Welcome to the Arena from ICR – Conversations with Today's Innovators & Business Leaders

A growing number of food companies are investing in sustainable product development, but only a handful are really getting it right. Joining me to talk about doing sustainability successfully is Joe Ennen. Joe is CEO and a director at SunOpta, which trades under the symbol S T K L. The company sources, processes, and produces organic, natural, and non-GMO plant and fruit-based food and beverage products. SunOpta sells to retail customers, food service distributors, branded food companies, and food manufacturers. They have 14 processing facilities, mainly in North America.

Joe has over three decades of experience as a food industry leader. Prior to his current role, he was Group Vice President of Innovation at PepsiCo, and served as CEO at Columbus Foods, and CEO of Columbus Manufacturing. Joe has an undergraduate degree in Finance and Marketing from University of Minnesota, and an MBA from University of Michigan.

We talked about Sun Opta's investments in capacity, innovation, and the five factors that have fueled the huge growth of plant-based milk products.

Show Notes

Summary

A growing number of food companies are investing in sustainable product development, but only a handful are really getting it right. Joining me to talk about doing sustainability successfully is Joe Ennen. Joe is CEO and a director at SunOpta, which trades under the symbol S T K L. The company sources, processes, and produces organic, natural, and non-GMO plant and fruit-based food and beverage products. SunOpta sells to retail customers, food service distributors, branded food companies, and food manufacturers. They have 14 processing facilities, mainly in North America. 

Joe has over three decades of experience as a food industry leader. Prior to his current role, he was Group Vice President of Innovation at PepsiCo, and served as CEO at Columbus Foods, and CEO of Columbus Manufacturing. Joe has an undergraduate degree in Finance and Marketing from University of Minnesota, and an MBA from University of Michigan.

We talked about Sun Opta's investments in capacity, innovation, and the five factors that have fuelled the huge growth of plant-based milk products.

Highlights:
  • Joe explains SunOpta as a business (2:57)
  • The changes at SunOpta since Joe's arrival (4:21)
  • SunOpta's five strategic imperatives (5:50)
  • The company's ESG focus (8:45)
  • Joe discusses what he sees for this market in the next few years (10:20)
  • How SunOpta assures customer retention (13:06)
  • Managing a diverse customer base (15:22)
  • Joe talks about their impressive 2nd quarter results (16:31)
  • Navigating through difficult times (18:11)
  • How SunOpta moves with the consumer (19:40)
  • What investors might not understand about Sun Opta (20:52)
  • SunOpta's capacity-building achievements (22:45)
Links:

ICR Twitter
ICR LinkedIn
ICR Website
Joe Ennen LinkedIn
Joe Ennen SunOpta
SunOpta LinkedIn
SunOpta Website
SunOpta Twitter

Feedback:

If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, elizabeth@lowerstreet.co.

What is Welcome to the Arena from ICR – Conversations with Today's Innovators & Business Leaders?

In the increasingly crowded and competitive corporate and financial ecosystem, it’s harder than ever for companies to break through the clutter and be heard. The media, investors, agenda-driven influencers, even customers and competitors, are defining your business story on their terms. Therefore, it is imperative that companies take control and proactively drive the conversation with stakeholders in an effort to build & maintain equity value.

In Welcome to the Arena from ICR, Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of ICR, Tom Ryan, interviews key business and financial players who influence the fate of public or aspiring public companies in the capital markets. As a former Wall Street Journal ranked sell-side equity analyst and the founder of one of the largest strategic communications firms in the world, Tom understands what it takes to navigate this complex environment.

This is a forum for CEOs, CFOs, institutional investors, sell-side analysts, financial journalists, private equity professionals and other financial community participants to share their stories and give advice in an open and candid conversation.

For more information, visit http://www.icrinc.com