Tim Boeker
Tim Boeker serves as Head of Corporate Real Estate for the North America region and a member of the US CFO Leadership Team. Based in St. Louis, he leads a team responsible for real estate for more than 300 sites across North America, including facility management for the Bayer US Platform Offices in St. Louis and New Jersey.
Tim has been with Bayer 25 years starting as an intern at the Luling Crop Science site and following college in seed product supply operations. He has held multiple financial roles including investor relations, financial planning, cost accounting and audit. He also worked in the US Crop Science business supporting portfolio management, pricing, business steering, and marketing programs.
Tim holds a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics from the University of Illinois and an MBA in Finance from Washington University in St. Louis. He and his wife, Laura, have three teenage children and enjoy outdoor sporting events and adventures including skiing and hiking. Tim & Laura were born and raised in the greater St. Louis area, are active in the community and proud to call it home.
This is Tim’s first year as co-chair of the annual United Way campaign, but he has been an active participant in the campaign and events for many years. He has also served in leadership roles for Bayer’s ENABLE business resource group and has been a big advocate for Bayer’s efforts to support people with diverse abilities. Tim is excited and proud to be a part of the United Way campaign, which plays a critical role in our St Louis community.
Jim Guard
Jim Guard is Vice President of Global Lawn & Garden for Bayer Crop Science. Based in St. Louis, he leads a team responsible for the commercial execution of the Lawn & Garden and IT&O professional businesses including business strategy, new product development, marketing, and customer relationships. Jim is a member of the North America Leadership Team.
Prior to this role, Jim served as the North America Lead, Lawn & Garden responsible for managing the relationship with Scotts-Miracle Gro and other business partners. Prior to joining Bayer in 2009, Jim held a number of positions in brand management and business development within the consumer products industry.
Jim holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Missouri – St. Louis and a Master of Business Administration from Saint Louis University. He and his wife, Melanie, have three grown children and enjoy traveling and quality time with family.
This is Jim’s second year as co-chair of the annual United Way campaign. He has also served in past United Way campaigns as a Champion and a Captain. Jim looks forward to a strong campaign this year as we help to meet the needs of our St. Louis community.
Elzandi Oosthuizen
Elzandi Oosthuizen is part of the global strategy leadership team at Bayer’s Crop Science division where she leads the enterprise corn product team.
She has held various global and regional leadership roles across the company’s Seed & Traits, Crop Protection and Vegetable operations and lived and worked in several countries. Prior to her current role, she was part of the R&D leadership team leading the crop technology team focusing on corn, soy and cotton crops.
Before working in the corporate setting, she taught post graduate mathematics, and high school science and math for six years. She regularly advocates for S.T.E.M. education and is passionate about inspiring and developing people. Elzandi is passionate about promoting diversity and inclusion, as well as helping empower women. She demonstrates this passion through her involvement in several initiatives over the past decade. She was a recipient of the 2024 Women in Agribusiness Demeter Award of Excellence, she was also an advisory board member for the 2019 Women in Food and Agriculture event and was named an Eisenhower Fellow for the Zhi-Xing 2017 program.
Elzandi holds a Bachelor of Science in Natural Science and Mathematics and a Bachelor of Science Honors in Genetics from the University of Pretoria. She also holds a Master of Science in Agricultural and Horticultural Plant Breeding from University of the Free State and an MBA from North-West University in South Africa.
Dr. Jeremy Williams
Jeremy Williams serves as Head of Climate LLC, Digital Farming Solutions and Commercial Ecosystems for the Crop Science division of Bayer, where he leads a diverse team that develops digital tools to help unlock the next wave of Ag innovations. Based in Creve Coeur (St. Louis, Mo.), Jeremy is also a member of the Crop Science Executive Leadership team.
Previously, Jeremy served as a member of the Research & Development Leadership Team as SVP, Head of Plant Biotechnology for the Crop Science division of Bayer. In that role, he led a global team to enable a robust plant biotechnology pipeline developing highly effective solutions to strengthen a plant’s resistance to insects, diseases and other environmental stresses.
Jeremy has 20 years of diverse biotechnology and agrochemical R&D experience. He came to Bayer Crop Science in 2018, having served in several R&D leadership roles at Monsanto including as head of chemistry R&D. He began his career as one of the founding scientists at Divergence Inc, a St. Louis-based startup, where he held a variety of scientific research and leadership roles, including Vice President of Discovery Research, prior to the company’s acquisition by Monsanto in 2011. He is a co-inventor of several patents held by Divergence and its collaborators and was named a Senior Monsanto Fellow in 2016. Jeremy is passionate about Inclusion and Diversity, and previously served as the President of the African Americans in Monsanto business resource network, as a sponsor for the WiSE Guys ally network and as a member of the GROW Cabinet.
Jeremy graduated from Washington University with a Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics and from Swarthmore College with a Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry and French.
Division Leads
| Function | Executive Sponsor | 2024 Champion |
|---|---|---|
| DFS | Jeremy Williams | Brandon Rinkenberger, Sara Shepherd |
| Commercial | Brian Naber | Mandy Burke |
| Country Platform | Guru Ramamurthy | Rocio Romero |
| CSPM | Frank Terhorst | Elizabeth Henggeler |
| Digital Transformation & IT | Amanda McClerren | Susan Curvey |
| Finance | Guru Ramamurthy | Rocio Romero |
| Health Safety | Enrique Wehlen | Kayla Darron |
| Human Resources | Marina Hong | Courtney Mclaughlin |
| Legal | Stacy Stater | Robyn Buck |
| Product Supply | Sacha Israel | Lisa Flagg, Jean Goley |
| Research & Development | Bob Reiter | Jonathan Phillips |
| Vegetable Seeds | Inci Dannenberg | Kelli Brown |
