Chances are the origins of your morning omelet were influenced by a BYU grad. After all, Craig Willardson oversees twenty-five million laying hens and is doing all he can for the incredible, edible egg.
A 1979 accounting graduate, Willardson made the jump from public accounting to the food industry a few years after graduation, working in the corporate offices of Denny’s and for a number of egg farms. He is now CEO of Moark, a Land O’Lakes subsidiary and a leading national producer, processor, and marketer of fresh shell eggs. There he oversees 1,100 employees and more than $600 million in annual revenue.
“Egg distribution is not a mundane businessit’s very dynamic,” Willardson says. “We have some of the biggest retail customers in the country, like Walmart, Costco, and Kroger.”
Meeting with customers is one of Willardson’s favorite parts of the job because he says that’s where he can understand the company’s success. He also enjoys working with the various management teams and traveling around the country for field visits—Moark’s hens spread from California to Maine.
One of Willardson’s best trips, however, didn’t land him in the henhouse but in the White House. Willardson had recently finished his two-year term as chair of the American Egg Board and, per tradition, was invited to the White House Easter Egg Roll to present the annual commemorative egg to the First Lady and her family in 2010 and 2011.
“It’s a privilege to present award-winning eggs to the first family,” Willardson says, adding that it is a chance to see his product take center stage at the White House’s largest annual event.
Willardson’s time as AEB chair also gave him opportunities to lead the research and promotion arm of the entire egg industry, an organization mandated by the USDA.
Willardson also helps his company play a role in the community. Last year, Moark donated one million eggs to food banks nationwide around Easter. It also donated smaller amounts of eggs to needy areas throughout the year, and employees regularly volunteer their time at local food banks.
“It’s a great opportunity to have the employees forget about themselves for a while and get involved in a service project,” he says.
Willardson and his wife, Betsy, a 1978 BYU marketing graduate, have four children and live in Yorba Linda, California, where Willardson enjoys skiing, golfing, gardening, and frying his eggs sunny side up.
