William Oconnor

Background

About William Oconnor

I owe so much of my early career to both my father and mother. I was bitten by the inquisitiveness of "foreign places" early on by my parents giving me the opportunity to travel overseas at a young age, but also hearing of my father's travels to Venezuela, China, Brazil, Peru, Honduras, and many other places while I was still young. Then by chance, I had the extreme luck of having a professor at Montana State University named Dr. Don Clark. The opportunity he provided and guided me to take was to go overseas to Japan for a full year exchange program. For that push by Dr. Clark and support from my parents, I will be forever thankful. As we get older, we are thankful for many other people that come in and out of our lives, but my wife and kids are what now gives me my desire to be the very best person I can be, whether that is being at home, working with team members at the office, or customer and friends around the world. What I love about being in the food business is the chance to meet and develop friendships around the world. There is no other job where you get to learn about culture and people than to sit down and eat a meal together. Food is one of the pillars of culture, and while there are many new ways to interact, so far at least, in most place in the world, a meal together is still a place where understanding takes place. It's one of the best opportunities for one to know such things as "is this a company we need to partner with?". If you're wondering "how soon is this dinner getting over with", then you either you have the wrong company/partner or just maybe, you are the wrong person sitting at that table. Success in the food industry requires a knowledge and passion for food, culture, and people across all levels including farmers and ranchers, to team members working in the plant and customers overseas. Areas of expertise are: International Markets and getting the right products into the right food service and retail distribution networks. Understanding the protein flow across the globe and knowing how they are intertwined as well as differentiated. Achievements: Developed a successful, EU export program with very high profitability. Planned the re-entry of beef into the Asian markets following BSE in 2003. Spearheaded the first shipment of U.S. beef into China in 2017 since 2003. Outperformed incremental revenue targets on all export programs from 2005 to 2019. Understanding: Tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade around the globe P&L Management Operational capabilities at the individual plant level