Hey there and welcome back to lead the team.

What does it take to lead a revitalization of a century old brand and make it resonate powerfully with today's consumers?

We'll meet Andy Mex, president of Chicken of the Sea.

Yes, that Chicken of the Sea.

A seasoned leader with over two decades in the consumer packaged goods industry.

With a background that includes a J.D.

an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh, and pivotal roles at Del Monte Foods and starkist, Andy has consistently driven both growth and innovation wherever he goes.

And at Chicken of the Sea, he spearheaded a comprehensive rebranding effort, modernizing the iconic Catalina Mermaid and launching Health Focus, first product lines to align with contemporary wellness trends.

And even under his leadership, the company re established or established its first east coast office over in Pittsburgh, tapping into the region's rich talent pool and reinforcing its commitment to community engagement.

Andy, welcome to lead the team.

Sir.

Thank you, Ben.

Great to be here.

Before we got rolling here, you were talking about the importance of not running away from a big challenge, actually running towards it.

When's the time that this came up for you and your career?

Sure, yeah.

I mean, I think that sometimes the best opportunities come in turbulent times.

And wise old man in our industry once told me that the fishing is good when the waters are rough.

And I found that to be true.

Even, even before I received that advice, I found that I was maybe practicing it and then once I once I heard that, it really just instilled that belief even more.

And so I've, I've kind of kept running towards challenges.

We operate in a low margin industry and one that's fraught with a lot of challenges and everything from challenging procurement, regulatory and, and, and so a lot of people, a lot of professionals in my industry have decided to bail.

They've gone to other sorts of roles, other sorts of businesses.

It's a lot easier to sell candy or even pet products, much higher margin.

But what I found is that by going after some of the tougher challenges, taking on some of the tougher jobs, ones that may not have even been on the natural career path, I've been able to thrive.

And it's something I would recommend that everybody do is be open minded and look for different angles, be the person, be the solution to some of those challenges.

So do you have a favorite, a favorite challenge that you faced along the way that that really helped accelerate your growth or your leadership?

Well, I mean there, there have been lots of challenges.

I mean just, you know, even, even this, this brand itself that I'm working On Chicken and Sea Brand, 100 years old, has a wonderful heritage.

Anytime I talk to people and I tell them where I work, they can.

Everyone's aware of the brand.

Some people can sing the jingle.

Everybody's seen it like it's there in the store, right on the aisle.

You won't buy it every week.

Absolutely.

But, you know, over time, it.

We've lost some relevance.

It hasn't resonated with people as much.

Lost share.

So how do we revitalize this brand?

When I walked in the door, noticed some things right off the bat that needed a change.

It was late in the pandemic.

We had to take some price changes like everybody else did.

And we own some brands in our portfolio that are number one brands.

Chicken and season number one Salmon.

We're the number one.

Sardine.

We have a couple of other brands.

Genova King Oscar Premium, you know, they're number one.

But Chicken and sea tuna slipped to being the number three brand.

So to, to take a price increase during the pandemic, that was a big challenge.

But we knew we had to do the tough things, make the tough calls.

We took price increases, we did some value engineering, and then we did a entire portfolio rebrand.

We repositioned it to make it more shoppable, more modern looking, and we launched some new items and that were a little bit more relevant to today's consumer.

And we're starting to see our share grow again.

Wow, what a cool story.

So it's interesting.

You're a third place in tune at the time, and you say, hey, we got to increase the price.

Did everybody's jaw hit the floor and say, what?

Shouldn't we be doing the reverse?

Because it doesn't lower cost, gonna drive more sales, right?

Absolutely.

But you, you need to ensure that you have a healthy business first.

And, and, you know, then you go after the bigger slice of the pie.

But it's, it's a big momentum business.

So, you know, once you start rolling, you keep, you keep winning more.

And, and when you're going downhill, it's.

It's hard to stop.

So it's a delicate balance and, and certainly a great challenge.

And so what's been the impact?

Because you've been there at this point, like three years, Is that right?

Yeah.

So we've been growing our sales.

We've been growing, We've been, we've been becoming much more profitable in.

