Nick grew up on a small, family grain farm in north-central Illinois, which his father retired from after the 2017 harvest. The main commodities were corn and soybeans. He attended Michigan State University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 2000 and a Master of Science in 2002, both in Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering. His main area of study was grain quality, handling, storage, and drying. The focus of his Master’s Degree was the development of an equation to model ear corn drying.

Nick joined Cargill in 2002 and has held several roles within the Operations and Food Safety, Quality, & Regulatory teams focusing on grain quality, inventory control, food safety, and regulatory affairs, including working at facilities involved in both domestic and export grain operations. During his time with Cargill, he has worked in Topeka, KS, New Orleans, LA, and Minneapolis, MN. His current role, Director, Raw Material Quality & Regulatory, was created when Cargill reorganized in December of 2024, and the Corporate Food Safety, Quality, and Regulatory Affairs function reorganized to be better aligned with the businesses it supports.

The key responsibilities of his position are to provide technical and regulatory assistance to Operations and Merchandizing personnel in the areas of Grain Standards, biotechnology, phytosanitary issues, and pesticide/contaminant residues. He also works with the US Government (USDA FGIS & APHIS, and FDA) on these issues, which has included serving 3 terms on the Federal Grain Inspection Service Grain Inspection Advisory Committee, serving from April 2007 to March 2010, October 2015 to September 2018, and November 2020 to October 2023. Additionally, he is the chairman for the National Grain & Feed
Association (NGFA) Grain Grades and Weights Committee, and the North America Export Grain Association (NAEGA) Grades and Inspections Committee.