Inver Grove Heights-based CHS, Inc., announced Monday that Carl Casale will take the reins as president and CEO on January 1.

Casale, 49, will succeed John Johnson-who announced in June his plans to retire at the end of this year.

Johnson has led CHS since June 2000. He was president and CEO of Harvest States Cooperatives from 1995 until June 1998, when it merged with Cenex, Inc., to form CHS.

Casale most recently served as executive vice president and chief financial officer (CFO) for St. Louis-based Monsanto Company, where he oversaw the company's finance, strategy, and information technology resources. Before he became CFO in 2009, he held roles as executive vice president of the company's strategy and operations, and he also served as executive vice president of commercial operations in North America.

“The CHS board believes that in Carl Casale we've found an individual whose impressive depth of domestic and global agribusiness knowledge, strategic ability, financial acumen, and leadership experience will carry CHS forward,” Chairman Michael Toelle said in a statement.

CHS said that Casale was selected by its board following an “extensive search” that included candidates from both inside and outside of the company.

CHS is owned by farmers, ranchers, and cooperatives from across the United States, as well as thousands of preferred stockholders. It supplies energy, crop nutrients, grain, livestock feed, food, and food ingredients and provides business solutions including insurance, financial, and risk-management services.

“I feel privileged and excited to be part of a company owned by farmers and ranchers and to help CHS embrace new opportunities to add value for producers in a dynamic global marketplace,” Casale said in a news release.

CHS is among Minnesota's largest companies based on its revenue, which totaled $25.3 billion for the fiscal year that ended in August.