And lately we're growing our share as well.

Right now, we're the only brand that's growing our share.

The only big brand Private label has brought some additional challenges.

The, the other big guys aren't, Aren't.

Aren't doing as well right now.

So what about you as a leader?

What was your leadership mindset when you came in there and you got to write the ship and then you're like, we're do something bold.

We're going to increase prices.

Like, what was your mind's.

I guess it was just.

Was it just going back to, like, business principles of profitability, blocking and tackling.

Its fundamentals, asking the qu.

The.

The basic questions.

I mean, if you know nothing about the business, you can approach it that way.

Just walk in the door and start asking questions.

Can you tell me, you know, how many.

How many ounces of fish are in that can or in that pouch?

And, and getting the basics right, having attention to detail, putting together a solid plan and then communicating it to the team and, and working with the team to line on that plane, communicate it downstream, and, and do it assertively.

Well.

So looking back at your career, people heard some iconic food brands.

Why in the world did you go into food in the first place?

And why did you start specializing in the fish world?

Yeah, it's a great question.

So, funny thing is, when I, When I first came out of school, I knew nothing about the food business.

And I had an interview at Del Monte Foods, and at the time, I wasn't feeling great that day.

And, and almost didn't go to the interview.

And my wife said I should.

You should go.

Just let's listen to what they have to say.

And, and, and I went to the interview and started hearing more and more about it and really opened my eyes.

And, and, and because I wasn't like, really even sure that I was serious about it, honestly, like, as a kid, I was just kind of cocky.

I walked in as cocky and like, you know, where do you see yourself five years from now?

It's.

I don't know.

I'm not gonna be sitting over there and be doing something else.

And.

And fortunately, the hiring manager actually kind of, kind of liked it.

And as a Friday afternoon, and by Monday morning, I received a phone call with an offer, and I was like, I was like, what you're offering?

How much?

Like, and it wasn't a lot of money, but to kid, it was a lot of money to make money selling food.

So I got into the industry and learned more and more every day.

And my first year was rough, but by, by year two, I was really enjoying it and I worked on diff.

My first business was.

Was on tuna and then.

Then I got to work on fruits and vegetables and pet products and baby food and soup.

And so I had a lot of great experiences.

But then ultimately I been pulled back into tuna over the years because it's a very specific industry.

It has a lot of nuances.

And.

And, yeah, and like, the institutional knowledge means a lot in this space.

Okay, all right, so let us hear that.

What is interesting and so nuance about that specific industry, because there's probably not a single person on this listening right now that has not had canned tuna, Canned salmon.

I mean, this is.

This has been around forever.

Procurement and supply chain makes it a big challenge.

So most of the fish is caught around the world in very warm areas, I think near the equator.

So Bangkok's at tuna capital of the world, Thailand, Ecuador, you know, places like that.

So you need to procure the fish.

Vessel comes in, fish is in.

It's frozen in brine.

They need to thaw the fish, butcher it, cook it, clean it, can it, retort it, which means sterilizing it, basically.

And then you need to, like, ship it around the world and ultimately get it to the consumer.

And consumers aren't happy when it's.

Why is my tuna more than.

Why does it cost more than a dollar?

In the old days, it was two for a dollar for many, many years.

And that's just amazing that we're even able to get to that sort of price with.

With that sort of supply chain.

So it's a.

It's a penny business.

I mean, it's even every half a penny counts, really.

Wow.

And so why is it.

Why is it so price sensitive?

It just.

It isn't good because, like, if you go to the.

Like you buy salmon that's in the full, like, as a filet, the price is insane.

Well, but then it's maybe not insane or crazy if you think about where it's coming from and how it's caught.

But the canned version is such a different price point.

And I've never my mind been able to wrap my.

My head around the difference.

Yeah, it's a great question.

I mean, it's almost become like a barometer for consumers if pricing in the marketplace.

So, you know, people complain about the price of a gallon of milk or a gallon of gasoline.

Yes.

And for years and years, retailers would use tuna as a loss leader to bring consumers in the store.

