Dietz Lankhorst

President & CEO / Krone NA Inc.

Dietz Lankhorst currently serves as President and CEO of Krone North America (Krone NA), headquartered in Olive Branch, Mississippi. Krone NA has been providing customers with premium-quality hay and forage equipment since 1973. The parent company, Maschinenfabrik Bernard Krone GmbH & Co. KG (MBK), is a century-old, family-owned and operated business located in Spelle, Germany. 

Lankhorst has over 15 years of experience in the outdoor power equipment industry, both in the United States and Europe, and has worked in engineering, product management, and operations overseeing central purchasing and the relocation and start-up of manufacturing facilities. He began his business career as a Financial Analyst with Ford AG in Cologne, Germany in 2002. 

Lankhorst earned Master’s degrees in both Mechanical Engineering from Cologne University of Applied Science and Finance from Niederrhein University of Applied Science, Mönchengladbach Campus. He was the 5th generation of a family-owned agricultural equipment dealership in Germany. Lankhorst is at home in the world of agriculture, where, even as a young mechanic in the family business, he enjoyed working on the agriculture equipment.