Milling & Baking News - November 2, 2010 - 18

Industry Activities 

markets, what's at hand, negotiating
your way through it, making a decision and running with it. I think that
background is a really good training
ground for that kind of skill set."
A good training ground is not a
perfect training ground, Mr. Maass
said. When he was named vice-president and general manager of flour
milling in 2003, he learned some
tough lessons.
"Managing traders, which is very
p.&l. driven, black and white, is
much less complex from an organizational perspective," he said.
"You don't have manufacturing. It

Paul Maass, left, with John C. Miller.

was a big leap from doing that to
running the milling business with
at that time 27 different plants, a
broad organization. The complexity
is very different, and to be successful there is much different than in a
trading business.
"Frankly, I wasn't prepared. I would
reflect as a milestone for my career, the
fact that I had a manager who recognized there were a lot of strengths that
came with the trading background
and awareness of the gaps to develop
the skill sets that helped me become a
more effective leader.
"I did that with deep 360 feedback and executive coaching. It was
a milestone not only for me personally but also for my entire organization. I was able to sit down and go
through what is effective and what
are opportunities to be more efficient. It made a big difference.
"I look at my team at ConAgra Mills
who stuck with me in the early stage
of making that big leap, helping me
succeed, helping the business succeed.
They developed and learned as well.
"What we discovered, I could
18 / November 2, 2010 Milling & Baking News

make a quick decision. That's not
always healthy. When you can empower others to evaluate, laying out
expectations, so it's their decision,
you will have a healthier, more satisfied team at the end of the day."
Mr. Maass conceded that the arc of
his decision-making approach was reflected in his work with NAMA as well.
He recalled his involvement beginning
when Guy Shoemaker, the retired president of Horizon Milling L.L.C., was
chairman of the organization.
"If you go back to Guy, in my
early days with NAMA, when he
was leading, I'd be in a meeting and
would feel like, 'We have all this information, let's make the decision.'
"Today I have a different appreciation, which is that it is so healthy to
have people voice their opinion, for
opinions to be shared and issues debated. The strength of the final decision is that much better, versus a quick
impulse. I put more value into the process today."
The individual Mr. Maass said was
his mentor in trading and the manager helping him transition to head
flour milling was Gregory A. Heckman, currently the chief executive officer of Gavilon L.L.C., the trading and
grain merchandising business spun
off from ConAgra Foods in 2008. Mr.
Heckman, too, is an "alum" of the feed
ingredients business at ConAgra.
"Greg asked me to run flour milling in 2003," he said. "He had just
taken responsibility for the business, and in the years before that
there had been a lot of turnover in
the position. Maybe fortunately for
my career, there has been less turnover more recently."
While his period leading ConAgra
Mills represents a reasonably small
proportion of the time he has been
with ConAgra Foods, the time was
eventful for the milling business.
Asked what his focus was while
head of ConAgra Mills, Mr. Maass
instantly responded with the word
"innovation."
"It has been a big focus of mine,
beginning with product innovation," he said. "I'm proud of our
leadership around whole grains and
the launch of Ultragrain and some
of the products we have, but beyond
that, getting a very mature business
within ConAgra Foods to challenge
ourselves to think differently, be
creative and innovative and get that
into our culture. If you did a before
and after, I'd say that was missing in
the past. Today, there is much more

of an expectation of all our employees. We value creative thought, continuous improvement. When I say
innovation, it is about product and
also about processes, being more effective and efficient, and improved
customer execution."
While ConAgra's efforts have
helped the company enhance relations with customers, circumstances
have played a meaningful role too,
Mr. Maass said.
"More than in the past, customers
recognize the amount of risk inherent in business," he said. "Their appreciation increased dramatically in
2008 when wheat went to record high
levels. That's the dynamic. As far as
what ConAgra Mills has done, we
have focused on managing, having
the right skill sets to manage the procurement of our wheat and the risk
around it and effectively pricing for
our customers. It's a standard line,
but I say our customer's success is
our success. If we can understand our
customers enough to brainstorm with
them, to understand what they are
protecting against, risks they face and
what things we can do to help them
mitigate that, that is where we've invested fair amount of time, effort."
An example Mr. Maass cited was
recognition of ConAgra Mills by a
non-customer, McDonald's.
"McDonald's recognized ConAgra
Mills with a System First Award, for
helping save them $200 million in
2008," he said. "We assisted with their
decision-making process and advised
them through the McDonald's Bakery
Council."
Another area of progress at
ConAgra Mills over the course of
his tenure was the physical condition of the company's mills, Mr.
Maass said. Again, he attributed
part of the improvement to "luck."
"In 2003, things weren't so good at
the mills, but through some innovation, through some luck, we've made
progress," he said. "The milling business is performing better, and that's
allowing us to reinvest in the business
in a big way. Some of it is catching up
for lost time. It's been gratifying that
every project I've wanted to do, from
the point of view from an investment
in the business, the c.e.o., c.f.o. supported, absolutely. That hasn't always
been the case at ConAgra.
"In the past, my predecessors
here, to be fair, were handcuffed.
With a very mature business, getting
capital to invest is not easy. I said
Continued on Page 20
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