So, like, every week they're running two for a dollar or a dollar on the front page.

And so what would happen is when we're running those promotions, the Manufacturers are losing money that week, the retailers losing money that week.

And, and the, the goal is, over time, get consumers hooked on it.

You make, you make a little bit of money when, when it's out there at the regular white tag price and you're selling some base cases.

Yeah, it's interesting.

So it's just like the history of it.

Yeah.

Right.

So what we've done in the past several years is try to differentiate.

So how do we get away just from that base?

Can, how do we sell something more premium?

So we sell a brand.

Many people have heard of Genova, it's tuna and olive oil.

Or we've launched chicken to see the past couple years, has launched these packets actually, I'm gonna grab one right here.

So we've, we have a partnership now with McCormick.

And this is seasoning.

So how do you differentiate?

Give consumers something that's convenient, healthy, and it's not.

Others aren't able to replicate it.

Wow.

So this is interesting for a listener to think about because you're, you're sort of a special, like a Celtic, a leader who's like, you're given a strong foundation in your, in the product, in the business and you're, you're like the innovator on top of that.

And it's not easy to innovate an industry that's been around so long.

And what, what are the keys of innovation when you start thinking about that as a leader?

Because, because I, I think a lot of the pressure can be, I don't want to screw this brand up like you, you've already got a, a great thing to work with.

How do you think about like risk taking and innovating on something that's already so iconic?

Sure.

It's a great question, something I think about a lot and I'm really a steward of the brand.

So canned tuna really came to the United States in 1903.

And it came about because back then consumers were eating sardines and there was a big sardine shortage.

And so the first tuna that fishermen caught were albacore.

And it was more mild, it was whiter, drier in texture.

It was like chicken.

And so they started calling it the chicken of the sea.

And that's where our brain comes from.

So the first really big innovation was tuna in the can.

And it was to, it was a belly filler.

It's healthy, of course, but it's a belly filler.

Because food wasn't readily available around World War I, protein options weren't readily available.

So then another really big innovation, 100 years later is the packet or the pouch that I just shared because it's no drain, it's convenient, it's portable.

So those have been some of the big innovations.

And along with that we've maintained a certain price thresholds.

There's a lot of sensitivity to price.

So you can go even one of these packets, you can go buy it on promotion for a dollar.

And you know, there are certain consumers that will pay a lot more.

They'll pay four or five dollars for a can of tuna, specialized can of tuna.

So I think the way we've tried to innovate is in a couple ways.

One is that we still, we still resonate with that consumer who's price sensitive and find ways to provide them with that, provide them with that single serve product that's affordable.

Or maybe it's a larger can or a larger pouch for the family.

It's very affordable.

And then another way we innovate is to appeal to those consumers who are, who are willing to maybe branch out and try something different, something a little bit more premium with olive oil or maybe it's, maybe it's more ultra sustainable product, for example, which something, it's something we very much pride ourselves on here at Chicken and Sea.

Our parent companies, Thai Union, it's the largest tunim manufacturer in the world.

They own number one brands in all over Europe as well.

And we've been ranked the most sustainable food company actually not just seafood, but the most sustainable food company by Dow Jones.

Well, what's it like being can your industry like fish?

The oceans are under duress from like global warming, overfishing, pollution.

There's a lot to think about.

How are you thinking like, I guess, what's your advice to leaders when it comes to dealing with a lot of external factors that you simply just can't control, but yet you're, you're kind of the end of the supply chain.

Right.

You've got to serve up something that's sustainable with your brand, that tastes good, that's healthy and you get a lot of headwinds on that front.

Sure.

So I mean, you have to be transparent and you have to do the right thing.

And obviously you have to find a common sense, pragmatic way to get there that still fits your business model.

But you know, so what we've been able to do with our parent company, Thai Union, is instill some principles with, with our sea change program.

And so as an example, that 97 of all the product we buy from the vessels out there, whether have an observer on Board or we have electronic monitoring on board.

And what's electronic monitoring?

So it's like, it's like, you know, basically you have like, video technology, like AV technology on board, like monitoring what's happening there.

