David Ciesinski on leadership
From WL Mellon Speakers - David A Ciesinski · · TepperCMU
“We're in the people business; we just so happen to make food. If you want to help a business grow, you have to figure out how to help the people in that business grow as well. Engaging people authentically unlocks magic and leads to the most rewarding moments in a career.”
On , David Ciesinski, President, Chief Executive Officer & Director at LANCASTER COLONY CORP, spoke about leadership during WL Mellon Speakers - David A Ciesinski on TepperCMU.
About David Ciesinski
David Ciesinski, president and CEO of Lancaster Colony (parent company of T. Marzetti), spoke at Carnegie Mellon University's W.L. Mellon Speaker Series on January 17, 2025. He discussed his leadership approach, including rebuilding the company's leadership team since joining in 2016 and implementing a "better food company growth plan" that he said nearly doubled the business and delivered top quartile financial results. Ciesinski described a ransomware attack on July 20, 2019, that shut down the company's systems for about six months, requiring the scrapping of over a thousand computers and a move to a cloud-based environment, which he said later helped the company respond to COVID-19. He also outlined the company's innovation process, including developing a Nashville hot sauce for KFC that he said tripled demand forecasts. In a 2022 video, Ciesinski and Director of Safety Karl Sommer discussed the company's safety record, noting reductions in injury rates over five to six years and a goal of achieving a total recordable incident rate under 1.0, which they described as "world class." Ciesinski highlighted the Chatham Village facility's pursuit of OSHA's Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Star designation, the highest level of safety recognition, and said the company planned to apply lessons from that program to other locations. He emphasized that safety improvements included automating packaging and palletizing activities.