RIBUS President, Steve Peirce is a proud Forever Blue Network member (National FFA Organization) and was recently featured in their May Five Questions series. The FFA Forever Blue Network is about reconnecting with those who made a difference in your life, reaching out to those you can impact now and finding a new world of opportunities. As a result, their series Five Questions explores the lives of Forever Blue Network members.
Q1: What are some of the biggest professional challenges you have faced, and how did/does your FFA background help navigate those?
Steve: Leading an organization and blazing a new trail. As a former manager within a major corporation and now as a co-founder of a smaller company, leadership is critical. Starting a company from scratch requires vision, confidence and reliance on resources. These are the things I observed in FFA. At state and national conventions, seeing people my age leading the convention, their ag projects, their business and younger students.
Q2: What made you decide your career path?
Steve: By observing people I knew in agriculture, I developed a deep respect for their honesty, accomplishments and the way they conducted themselves. As I prepared for college and employment, I knew I wanted to be in agriculture. FFA was a vehicle to prepare me for where I wanted to go.
Q3: As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Steve: A “professional.” At first, I thought it would be a professional football player; that did not happen. As I saw what opportunities were available in agriculture, I never looked back. I was determined to become a professional in “agribusiness.” I have been blessed and have had the opportunity to see much of the world representing U.S. agriculture in the food and dietary supplement industry.
Q4: What is your favorite FFA memory?
Steve: Going to my first area leadership camp as a state FFA officer. I forgot to bring my own bedsheets. The state sentinel was quick to let me know that I was not staying at the Holiday Inn. He and I still laugh about it today.
Q5: Why do you support FFA?
Steve: It is an opportunity to “give back” to an organization that gave me so much.
