AT CLOSING PEOPLE.

The board of directors of American Home Products Corp., Madison, N.J., has elected Robert A. Essner as the next CEO of the company, effective May 1, 2001. Essner will continue as president and as a member of the board. He is currently president and COO of the company, responsible for the company's three divisions, Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals, Whitehall-Robins Healthcare and Fort Dodge Animal Health. He replaces Jack Stafford, who has served as chairman and CEO of AHP since 1986. Stafford will remain chairman of the board.

The J.C. Robinson Seed Co., Waterloo, Neb., hires Diane Mesa as quality director, a new position in the company. Mesa's duties include leading a quality management team with members from departments across the company. Her experience includes 23 years in the seed industry with positions that have ranged from corn breeding research to quality management.

Loren Poncia has joined the Arm & Hammer Animal Nutrition Group, Princeton, N.J., as an area sales manager in California and Arizona. Poncia was previously with Monsanto Co. as an area market manager for Texas, Florida, Georgia and California.

Allflex USA, Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport, Texas, hires Scott Holt as Northwest regional manager. Holt previously was communications and marketing director for McCune Enterprises in Manhattan, Kan.

U.S. Borax, Valencia, Calif., has realigned its regional sales force serving the United States and Canada. The agricultural marketing team includes Eldon Allen, southeast regional manager; Todd Cardwell, north central regional manager; Dan Gladden, mid-south regional manager; Larry Jayroe, Canadian regional manager; Phil Petersen, western regional manager; and Mike Sevey, northeast regional manager. In addition, Jayroe will serve as North American commercial manager and Sevey will serve as North American market development manager.

Urbana Laboratories, St. Joseph, Mo., hires Dan Propst as district sales manager for the Dakotas, Minnesota, Nebraska and eastern Colorado. Propst was in agricultural sales with Novartis Crop Protection for 17 years.

Kubota Tractor Corp., Torrance, Calif., hires Greg Embury as vice president, sales and marketing. Embury most recently was director, region sales, Western Region, for Case Corp.

Sparks Companies, Inc., Memphis, hires a transportation analyst and a consultant. Ken Eriksen will be senior transportation analyst. He previously worked as an agricultural statistician for USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. Jason Lawton joins the company as a consultant, with his primary responsibilities including research and analyses for domestic and international consulting clients. He comes to Sparks from Marshall & Isley Corp. as a senior agricultural credit analyst.

MBTI International Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary AgriMall.com have announced a series of executive management and board-level changes within the company. Elida Detfurth takes over as president and CEO of the company in charge of AgriMall.com's growth strategy and its day-to-day operations. Former director and CEO Andrew McKinnon has resigned all director, officer and other positions related to AgriMall.com. Detfurth previously was CFO for AgriMall.com.