Westrock Coffee Company

Leading with Sustainability and Strategic Insight

Stewarding relationships with both farmers at the origin of our supply chain and customers at its end has pushed me to think constantly about our full impact on the global food and beverage industry. Paying attention to details while understanding the full scope has broadened how I tackle issues of any size and how I lead my teams to consider the bigger picture we fit into.

From a leadership perspective, it forces me to be methodical and intentional to take in the entire context before I make a decision, whether that decision influences the start of the supply chain, the consumer at the very end or our own team.

Challenges in Embedding Sustainability into Business Strategy

The biggest challenge comes when sustainability is bolted onto a business strategy after the fact, rather than built in from the start. For us, we opened Westrock Coffee and Rwanda Trading Company to solve systemic sustainability and economic responsibility problems from the ground up—so the bolt-on method was never our path.

The real challenge for an organization as large as ours is keeping the real impact of our daily decisions front and center across our teams. With sourcing, sales, operations, finance, risk management, and sustainability all making complex daily decisions, we have to help the whole organization see the stakes — many decisions can either expand or narrow growth opportunities for our supply chain partners.

"The real focus needs to be building a more viable, more resilient food and beverage industry for all of us, from farmer to consumer."

Using Data and Insights for Sustainable Decision-Making

Consumer insights aren't just shaping what gets developed. They’re also shaping how we position the coffee and tea from our responsible supply chains. Then the data we're collecting from the field—farm economics, regenerative agriculture progression, farm performance, supply resilience —that's what gives consumers a tangible connection to the people and places that created their product.

The data closes the loop. It proves the impact, which is what keeps them engaged and coming back. So consumer data and insights drive how we position our farmer partners' raw materials, and the field data we monitor pushes that story and connection to consumers in a way that keeps them invested in purchasing sustainable products.

Key Trends Shaping the Future of Sustainability

It's not so much about tracking trend lines in sustainability. It’s about how we're operating today and planning to operate tomorrow. Several major compliance requirements are currently evolving—EPR packaging regulations and EUDR, for example.

Focus on proving compliance with requirements can push effort and money into tracking supply chains as they are, rather than helping them transition to what they should be.

The real focus needs to be on building a viable, resilient food and beverage industry that fosters conservation agriculture, human rights protections, and economically stable farms. Sometimes that means spending less energy on the next compliance mechanism and more on getting into the field and doing the work.

Advice for Future Sustainability and ESG Leaders

I have found that there will always be infinitely more to learn than I can contribute. So my advice would be to listen more than you speak. When you listen, your context starts to grow large enough to connect the dots across complex issues. This helps you and those around you understand how to be effective in building scalable, sustainable solutions.