MEET THE TEAM
DARRIN BOSTER
PRESIDENT
Darrin was born raised in Kansas, his father being a COOP employee for 39 years before his passing. After college, Darrin spent 10 years with a grain handling company, Tramco Inc., where he advanced to the role of Controller, before moving to Koch Hydrocarbon in 1997. Within that division of Koch, Darrin advanced to Director of Midwest Fractionation Services, covering 350,000 barrels per day of fractionation capacity and 5,000 miles of pipeline and 200,000 barrels of underground salt cavern storage in Oklahoma/Kansas and Texas. He then transitioned to a fertilizer trading role in Koch Fertilizer, covering urea off-take produced in Venezuela and supplying import UAN to several E Coast terminals, as well as barge trading on the river system.
In 2006, Darrin started his own consulting business in the natural gas liquids industry, called Sandstone Energy, LLC, which he ran/grew for 6 years, until returning to Koch in 2012 and leading a sales team of all macro fertilizers in the Western Corn Belt (Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, and Wisconsin). In July 2021, Darrin started the Elevar Agri-Solutions business with a goal of putting his experience to work in improving retailer procurement options and global market knowledge as well as aiding in retailer desires to share market information with their member owners.
STEVE PACKEBUSH
PARTNER
Prior to starting Elevar Partners, Steve worked at Koch Industries, Inc. for over 30 years. Until his retirement, he was the commercial leader and president of Koch Ag & Energy Solutions since 1998. Under Steve’s leadership, Koch Ag & Energy Solutions grew from a break-even business to a large income generating business for Koch Industries. This growth was achieved by significantly expanding Koch’s global fertilizer manufacturing and distribution businesses and establishing new businesses in enhanced-efficiency fertilizers and North American natural gas marketing and distribution.
Prior to his time in Koch Ag & Energy Solutions, Steve served in business development, marketing, sales and trading roles with Koch Minerals Services, Koch Agriculture Company, and Koch International Company. He currently serves on the LSB Industries, Inc. and PHX Minerals, Inc. Board of Directors, the Kansas State University Dean’s Agriculture Advisory Board, and the Wichita Metropolitan YMCA and YMCA360 Board of Directors. Previously he served on the board of directors of Monolith Materials Inc., EuroChem Group AG, Caribbean Nitrogen, Nitrogen 2000, KOCHPAC, and The Fertilizer Institute. He has also served on The Fertilizer Institute’s executive committee, Koch Industries’ Compliance and Ethics Executive Committees, the Wichita State University Board of Trustees, and The Fundamental Learning Center Board of Directors. He is a 1987 graduate of Kansas State University with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics.
COURTNEY SCHROTBERGER
PROCUREMENT DIRECTOR
Courtney has been a lifelong resident of Nebraska. His career began at Hi-Line Cooperative in Elsie NE, with direct sales to growers, after graduating from the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture, with a degree in Crop Production.
Courtney’s roles and responsibilities at Hi-Line increased from Market Manager to Agronomy Manager to CEO, where he was responsible for all aspects of crop nutrient, energy/fuel and protection procurement, establishment of sales programs and setting the vision with the Board. Under his leadership, Coop member equity grew from $27M to $42.6M, including two record earnings year in a row in years ended 2021 and 2022. He began at Elevar Agri-Solutions in December of 2022.
NANCY FRIEND
PROCUREMENT ASSISTANT
Nancy came to Elevar in September 2022 with over 20 years at Koch Industries, beginning in the Sales and Use tax group, then as an Executive Admin. Assistant to several Koch managers and ending the last 14 years in the truck logistics group for Koch Fertilizer as a Customer Service Rep. managing customer contracts, working on process improvements for managing freight lanes and customer delivery expectations.
Nancy has also shown an entrepreneurial streak, raising chickens for Tyson Foods in Sedalia, Missouri. Prior to that, Nancy spent 15 years at a local bank, beginning her banking career as a teller and leaving as Executive Admin. Assistant to the President and CEO as well as managing personal and commercial loan processing.
