C-Suite: Focus On Collaboration, Not Credit
Mark Lyons became CEO of Alltech in 2018. He succeeded his father and company founder, Pearse. In a partnership announced in mid-June, Helm Agro will provide marketing, distribution and technical support for Alltech Crop Science’s biological products.
What is your business philosophy?
A big part of our philosophy revolves around entrepreneurialism and making sure culture remains strong throughout the business. As companies grow bigger, they become more bureaucratic and slow down in terms of decision-making. We want to have an empowered, entrepreneurial front line. The other word that comes to mind is collaboration. The world has become too connected for one company to say it is going to do it on its own.
How has the business changed over the years?
When I joined officially in 2001, we were going through a major push to broaden and add more technological capabilities. We were building our own production facilities, and I was involved in establishing a fermentation facility in Mexico, assisting with a large acquisition in Serbia and building a new yeast facility in Brazil.
Our growth cycle has allowed us to get closer to the end user and speed up innovation. In one regard, it’s the same family company, but we now have 5,000 people involved. That requires a certain discipline and determination on the part of management to keep our ethos in place.
What is your personal leadership style?
What was most important to my father was Alltech and its people would make a difference in our customers’ lives and in the communities in which our people live and work. We want our people to be empowered to make a difference, and we want to look back on the impact and see it was something we did together—focused on collaboration, not credit.
What will the business look like in 20 years?
Alltech will continue to focus on the fundamentals. Our science is the core of the business. Our team is so focused on curiosity and thinking about things in different ways that if we have an idea from outside, we can adapt it and make it part of our system. I also see us getting involved in some new areas, such as human life science, which could expand our ability to improve quality of life and create new avenues of growth. I also think there are many ag technologies that Alltech could partner with in the future. It doesn’t necessarily mean we have to own 100% of those businesses, but we’re offering a way to connect different parts of the industry.
