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AARON HAMER, 35 President, Chief Executive Highline Mushrooms
HQ: Leamington, ON, Canada
Hometown: Northbrook, IL
Hobbies: Cooking, travel, horse racing. Family/Personal/Community: Married, two sons and a third child on the way Motto in life: The best team wins.
Work history: Hamer began his career in mergers and acquisitions as an investment banker for National City Bank, where he provided strategic advice and transactional support to entrepreneurs and private equi- ty-owned businesses. In 2009, he joined one of his clients, Enginetics Aerospace, as its chief financial officer and helped position the business as the leading sheet metal fabricator of highly complex jet engine parts and took the company through one acquisition of a competitor and two sales. His past experience set him up to join High- line Mushrooms as its chief financial officer in 2014, during the company’s transition from family ownership to private equity ownership. During this period, he worked closely with Highline’s chief executive and senior management team to position the company to best take advantage of the many opportunities in the North American mushroom industry. When Highline was acquired by Fyffes in 2016, he succeeded his mentor as president and chief executive. The company has grown considerably since then, with farm expansions and acquisi- tions. Highline is now the only national mushroom grower in Canada and one of the three largest in North America. It continues to lead in its commitment to natural and organic products and is the world’s largest organic mushroom company. Highline has continued to innovate with award-winning products such as sliced exotic blends and new packaging options such as re-sealable top seal — being the first in the world to make that technology available.
Q: How did you begin working in the produce industry?
Funny story. I was recruited out of the manufacturing sector in Ohio and the initial call was for a job in a “Midwestern manufacturing business.”That Midwestern- manufacturing business ended up being a Canadian mushroom farm, but in the end, I fell in love with the company, the people and the opportunity for the business.
Q: What do you know now that you wish you knew when you first started your career?
Everything is a people business. Everything you learn in school is trumped by learning how to motivate, coexist, empower, chal- lenge, engage and learn from people.
Q: What aspect of the business chal- lenged you the most early on?
The perishability of produce, and especially mushrooms, is a challenge I had never dealt with and is quite unique to our industry. Managing supply and demand in such a dynamic industry is a real challenge, but getting it right can lead to a huge prize.
Q: What industry improvements would you like to see?
What the industry has done with its women’s programs has been phenomenal. There is a next phase to empower more minority involvement on both the buy and sell side.
Q: What do you think the industry can do to promote more produce consumption?
Compared to grocery and center store, we are quite under-marketed in general. There are some amazing success stories that I look to, from companies such as Driscolls, POM and Little Potato Company on adding real value to their categories while under- standing consumer trends and desires.
Q: What was the “aha” moment when you knew the produce industry was the best choice for you?
When I first heard the stat that we need to double the amount of crops grown by 2050, wow. That’s both daunting and an amazing opportunity. As an industry, the amount of disruption, technological changes and inno- vation required to get to that point is going to be awesome. I can’t wait to look back in 2050 and realize the incredible journey that got us there.
NICK HANSEN, 30 Senior Manager, Carrier Development/Produce Sysco Corp
HQ: Houston
Hometown: Grand Rapids, MI
Hobbies: Football, basketball, baseball, hanging out with family and friends, traveling.
Personal/Community: Married, one son Motto in life: Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.
Work history: Hansen started his career within logistics/transportation at TMC, a division of C.H. Robinson. Initially, he was brought into focus on operational tasks such as booking trucks and routing orders. As he grew in knowledge, he was offered opportunities to manage projects for the customer and to oversee the entire consol- idation program that focused on building efficient multi-stop trucks, which resulted in significant savings. One of his single biggest achievements was leading the implementa- tion of a dock and yard management system for a customer. In addition, he was selected to the emerging leaders program at TMC. He then transitioned into a position at Gordon Food Service (GFS) in Grand Rapids, MI, where he focused on carrier development management. He managed and led the negotiations of all inbound freight lanes for all distribution centers in the United States. His most significant accomplishment at GFS was leading the company’s first-ever national RFP, where they took every lane out to bid. The bid resulted in a significant savings for the organization (more than $8 million). While at GFS, he went back to school for a Master’s in Supply Chain Management at Michigan State University. Following his graduation, he left his position at GFS for his current position at Sysco and moved to Salinas, CA. He and his co-workers have been able to work with the merchan- dising team, produce suppliers, carriers and operating companies to drive down the
number of picks for carrier partners while improving load fill and driving out unnec- essary expenses.
Q: What industry improvements would you like to see?
Increased collaboration among all involved. It is incredible what we can achieve when we work together. All of the suppliers and carrier partners I have worked with have been great at discussing and trying a number of different things to make things better. I also think we need to make sweeping changes to our loading processes and increased drop trailers to help improve warehouse and carrier flexibility.
Q: What advice would you give someone new to the produce industry? Don’t be afraid to ask questions or challenge the status quo. Just because things have been done a certain way doesn’t mean we can’t strive to make further improvements.
Q: What do you see as the most critical “hot button” issue facing the industry in the next decade?
I would say that labor will remain a “hot button” issue within the produce industry. There is an incredible amount of work that goes into getting product to consumers and amazing people who do this, but it is very difficult work. It’s going to remain important to attract talent at every level.
Q: What accomplishment are you most proud of in your career?
I am most proud of the completion of my Master’s degree. I am the first person from my family to obtain a college degree, so a Master’s was beyond my dreams. I never thought I would go back but found I had a passion for supply chain and wanted to grow my knowledge. The hours that I put into my education while working full- time and growing our family allowed me to realize there are no limits. None of this would have been possible without the support of my wife, Vicki.
Q: What has shocked or surprised you about the produce industry?
The passion. I have never been surrounded by so many people who have such a passion for what they do. Everyone brings such energy into this industry, and that is very infectious.
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