The National Peanut Board’s New Chapter

The National Peanut Board (NPB) is in new yet familiar leadership hands. Former senior vice president and chief marketing officer Ryan Lepicier is the new president and CEO of NPB as of January 1, 2024. In this episode, Ryan shares his vision for the future of NPB and his passion for the industry. We talk with guests involved in the hiring process and industry members excited about what Lepicier will bring at the helm of NPB, including NPB Chairman Greg Baltz, Georgia board member Casey Cox Kerr, executive search consultant Garland West, and Crazy Richards owner Kimmi Wernli.

First, we spoke to Ryan Lepicier. Ryan’s journey at NPB began 15 years ago and has included increasing responsibilities and roles on the marketing and communications team. With such a long tenure at NPB, Ryan’s commitment to peanuts was clear. But when it came time to consider himself as the next CEO of NPB, he says some soul searching was required.

“I always thought that I wanted to be the president and CEO of the NPB one day, but when it became real when my predecessor announced his retirement, and I learned that the board was going to do an executive search to find their next president and CEO, I really had to do some thinking and soul searching about, one, did I really want to do the job,” Ryan said. “But two, can I really add value to the board? Did I have what it takes to help the board rise to the next level? Even though we've done great work, and we've had some great successes, we can't just rest on the past rest on our laurels, so to speak, we have to rise up to the challenge and help NPB become even better.”

One thing that made Ryan standout to interviewers is that he sees the industry’s challenges not as obstacles, but as opportunities.

“I believe all challenges are also opportunities,” Ryan said. “The opportunity may not come at the opportune time that we would like it to, but we have to face our challenges head on. So, some things that immediately come to mind for me is we're growing larger and larger peanut crops. And we're going to need to find a way to use those peanuts that we're growing. So of course, we need to stay focused on growing edible consumption. It's exciting that we reached a record high in the last year on peanut butter consumption, Americans are eating 4.4 pounds of peanut butter. But we need to also look at new uses for peanuts, innovative new ways that manufacturers can bring exciting, relevant new products to consumers. One of the projects that we're working on that I'm really excited about is we’re developing a peanut milk product that can be used by manufacturers to create not only a dairy-alternative milk, but things like energy drinks. Think of like vegan cream cheese or ice cream. Aside from edible consumption, we need to stay focused on growing our export markets working in partnership with the American Peanut Council. And then we also need to be open and exploring non-edible uses for peanuts. Could we breed a peanut with higher oil content to be crushed for peanut oil? Or could we develop a peanut biodiesel type fuel that can be used in aviation maritime, even for our cars?”

Next, we spoke to Greg Baltz. Greg is NPB’s 2024 Chairman and the Arkansas Board member. He also served on the executive search committee that ultimately chose Ryan for this role. Here’s Greg with what went into the CEO search.

“We had to go out last year and put an extensive nationwide search out to look and see who our next president and CEO would be,” Greg said. “We knew Ryan was a candidate. We knew he would be interested. Obviously, he was part of that. But I do think that we, the search committee, who is made up of the officers of NPB, we took this job very seriously and very earnestly, and I think we've managed to uncover maybe what we didn't know about who our next president would be. It was pretty simple to make that decision after we went through the entire process…We knew we had to look at all the talent and all the credentials of all those who had applied. And, even though we started out with maybe a few different opinions and an open mind, as the search progressed, we saw the talents that would fit best with NPB. Although it included a couple of candidates, it definitely included Ryan in that list that rose to the top.”

Over Greg’s tenure on the board, Ryan has been a constant, evolving and dynamic presence. Here is Greg with what stood out about Ryan.

“Ryan's been there ever since I first came to NPB,” Greg said. “And we've seen his talents and experience over the years. He's done an excellent job as the senior vice president. And when we had him in the interview room, working to see where he would fit in as the president and CEO, not only did we know that previous experience, but we also saw in him a very focused goal on where he thinks we can go with NPB in the next three to five years. He had a talent there that we hadn't seen before, and that he had put a serious amount of thought into this. He knows what has worked and what has not worked in the past. And I think he's excited about taking us forward.”

We then spoke to Casey Cox Kerr, who serves as the Georgia Board Member for NPB. Casey also served on the executive search committee during the CEO hiring process. Here’s Casey with the impact she feels Ryan has had on NPB and what she sees for the future. 

“Obviously, Ryan has a really powerful marketing communications background, as he was most recently our chief marketing officer and senior vice president,” Casey said. “And what I really appreciate about Ryan is his thoughtfulness on how to expand our audience. He has always been very innovative in how we reach new audiences…So, I love the creativity that he's brought to the table. I'm also so proud of the work he and the whole team at the Peanut Board have done on allergy research, education and awareness. I truly feel like that has been transformative, not only for peanut farmers in the peanut industry, but also for the families that are dealing with that issue. And for new parents that are introducing peanuts to their children. I'm so proud of what Ryan has contributed to that and what the peanut board has contributed to that. And I can't wait to see how we grow there. I just feel so excited about the future because he really is building on the solid foundation that he has and now he has more responsibilities, and he's executing a broader vision for the peanut board beyond the scope of his past role. But he's bringing that experience and relationships and expertise from his past into this new role. He's building on [former CEO] Bob [Parker’s] successes, but continuing to move us forward in a really positive direction for the future.”

Our next guest was Garland West. Garland was a consultant the search committee used during the CEO hiring process. Here’s what Garland he thought of Ryan when interviewing him.

“I have rarely met anybody with a kind of obvious passion and enthusiasm for his work that Ryan evidenced from the first moment I met him,” Garland said. “His commitment to what he does, the passion that he brings to the work he does just oozes out of every pore of his body. This is a man who has worked so hard in mastering every aspect of his job responsibilities and understanding the people, the culture, the values that make up this organization. You can tell this was a peanut student par excellence. And I liked that passion, it set him apart. It fit my bias, which is to say that the secret to really effective leadership is that cultural fit. And he has that in spades. So, I think the world of Ryan. I wish him nothing but the best in his new job. But I really don't have to do that, he's going to be hugely successful. I've been in agriculture over 45 years. I've seen extraordinary leadership. I've seen mediocre leadership. I don't worry about the peanut board's future with Ryan at the helm.”

Finally, we spoke with Kimmi Wernli from Crazy Richard’s Peanut Butter. Kimmi has been working with NPB for many years now and has known Ryan for that entire time.

“I think that he is an innovative person, and that he is willing to change,” Kimmi said. “And I think that's really important to not be kind of stuck in your ways or feeling like you already have all the answers. He's willing to look outside and say, hey, maybe there is a better way, maybe we could do something differently and improve. I think that's really important that he's going to be forward thinking and innovative and allow new ideas to come in and help shape and change the trajectory of the peanut board. Also, just his knowledge of the industry, and his care and love for so many people, whether they're farmers or shellers, manufacturers, just across the board, I think those are all attributes that are going to help him be really successful.”

There is nothing so stable as change, to quote Bob Dylan. Change happens often but it can be by its very nature disruptive and difficult. For us at NPB, having Bob Parker step away from the role he had as CEO for nearly 12 years is a big change. But with Ryan as his successor, we are able to get closer to that elusive balance of familiarity, growth and evolution. We are very excited about the future of the National Peanut Board. Listen to the full episode here.