Chemistry and music fuel Cargill’s top ag, food innovator

As a young man, Florian Schattenmann faced a life-altering decision: Follow his famous mother, classical pianist Hedwig Bilgram, into music or go all-in on a science career.

“I felt like I can do the science professionally and the music as a hobby, not vice versa,” said Schattenmann, who is now the chief technical officer at Cargill. “You know, chemistry as a hobby is probably illegal, right?”

His decision has struck a chord with Minnetonka-based Cargill, where Schattenmann has been head of research and development since 2018. The Minnesotan by way of Munich has ignited innovation at the 160-year-old agribusiness.

“We hadn’t been an innovation company over our history. We’re about risk management,” said Steve Marshall, a 30-year Cargill veteran and company vice president. “So changing the culture, that’s part of why he came. It’s just a different place today.”

It’s no small feat to alter the trajectory of the country’s largest privately held company. Schattenmann leads more than 2,000 technical professionals looking for breakthroughs in what people eat, how farmers grow food, how manufacturers make it and how crops can replace fossil fuels in everyday products.

Solving these global problems is ultimately a business proposition and a necessary one. Cargill’s annual revenue has slid from recent records, and the company is still emerging from a restructuring while facing low commodity prices.

“This company, with its scale, with its global footprint, with its capabilities, is actually primed to be a leader in organic growth via innovation,” Schattenmann said, referring to growth without the aid of acquisitions. “We have to make sure we implement that organic-growth-via-innovation muscle in the company, so it will last for decades to come.”

“He has a huge amount of energy,” said Yuchu Zhang, vice president of food R&D and innovation for Asia-Pacific. “He’s always there, present, charming, part of it and then on to the next thing.”

Schattenmann, 60, said his leadership and any impact he has comes down to that old truism: “You’re only as good as your team.”

“That’s the number one thing I think about every morning: I don’t actually get anything done,” he said. “It’s a very sobering truth. It’s the teams that get it done.”

Zhang checked his modesty.

“In our first meetings with customers, they’ll say, ‘I love you,’ ” she said. “His energy is contagious.”

“All of a sudden, I switched from ‘Chemistry is my worst class’ to ‘Actually, I would like to do this,’ ” he said.

Schattenmann completed his graduate chemistry degree at the Technical Institute of Munich, then earned his Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he met his wife.

Schattenmann briefly worked for Colgate-Palmolive before joining General Electric at the tail end of storied CEO Jack Welch’s tenure.

By 2001, he’d moved from R&D lab work to managing those labs, benefiting from GE’s knack for training future leaders.

“I enjoyed the lab. There is sort of this high when you discover a new compound or a new technology,” Schattenmann said. “At GE, one thing they did really well is identifying people that had people-leader potential — and I didn’t see this in the moment — and putting them on specific projects."

Following stops at a GE joint venture in Germany and a small oil company, Schattenmann landed at Dow, the global chemical company based in Michigan. There, he oversaw a variety of R&D teams as a director and vice president.

Then came Cargill, a commodity trader, major meat company and ingredient supplier with operations around the world.

Not the typical career path for a chemist, Schattenmann admitted.

“I grew up in 1970s Germany, right? You join a company in chemistry, typically a company on the Rhine River. You stay with this company, you retire, and you die,” he said. “Still, it’s been super fun. I fell in love with Cargill.”

He does still play the bass every day, having switched from the classical upright to electric. He now has 10 bass guitars, including a few classic Fenders, to choose from in his basement in Golden Valley.

“The nice thing about being a bass player,” as opposed to one of many guitar players, he said, “is you’re always in demand.”

A testament to Schattenmann’s high-energy reputation, or possibly the cause of it, the exercise buff makes sure to log 200 workouts a year. He averages four a week and tallies them all in the notes app on his phone.

“Indefatigable is a good term for him,” said Peter Dorhout, professor of chemistry and vice president of research at Iowa State University.

Dorhout knows Schattenmann from Cargill’s partnership with Iowa State and their membership in the American Chemical Society, which recently named Schattenmann a fellow. It’s a nod given to a handful of notable scientists every year.

“Particularly at a time when many folks in the general public question the value of science, Florian is exactly the kind of dynamic person and very thoughtful leader whose impact on a company ultimately demonstrates how those early-stage investments can ultimately yield incredible gifts to society,” said Dorhout, who is also one of the group’s fellows.

“Where we sit in the supply chain is very similar to the chemical industry,” he said of Cargill’s position right in the middle.

He’s not the one in the labs fermenting corn sugars into new molecules or formulating new stevia-sweetened beverages. But he’s around if you need him.

“That ability to reach him, that anybody can reach him, it’s unique in the fact he seeks it and wants that,” said Marshall, Cargill’s vice president of global engineering, manufacturing innovation and data science. “He wants to engage with young leaders, young scientists. That focus on talent he has is huge.”

Schattenman said innovation “is really the ultimate team sport.”

“So taking recruiting personally, making sure that you lift your people up, and they reach their potential,” he said. “That’s really what this is all about.”