President and CEO, Kemin Industries, Inc.
12-21-2015 Chris Nelson, President & CEO of Kemin
Intro ...
About Chris Nelson
In a December 2015 interview, Chris Nelson, President and CEO of Kemin, discussed the company's growth since he took the helm in 2000, attributing it to "a really fabulous set of team members." He described Kemin as a family-run business headquartered in Des Moines that manufactures ingredients for human foods and animal feeds, with a goal of touching half of the world's population by the end of the decade. Nelson highlighted the company's support for STEM education, stating that "the more educated any consumer is, the better choices that they're going to be able to make." Nelson also discussed Kemin's partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme, providing pro bono scientific knowledge for food quality in disaster relief efforts. He cited the example of the Nepal earthquake, noting that the World Food Programme's work prevented starvation despite widespread destruction. Additionally, Nelson mentioned the company's production of lutein, a molecule found in corn and green leafy vegetables, which he said can help prevent macular degeneration if consumed in sufficient quantities, though he noted that "only about 4% of Americans actually eat those many" servings of fruits and vegetables.
Transcript (31 segments)
I
Interviewer0:00
While welcome someone very special to the program right now, Dr. Chris Nelson is joining us. He is president and CEO of a company that around here you've heard of for many years, Kemin Industries. And you've been at the helm for how long?
C
Chris Nelson0:14
I've been at the helm since 2000, so just about 16 years now.
I
Interviewer0:19
And things have just gone crazy at your company, exponentially growing.
C
Chris Nelson0:22
You know, we've been extremely fortunate. We've gathered a really fabulous set of team members there, and with their help we've been able to grow.
I
Interviewer0:30
All right, you've said people talk about this, but I don't think people really do here locally. You're a company that affects people all across the world, a family-run business that has stayed, kept its headquarters right here in Des Moines. And I don't think people mostly know what you do.
C
Chris Nelson0:43
It's always a good question. Really, one of the things that we say at Kemin is we're not satisfied unless one of our molecules goes into your body.
I
Interviewer0:50
People talk about you because you are such an established company here in town. People know that Kemin Industries is here, but to be honest with you, I don't think people know what you do.
C
Chris Nelson1:04
Well, so what we're really about is making ingredients that go into human foods and animal feeds. So it's a whole variety of edible molecules that really can improve the nutrition as well as your personal health, and that's really about the things that we manufacture. We manufacture here in Des Moines, but we have six other manufacturing locations located in Brazil, South Africa, Italy, Belgium, India, Singapore.
I
Interviewer1:32
And how many billions of dollars are we talking?
C
Chris Nelson1:35
I wish. We're very fortunate. We should do approximately 600 million dollars in revenue this year.
I
Interviewer1:44
Yes. Can you give an example of something that you... you know...
C
Chris Nelson1:47
One of the things that we manufacture is a product called lutein. And lutein is a molecule we're actually very familiar with. It's what makes corn yellow in the fall of the year. When the chlorophyll leaves the leaves of the trees, we see yellow. That's lutein. Lutein actually deposits in our eyes, in the part of the eye called the macula. The macula is the part of your eye that's responsible for your ability to read. So it's really an important part. If that part oxidizes or gets too much light, you come down with something called macular degeneration. Macular degeneration can be prevented if we consume about 11 milligrams of lutein a day, and we can do that with six servings of fruits and vegetables, lots of green leafy vegetables. Unfortunately, only about 4% of Americans actually eat those many servings on a daily basis. So what we do is we take marigold flowers and we isolate the lutein molecule out of marigolds that are grown primarily in India. And those marigolds are brought here to Des Moines. We isolate and purify the molecule, and we sell that back to vitamin manufacturers throughout the world.
I
Interviewer3:07
How many people are consuming something you've had something to do with on a daily basis?
C
Chris Nelson3:13
Right now, this last month, we touched 2.4 billion people.
I
Interviewer3:16
You have a lot of people that work for you.