Okay.

And so, and we've, we've shared this with our retail customers and the big ones have helped build this strategy with us.

So we are leading those efforts.

And it certainly come with a cost, but over time, you know, it's.

We sell a lot of product, so it's a $3 billion industry over time.

When you sell hundreds of millions or billions of units over time, you, you know, you pay for these things.

So, so are the oceans, I think, I mean, I guess.

How do I ask the question.

Yeah, Are.

Is seafood in trouble right now with all the conditions out there changing?

Yeah, well, I mean, I, I don't.

I don't think seafood's in trouble.

I think that there, there are some.

There are certainly some pitfalls, some warning, you know, signs, some things that need to be addressed.

For sure, there are stocks in.

Are overfished tuna.

For the most part, it's not overfished.

We've put a lot of effort into it.

Around the world, there's different regional fishery management organizations, you know, NGOs involved, all the different leading manufacturers make sure that we monitor the, the stocks and employ sustainable fishing practices.

The types of gear that are used have evolved greatly over the years.

And you know, the times that of year even that vessels are allowed to go out or the types of gear they're allowed to use, you know, that's, that's really monitored to ensure that we have a sustainable, a sustainable industry, because, frankly, we don't want to fish ourselves out of business.

Really good point.

And for the listeners, I want them to really let that sink in, that because of the commercial interest, a lot of these areas and the fish stocks are being protected, whereas if the commercial interest were not.

We're not into this, and the protection, they'd probably be a lot better, a lot worse off.

And I think it just gets a really good example of business being a proponent of good.

And it's easy to be like, that's a corporate entity, they don't care.

But you guys are at the top of the food chain.

No, no pun intended.

All protecting the stuff.

That's right.

Yeah.

So, so good.

Well, what.

We're from a healthiness standpoint, and I know we're doubling down on this, but I think about, like, executives on the go, and it's so easy to eat terribly while you're flying around while you're meeting these packages.

So like in our house, we use the cans to like supplement our food and plant meal around sometimes.

How are you seeing these packages used and are they available like for the business travel or in airports and whatnot?

Well, they're not available so much in airports.

It's something that we're working on, on doing more of, but they are very readily available.

We sell a lot all over the place, all retail channels online.

And you know, tuna is just a very healthy option.

It's one of the highest protein options, low in calories, high in vitamin D, one of the highest natural sources of vitamin D, omega 3s.

My son eats tuna literally every day, loves it.

And we have all sorts of different flavors that, you know, that will appeal to different people.

Spicy flavors and, and savory flavors.

And you know, there are some concerns out there about, about, you know, eating, eating too much tuna and there, you know, there's a lot of noise out there and people are confused about what's safe to eat or not safety and how much, you know, of different types of food.

But ultimately I think that, that it's, overall, it's.

Tuna is very safe and I think that moderation in everything is, is the way to go.

But it's one of the healthiest food options out there.

Yeah, agreed.

And it's a sustainable protein and it mixes well with a lot of different stuff.

So not to turn this into a tuna and salmon commercial, but it's.

We were really excited to get you on, you know, from this standpoint since we, since we enjoy it so much now.

Thinking about your career, you kind of explored your path a little bit getting into the, into the industry and why you stuck around doing it.

Now thinking about your overall trajectory of your career and thinking about even earlier in your career, what's something that you'd encourage your younger self to try or.

Yeah, I mean, I, I think that, I think that younger people should be open minded, take on different roles, take on different challenges, be open to travel.

I think that you might be surprised, you know, once, once you, once you get in there and you don't know what you don't know.

So be open, be open and go.

Absolutely.

Like I said, like you need it.

You should embrace some challenges, run towards challenges.

And, and, and also I also would recommend to people, think for yourself, think for yourself.

Think pragmatically.

Don't be afraid to zig when other people zag tell you.

There's a lot of groupthink out there too.

You Got a favorite zag that you've.

Well done all the way.

Yeah.

You know, I think I've had opportunities where we're actually, I, I had an opportunity.

Do I, you know, do I go towards safer area and consumer packaged goods like where I'm going and selling fruits and vegetables and pet products or do I go and sell tuna?

