Authors

Jessica Koster
Jessica is currently the marketing manager for the BiOH® polyols business at Cargill. Unlike many of the super smart scientests on the BiOH team, she has no chemistry background aside from the basics required for high school and college graduation. (In fact, she had to google “polyol” to try to figure out what this business did when she applied for the job!) You can find her on twitter as @BiOH4alljk.

Jess has an MBA from the University of MN and an undergraduate degree from Iowa State University. Her work experience has been in the areas of supply chain, customer service, and marketing. She grew up in small town in Iowa called Guthrie Center. She lived on or spent time on farms up until college; the first business plans she developed were for borrowing money each year from the local bank to purchase and feed her livestock to show at the county fair. (However, she never thought about soybeans in those days as much as she does now!) She currently lives in Plymouth, MN with her husband and young son.

Jessica needs coffee every morning before her co-workers will speak to her. And she loves chocolate, bookclub, and vacations to warm places. You can reach Jessica or any of the authors through e-mail at bioh@cargill.com.

Robin Eichen Conn
Robin is regulatory affairs manager for three Cargill BioIndustrial businesses, including BiOH® polyols. She has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Harvard University and her Ph. D. from Princeton University. Her first job out of school was synthesizing the active ingredients in pharmaceuticals.

Robin found her way to Minnesota when her husband got a job there. After a stint in the food industry, she joined Cargill in 1992. She has worked for three Cargill start-up businesses focused on products that reduce environmental footprint. Robin has worked in R&D, quality and public relations/communications functions. She started doing regulatory work when her boss decided that regulatory sounded like chemistry – they do both end in ‘y’. She found she loves doing regulatory work; it allows her to combine technical and business skills and always to be learning something new.

Robin lives in Minneapolis with her husband where they bike in the summer and snowshoe in the winter. Robin is an expert on weights of long underwear as a function of temperature. She loves reading and cooking and manages stress with Yoga.