MAY 2019 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC


11


New CEO aims to kindle team spirit at co-op BC Tree Fruits looking at plant amalgamation, new cross-cultural marketing plan


by TOM WALKER


KELOWNA – A five-month search has yielded a new CEO for BC Tree Fruits. Todd McMyn’s appointment as head of one of BC’s largest farm co-ops was announced April 9, as well as that of new CFO Ross Dwhytie. “I think I have a global perspective,”


McMyn told Country Life in BC in one of his first interviews as CEO. “But I think I also have a lot of intensive face- to-face with farmers and orchardists and I really understand their challenges.” McMyn has travelled to more than 50 countries setting up distribution and businesses during his career. Most recently, he was with Buhler Industries, a Winnipeg manufacturer and distributor of farm equipment, developing its precision farming technology business. He has also been a consultant to Arbos, a farm equipment company based in Italy. With the co-op facing critical decisions regarding


its future, including a potential relocation from its aging facility on the edge of downtown Kelowna, a prime area in the process of redevelopment, his business smarts will be useful. “The co-op’s job is to find better returns and better markets and that is what I am here to do,” McMyn says.


Boosting the number of bins per acre is


important for growers and the co-op, but he recognizes that growers operate in diverse conditions.


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While a person born in the 1960s or 1970s might be familiar with the BC Tree Fruits brand, that’s not necessarily the case for younger generations, let alone new immigrants. He would like to see the brand identity adapted to different languages and cultures. “I love the BC Tree Fruit brand. I think it has wheels,” says McMyn. “I think we really have to get that out more and more locally across Canada and also across the globe.” The co-op’s receiving and packing facilities also need upgrades. “We have our challenges to align


our factories and make them more efficient,” McMyn says. “I am confident we can do that. I think the long-term vision is a fairly sophisticated plant amalgamation.” While the co-op terminated


Freshly appointed BC Tree Fruits CEO Todd McMyn likens his role to being a quarterback. “You have to pass the ball to win,” he says. SUBMITTED PHOTO


“Everyone has a bit of biosphere diversity within


their orchard,” he says. “I think we have to understand those differences and work together as a co-op to try and align those differences.” The challenge lies in blending those differences into a viable distribution system. “I want to bring some stability, some cohesion, and transfer those unique production differences maybe into a better and more efficient pipeline so that the market is getting more bang for the buck,” McMyn says. A key goal for McMyn is improved marketing.


several employees earlier this year, including field personnel and other support staff, McMyn says he wants to rekindle a team mentality.


“My short-term goal is to bring the idea of team


work and cooperation back into this cooperative,” he says. “I look at myself as a quarterback. If you are part of a team, you have to pass the ball to win.” McMyn wants growers to know he is a businessman.


“I think that speaks volumes about where the


board is and where the BC Tree Fruits Cooperative is,” he says. “We are going to use business metrics and marketing metrics. Yes, this is a cooperative; we have our unique attributes, but we also have to be very cognizant of how a good business is run.”


We cut everything, except corners.


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