And I went with tuna at the time because I, I just saw, I just saw a greater opportunity in the area that maybe other people shy away from and, and I could dig in and make a difference.

But I'll tell you another example.

You know, I go to, I go to trade shows and, and there's these, there's these themes and like you go to like Expo west and one year you go, and there's like, I don't know how many hundreds of people selling products of cbd.

There's like cbd, you know, cream and cbd, you know, in your coffee and like, and, and, and I just, I just shake my head and think like I, I, I feel bad for some of these people at one point.

On one hand I'm saying run towards challenges, try something new.

But on the other hand like don't do, don't do the same thing everybody else is doing the next year.

It's like plant based protein.

Everyone's doing plant based.

So when I see that happening, I go the other, I run the other way.

I go do something, something else.

Yeah, it just sounds like you're chasing trends can pay off, but it's not necessarily a guaranteed payoff for people in their career, especially in the next year.

It's absolutely, someone's going to succeed, but your chance of success is maybe higher by going after the more nuanced opportunity or more challenging opportunity that other people don't want to approach.

What's the one trait that you wish you could instill in every employee?

And why do you think it's important?

I think communication is very important.

You know, along with that is attention to detail, detailed communication, being assertive in the way you communicate.

So make sure, make sure you know what you're saying, do your research, dot the I's, cross the t's and then, and then, you know, stand behind it.

I mean that doesn't mean that you should never admit you're wrong or anything along those lines.

But you know, I had one time I had a boss who told me you're really good at putting together presentations and telling a story.

Like you're, you're at least an email.

Like your emails are great.

Like, like just Very clear, concise, defined.

Like there's no question, there's no question.

When I read one of your emails, like what you're, what you were saying.

He said, I think that when you build a sales deck, when you go to customer, it should be the same way, make you think about your PowerPoint, like how it flows.

And so I, you know, that was actually really good advice.

So I, I took that analysis.

Like that's how I'll build a presentation as well.

And, and, and it makes a big difference the way people respond to you.

Yeah, it's like, listen, like I like that because what I hear in that is make sure to think about how the email is being read or how the people in the audience are going to be receiving it and design it with that in mind.

Versus and it's so easy, like especially from your standpoint where you have the curse of knowledge.

You know the industry so well, you know the business, you've been there so many years.

It's easy probably to speak to retailers, speak to customers in a way like they, they have this knowledge.

Absolutely.

You know, put yourself in their shoes.

And so, you know, another leader once told me, he said, think about, think about what your audience is thinking.

Think about what that other person is thinking.

Like what is motivating him or her.

Like what, like really matters to that person.

Yeah.

And that will, that will change the way you communicate.

That will maybe even change your entire proposition, your entire, you know, way to approach that person.

Do you remember the first time you, you put that into use for a presentation and the response you got?

I, I can't, I can't think of any one example, honestly, like that comes to mind.

But I, I just think it's, I think it' you know, on, on a day to day basis all the time.

Like I might think that I had, we have a really good idea.

Like this is something that the company should do.

This is something, you know, it's a new proposition.

It's something we're real bullish on.

But I know that, that, that the individual I'm talking to on the other side of the desk, like he's, he's more worried about challenges that are happening right now in supply chain.

Right.

So then I need to park my big idea for a second and think about how do I help, how do I help him with the supply chain problem and then we'll circle back to my idea.

That's so good.

It's like there's really two different ways to think about.

One is what do you want to Communicate, and you mentioned that earlier, to really think about that at a level of detail versus just starting to talk, have a, have an idea of you want to communicate.

But secondly, translate that in a way that's going to resonate and it might be, you know, addressing something specifically like in the supply chain and then coming back around to your idea that you're hoping to communicate.

And I think it's so easy too as a CEO to just write the email that you're trying to get out to your employees or your customers, but if they don't hear it, if they don't understand it, if they're not buying in, it's not going to help.

So doing that extra level of homework can be, be so, so good thinking about your career.

When's the time you had an unexpected twist or failure in your career and had to lead to your success or growth on down the road?

