{"id":3063,"date":"2021-11-12T12:21:43","date_gmt":"2021-11-12T18:21:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/magazine\/?p=3063"},"modified":"2021-11-12T12:21:51","modified_gmt":"2021-11-12T18:21:51","slug":"profile-mark-jansen-90-is-leading-the-worlds-largest-almond-producing-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/magazine\/2021\/11\/12\/profile-mark-jansen-90-is-leading-the-worlds-largest-almond-producing-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Profile: Mark Jansen \u201990 is leading the world\u2019s largest almond producing company."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mark Jansen ’90, photographed at North Fork American River near Loomis, California, by Frederic Neema \/ Polaris<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mark Jansen spent part of a 2010 family vacation in Mexico pondering what might be next for him, career-wise. At the time, he was president of global foodservice for the Schwan Food Company in Marshall, Minnesota.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re busy working, sometimes you need a break to pull your head above the clouds and think,\u201d he says. He filled five pages of paper with detailed descriptions of an imagined, ideal next step \u2014 the type of company, his role in it, its culture and location, that sort of thing.<\/p>\n

Like any good businessman on vacation, he called in to check his messages, listening to a headhunter asking him to interview for the chief executive officer position of Blue Diamond Growers, a California-based almond growing cooperative that is the world\u2019s largest tree nut processing and marketing company.<\/p>\n

The offer checked all of the boxes on Jansen\u2019s list, so he and his family soon relocated to Sacramento, California, where he began his tenure as Blue Diamond\u2019s president and CEO.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sounds really New Agey, but it was almost as though I was called to the job,\u201d says Jansen, who is no stranger to the branded retail and foodservice business. \u201cAfter years of working on pizza, pies, and ice cream, I was compelled to encourage people to consume a more healthful product.\u201d<\/p>\n

With its line of products including many varieties of snack almonds, Nut Thins gluten-free crackers, and almond milk, flour, and protein powder, Blue Diamond is an industry-leading $1.6 billion global branded food manufacturer, cooperating with more than 3,000 small, multigenerational farm families and employing 1,800 workers in its processing facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs CEO, I have a servant-leadership mindset, to step in where help is needed, to figure out how to create additional opportunities, solve problems, and bring people together to work more effectively,\u201d Jansen says. \u201cSo much of being a CEO is about communicating the vision of what we\u2019re trying to accomplish.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he\u2019s cognizant that sales and profitability are the key metrics of success at any business, Jansen notes that those aren\u2019t the measure of his own achievements. \u201cI like to think about the enduring changes we\u2019ve made to ensure the vitality of the business,\u201d he says. \u201cWhether it\u2019s the products we\u2019ve launched or the farmers we\u2019ve kept going or the diversity we\u2019ve brought to our leadership, those are the things that matter and that will have a strong ripple effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

The beauty of St. Olaf\u2019s diversity of classes is that they create varied pathways for learning. Across the spectrum, I learned how to adapt and how to work well with other people, all while developing strong communication, writing, and analytical skills.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In April 2021, the Sacramento Business Journal<\/em> named Jansen one of the region\u2019s Most Admired CEOs. His executive commitments have included leadership roles with the California Chamber of Commerce, including chairing its Executive Committee, International Forum, and Audit Committee. He is on the Board of Trustees for the International Nut and Dried Fruit Council, chairs the Graduate Institute of Cooperative Leadership, and serves on the Almond Board of California. Jansen also serves on the Advisory Council for the Presiding Bishop of ELCA, and is on the board of Gemini, a signage company based in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, that is owned by his college roommate Frederick Oss \u201990.<\/p>\n

Prior to Blue Diamond, Jansen\u2019s career included nearly 10 years at Schwan\u2019s and marketing stints with Pillsbury, Edison Brothers Stores, and General Mills. He has led brand growth for Haagen-Dazs, Betty Crocker, Totino\u2019s, Red Baron, Freschetta, and Wolfgang Puck, among others. He earned an economics degree at St. Olaf and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University\u2019s Kellogg School of Business.<\/p>\n

Jansen notes that his education at St. Olaf laid the foundation for his success in business, molding a nimble and fluid mindset that taught him to be comfortable with ambiguity. \u201cMy experiences at St. Olaf exposed me to different ways of thinking,\u201d he says, which prepared him\u00a0to work alongside people with diverse skill sets and life experiences, from farmers and food scientists to creatives, financial advisors, and operations and plant managers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was drawn to St. Olaf because of the idea of studying abroad and because of the opportunity to study multiple subjects, from chemistry to economics to international relations,\u201d says Jansen, adding that he was later surprised at how much he also enjoyed classes in religion and psychology. He spent a semester studying East-West business relations \u201cduring the early days of perestroika<\/em>\u201d through a DIS program in Copenhagen, Denmark. Jansen and his wife of 27 years, Carolyn, are proud that their children \u2014 Holly \u201917, Lindsey \u201921, and Noah (possibly \u201927) \u2014 are following in the St. Olaf tradition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe beauty of St. Olaf\u2019s diversity of classes is that they create varied pathways for learning,\u201d Jansen says. \u201cAcross the spectrum, I learned how to adapt and how to work well with other people, all while developing strong communication, writing, and analytical skills.\u201d Jansen\u2019s passion for marketing was noticed by Professor Kathy Gardner Chadwick, who stoked that interest.<\/p>\n

Those skills were enough for Jansen to get his foot in the door at General Mills, where he landed his first job as a marketing analyst. \u201cI had a basic understanding of computers and data analysis, so General Mills took a chance on me,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

That first position set the trajectory for Jansen\u2019s 30-year career in marketing and the retail food industry. \u201cOver time, you discover what you enjoy doing, what gets you excited to go to work each day,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve been fortunate through the vast majority of my work experience to be eager to get to the office. I don\u2019t even mind being woken up in the middle of the night thinking about something, whether it\u2019s a challenge or an opportunity. That\u2019s what keeps me going.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark Jansen ’90 is leading the world’s largest almond producing company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":402,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4],"class_list":["post-3063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-st-olaf-magazine"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/402"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3063"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3152,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3063\/revisions\/3152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}