C
Chris Nelson3:19
Exactly, that's part of it. That's really part of our vision. We hope before the end of the decade to be touching half of the people of the world, and of course that would be about 3.6 billion people.
I
Interviewer3:34
People are very sensitive about what they're eating nowadays, at least in this country, organic and all the GMO controversy. But it sounds as if the things you do are kind of a value-added thing and adding benefit to what you do.
C
Chris Nelson3:48
The concern about food safety is well-founded within our country, and it's one of the things that we remain very, very committed to on a daily basis. I think it's all about understanding really what goes into our foods, and really having to understand that on a scientific basis. It's one of the reasons here at Kemin we support STEM education so broadly, because it's really about all of us understanding better on a daily basis what we're eating and understanding then how it impacts our health and our nutrition.
I
Interviewer4:18
And just a couple of years ago, Dr. Nelson named one of the top 100 CEO leaders in STEM and that type of stuff, and of course science, technology, engineering, and math. That makes you feel good.
C
Chris Nelson4:28
Well, you know, it's one of our real passions. We see that the more educated any consumer is, the better choices that they're going to be able to make, whether at the supermarket or really in almost all facets of life.
I
Interviewer4:42
Because you're wanting to touch so many people around the world, you guys are continuing to grow yourself.
C
Chris Nelson4:47
We are. We've been very, very fortunate to grow every year in the last 15 or 16 years, and that growth really is about the people that are at Kemin, the team members we have. That's why we're able to grow.
I
Interviewer5:02
But why Des Moines? You could be anywhere you wanted to be in the world, and you kind of are. Your headquarters are here in Des Moines.
C
Chris Nelson5:08
Well, Mike, we started off, my parents founded the business right over on the southeast side in the South of Wискon, affectionately called the southeast bottoms. My grandfather originally purchased that land shortly after World War II, and it has been a wonderful place to grow from. And that's really because of the people that are here in central Iowa that we've been able to recruit and join our business. In addition, we were able to attract people from outside the state to relocate here in Des Moines and work for Kemin. And so Des Moines has really become an excellent place to grow, and we're extremely supportive of our city.
I
Interviewer5:47
Are you hiring? And what kind of people are you looking for?
C
Chris Nelson5:49
We have lots of openings this morning. Please go to our website. We have over 25 jobs we're trying to fill down at Kemin. We're looking for all sorts of people, whether that's in operations and production all the way to PhD-level scientists. So we have openings for all of those types of people. Just this morning, so please go to our website.
I
Interviewer6:12
And you're building too.
C
Chris Nelson6:13
We are. We're fortunate. We're just in process of putting the new corporate headquarters on our property down in Des Moines, down on the southeast bottoms. So yes, we are building. That should be finished hopefully in January of 2017.
I
Interviewer6:25
And I'd like to highlight everything you're doing for us with the amazing things you're helping out with food and agriculture. You also do give back to the community in a very big way.
C
Chris Nelson6:36
Probably one of the most important things that we participate in is from the United Nations, the World Food Programme. We're one of the six international partners with the World Food Programme. They're the folks, when there's a natural disaster somewhere, they go in and actually feed the people that are there. You may remember the horrible earthquake in Nepal a couple of years ago. Tremendous damage, but we've really never heard about anybody starving afterwards, even though everything was destroyed in many of those communities. That's because of the World Food Programme. We assist them on a pro bono basis, being able to provide the scientific knowledge as needed for food quality and the quality of the food that they're delivering.
I
Interviewer7:22
What an amazing company. I mean, we could talk to you forever, but unfortunately we can only spend so much time with you this morning. But we hope you come back if you guys are doing something. Thanks so much for having me. It's been a real pleasure. Thank you so much, Dr. Chris Nelson. Thank you, and Happy Holidays. Again, kemin.com to get more information. And if you're looking for a job, you just got done telling you more than two dozen jobs are available right now on a bunch of different levels, so take advantage of that.