Yeah, I mean I can think of a couple examples, you know.

So we talked earlier about how, how when I first got into the food industry, started Del Monte Foods and my first role was, I had no idea what it was honestly.

Like I, I didn't understand what the specific role was as I was going into it.

It was a trade, trade marketing role which people hear marketing, they think it's marketing, but it's not marketing at all.

It's more managing the promotional funding for your customers.

And so my first year I'm learning that, learning the business and we had trade promotion management system and it's just, it's just like managing like the events like, like one, one by one in the system and it was like mind numbing and, and, and I, I wasn't, I wasn't doing, doing too well at it.

And honestly like, I'm not, I'm not sure that there's a point where I wasn't sure I was going to make it.

And but fortunately it just, you know, one day I kind of, just kind of just got a little frustrated and decided, you know what I'm gonna kill, I'm gonna be the best person at this.

And from there on like I never looked back.

It like really fueled my competitive drive.

And then, and then I was exposed to some different areas of business.

It went through trade marketing into sales and then category management and retail ops.

I got to be part of.

And then one day, this is years later, now I'm at Starkist and I had led sales, sales roles and trade marketing.

And so I had a pragmatic lens to the business.

And our CEO came to me and said I'M looking for someone with this sort of lens to lead the marketing team.

And so I'm a trained marketer, but I've gone through a large part of my career where I was really more in the sales side of the business.

So all of a sudden I'm thrown into marketing role now and have to wear a little bit of a different hat and.

But we ended up doing really well.

We ended up, you know, being very innovative and growing our sales and share a lot over that time.

And it's grateful for that opportunity because it's able to see the business from.

From some different, different sides wearing different hats.

Oh, man.

So it sounds like you, like, what I hear in that too initially is maybe you weren't fully committed early in your career and one day you're like, you know what?

I want to commit.

I'm going to commit to do this role, even though I'm still trying to understand what it is.

Right.

And it sounds like you've got a theme in your career.

When you make that commitment, things start to go in a positive direction because you accelerated there at Del Monte.

Then you get at starkist, you got that cool opportunity.

What was it like being at starkist and then getting the call from Chicken of the Sea because you were cmo, you had risen.

Yeah.

Pretty high up at starkist.

Did you kind of feel like, hey, I've kind of topped out like I am.

I've achieved the highest role for an iconic brand at CMO marketing and sales?

Or like, were you surprised to get that call for the CEO spot?

Or.

Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, I, I did, I did feel kind of at that time, I.

I topped out there and really, it was more.

It's really more just cultural big.

You know, they're very different organizations.

Both, you know, both very good organizations in different ways.

And one being in Starkist, really a tuna company.

I mean, almost everything they do is tuna and very sophisticated in procurement and operations.

Based parent company based in South Korea, but, you know, not very vertically integrated, wouldn't talk very often.

And it's very, you know, very much a Korean company.

Whereas Thai Union, when I ended up over here, it just happened kind of like the stars aligned at the right time where I was maybe looking to grow my career, find, you know, find new opportunity, new new avenue of growth.

And they were looking for someone with institutional knowledge because they lost a lot, lost a lot of institutional knowledge over time.

And so what I found over here, Thai Union is free multinational company for your global company, much more vertically Integrated.

So Chicken and Seas, Thai union's largest customer, Tiny union runs a lot of factories.

Ah.

But it's.

It's an interesting company.

There's a lot of, you know, everyone speaks good English.

So our global CEO is Ty.

Our global CFO is French.

Head of strategy is German.

And yeah, I keep.

Keep going down the list.

It's very mult.

How does that impact the culture when you assemble a team that's got so many nationalities at.

At the executives?

Because not just nationalities, it's cultural differences.

Sure.

Well, I mean, I think it's.

It's very collaborative culture and it's.

In its.

People communicate a lot.

But, you know, it's certain.

It's certainly.

It definitely.

It definitely.

There are, you know, anytime you're going across different cultures, across different nationalities, like, it's not always 100% smooth either.

There are differences.

Right.

There are.

