INTERVIEW | JEFF BRAZWELL
Leading by example
Positivity and faith in the future are often undervalued as qualities in corporate leaders, who are often expected to take a cold and calculating view on strategy. For Jeff Brazwell, president and CEO of Spanco, however, they are the key to success. Jim Banks looks at his journey to the top and qualities that ensure his company will keep on innovating.
country and they have no interest in any language other than English. This often goes hand-in-hand with another untruth – that very few Americans hold passports because they don’t travel outside of the US. Jeff Brazwell, president and CEO of Spanco, is happy to lay these falsehoods to rest. From an early age, he found himself curious about other cultures and languages, and though the spark for this curiosity came from an unlikely source, it has fuelled many of the major choices that led him to his current role at the head of one of the leading American manufacturers of overhead material handling cranes and lifting solutions. “I was inspired by a terrible teacher in eighth grade who showed us documentaries about ancient cultures,” he explains. “Most people in the class just slept through it, but I was fascinated.” This led to his keen interest in learning foreign
T
languages and despite having no clear idea of what he wanted to do when he grew up, the child in Brazwell was certain that international travel would be a key part of his career, not least so that he could put into practice his skills in Spanish and Portuguese. “I always liked the international market and the
chance to see other countries and cultures, so I learned languages and travelled a lot,” he says. “I wanted a job that would connect me to that and I was lucky that, when I got out of college and took
here is a myth that many people around the world like to believe about Americans – they don’t like to travel outside their own
a job in the paper industry, an opportunity came up to transfer to be export manager because of my language skills. That was at the age of just 24, and I was the youngest manager in the company at the time.” “Stereotypes exist for a reason but to the extent people think that Americans don’t leave the US or learn foreign languages – I would say that it is not true,” he adds. “Maybe 30 years ago fewer Americans had a second language, but more and more do now, and more of us travel abroad.”
Following the paper trail
Brazwell’s start in the paper business came after he graduated from the University of West Florida with a degree in marketing. He left knowing only that he wanted to go into sales and marketing, and in 1992 he took a job at paper distributor Unisource Worldwide.
Soon he was managing sales and export logistics operations in the northern half of South America. Clearly the job suited him well, as he increased sales by 474% in the first two years from $2.98m to over $14m. From there, he switched territories and began developing business in Brazil, Argentina and Chile, growing sales from zero to over $3m in less than two years. “I was selling massive amounts of paper all over Latin America. I liked that job, the product and the people, but the industry was very volatile, and even 30 years ago I could foresee that paper consumption was going to decrease with the advent of the internet and digital media,” says Brazwell.
ochmagazine.com | Spring 2026 33
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87
