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TONY
L. ARNOLD
president
& CEO, The Solae Company |
"SOY MAN"
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By Pam Droog
Tony Arnold always was fascinated by agriculture. Throughout college
and beyond he put in thousands of hours in the laboratory conducting
research on plants. But, he realized, “you spend a lot of time alone
in the lab, and getting results can take a very long time.”
So Arnold traded the lab for people and products, ultimately landing
in St. Louis, where he is president and CEO of The Solae Company,
which was created by two pioneering companies in the soy-protein
industry: Bunge, the leading oilseed producer in the Americas, and
DuPont, the premier developer and producer of soy proteins. Solae
recently named St. Louis its world corporate headquarters.
ONE COMPANY, MANY JOBS
Memphis-born Arnold grew up in Nashville and earned a B.S. in plant
and soil science and an M.S. in soil chemistry at the University
of Tennessee in Knoxville. He planned to be a researcher or teacher.
But when he shifted to the commercial side of agriculture, he wound
up at American Cyanamid in 1980, where he built an impressive resume
over the next 20 years.
Arnold started out in technical sales of herbicides and insecticides
in six Southern states. In 1984 he moved to New Jersey where he
worked on regulatory issues.
“It was a dramatic change, but a tremendous learning curve that
gave me a broader scope beyond the Midwest and South,” Arnold says.
Two years later he was in for another dramatic change—moving to
Des Moines to coordinate research with universities and American
Cyanamid’s sales and marketing teams. After another two years Arnold
was back in New Jersey where he helped form joint ventures with
other companies, then held a number of product manager positions.
He also managed the company’s United States Forestry Service business,
briefly returned to Memphis, then went back to New Jersey to join
the company’s international division.
When the company was sold to BASF Global Agricultural Products in
2001, Arnold was named group vice president with the same international
marketing responsibilities. He also was co-lead during the integration
of the American Cyanamid business—an experience he called upon,
as Bunge Limited and DuPont (which Arnold joined in 2002) formed
an alliance to create The Solae Company in 2003.
“I went through a lot of moves and a lot of jobs, but when I look
back I can see what I got out of each one,” Arnold says, “and the
experience helps me every day.”
SOY APPEAL
When Arnold arrived at Solae last June he found a company well positioned
to benefit from consumers’ desire for tasty, nutritious and convenient
foods. “Our research behind the benefits of soy is so exceptional,
it doesn’t take consumers long to see that soy provides what they’re
looking for,” he says.
In fact, shoppers can find Solae-brand soy protein isolate and concentrate,
lecithin and fiber in more than 35 food products—including meat
and poultry products, consumer food items, dairy alternatives and
nutritional products.
“We use the Solae Brand as a trust mark on packaging, like Intel
inside,” Arnold explains. “With more than 30 years of scientific
research behind it, consumers who buy products containing Solae
brand soy protein know they are choosing great-tasting foods that
are good for their families and are easy to include in their everyday
lives.”
By the way, he notes soy has been a staple in Asian diets for thousands
of years. “They like the taste of soy there,” he says. “In the United
States and Europe, however, people don’t like the beany flavor,
so we try to take it out.”
At Solae, Arnold also found more than 3,000 employees in more than
80 countries worldwide who are “extremely customer focused and excited
about their work,” he says. “They come to work every day with a
passion.”
He communicates with them through Solae’s global leadership team,
as well as by e-mail and intranet town-hall meetings. He also travels
extensively, visiting plants in China, Brazil, the U.S. and Europe.
When he is in town, Arnold spends time getting acquainted with his
new home. He’s impressed with what’s going on downtown. “That played
a lot in our decision to locate the company there,” he says. “We
are excited to see the development downtown such as the buildings
being refurbished and the infrastructure improvements.”
His family—wife, Mary, and young sons—also are settling in. “We
were really impressed with what St. Louis has to offer,” he says.
As for his “Solae family,” Arnold says he is anxious to get the
company up and running efficiently. “We have a significant opportunity
here in the marketplace and the faster we become integrated, the
faster we can realize growth and create opportunities for ourselves
and our customers.”
Pam Droog is a frequent contributor to St. Louis Commerce Magazine.
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