There are misunderstandings and things that, you know, we need to try to educate people on and convey to each other.

It's cool that you can all rally behind one brand and one philosophy of sustainability and quality.

I mean, that's really cool.

And it makes me want to have some more chicken of the sea products.

Sustainable and that too, you know, it's.

That's really cool.

It's around that way.

What do you remember the moment you get the call for CEO?

Like, what's it like having been not CMO or not CEO?

Yeah.

Thinking like, okay, I've been CMO of Starkist.

Like, that seems like a pinnacle.

Yeah.

And then you're like, oh, so.

So I guess first of all, I should.

I should say I.

I am.

I am president.

I'm not.

I'm not CEO, but I.

But I am top.

Not yet.

Not yet.

After.

After this interview comes out.

Yeah.

Great.

Thank you.

It was a little bit of a stair step, Right.

So when I received the call, it was my first role.

Immediately coming to see was leading sales marketing supply chain.

But in a very short period of time, I was really overseeing the entire business.

But yeah, but yeah, absolutely.

It was definitely a wonderful opportunity to come in and lead some different functions at once and to be able to provide some institutional knowledge that led to some immediate improvement.

Yeah, that's cool.

I mean, it's really nice when you also build your expertise in a niche that people know you for that.

And when these opportunities come up, you know, they think, Andy, Max, I think a lot of people that.

And there's nothing wrong with jumping industries and moving around, but when you really do focus like you have, you have a Chance to really build a reputation.

You know, honestly, I wasn't really sure that I.

I'd even stay in this specific industry.

The stars just aligned at the time.

And the other thing that I think is important to talk about here is that, you know, we've talked a lot about myself and my role, but we've great team, and that's such a critical piece of it.

So we've been able to build a great team.

And the pandemic was such an interesting time because it provided a lot of.

Create a lot of challenges, but also provide a lot of opportunities.

So what happened during the pandemic is that you remember the great resignation.

A lot of people left.

They, you know, they're changing jobs regularly, and a lot of people even, you know, went remote.

Even this company prior to my arrival, a lot of people just decided to move.

They moved all over the country.

And so I arrived and we.

We needed to reel things in a little bit.

So, you know, every time somebody left, I hired someone that I had worked with previously in the industry.

So today, most of our employees are either people I worked with previously or one of their people.

And we've been able to supplement with some great.

Some great professionals around us.

But.

But what.

What.

What that's enabled us to do is that we now have.

Have built up with some strong, strong foundation, strong institutional knowledge.

We have people who are longtime industry people.

We have loyalty, we have trust.

And then we've been able to complement that with some great professionals from some adjacent industries.

Oh, cool.

Yeah.

Something think about, like, who are you?

Like, if you change companies, who would you bring with you?

Who do you already have loyalty with?

And that's a.

That is a.

That's a very powerful thing, and I think a lot of companies are looking for that.

Right?

They don't want just a leader to come in and just work with what they've got, too.

They want you to meld it in with people that you've worked with, that you built trust, that, you know, have a winning mindset to help accelerate things.

And, man, what a great story behind that.

Andy, this has been a fun, fun interview, and my apologies for promoting you to CEO too early.

That's okay, but it's happened before.

People come on, the show gets out there.

You never know.

But anyway, thank you so much.

What's your parting thought for our listeners today?

Feel free to take it any direction that you like.

I think that.

I think everybody should take some time every day to prioritize what matters to them and what's going to help them move forward.

So I, I do it a couple times a day really like every night before I go to bed I'm thinking about what does tomorrow look like?

What does my what what are my, what are my, you know, three big priorities for tomorrow?

What does the schedule look like?

Is it, is it really necessary to have a dozen meetings?

Is it really necessary to do all these things or can we carve out some time to, to get some real work done?

So I think about it every night.

I think about it every morning.

Reprioritizing, you know writing this to do list and rewriting them helps me to get there and you know along with that again just you challenge yourself.

Think big.

Don't just think about think pay attention to detail but then also take some time to think about some big ideas along the way.

Thanks for coming on lead the team Andy.

All right, thanks Ben.