For nearly three decades, Julie Krivanek has occupied a singular position inside the fresh produce industry. She is not an operator, grower, or buyer, but one of the few advisors with long-standing access to the industry’s senior leadership, boardrooms, and succession conversations. Through her firm, Krivanek Consulting, she has worked closely with CEOs, VPs, and boards across the globe, shaping how produce companies think about leadership, strategy, and continuity.
Her influence is perhaps best known through her long association with the United Fresh Produce Association (which in 2022 merged with the Produce Marketing Association to create the International Fresh Produce Association), where she played a central role in the Executive Leadership Program, working with high-potential leaders at critical moments in their careers. In 2016, Krivanek was recognized as a 2016 Women in Produce honoree by United Fresh, a reflection of both her longevity and her impact on leadership development across the sector.
Her path into the produce industry, however, was anything but planned. After leaving the energy industry, where she had been part of a high-potential general management track at subsidiaries of energy-giant Amoco Corporation, Krivanek launched her consulting practice focused on strategy and leadership. She was working primarily with technology companies when a call in 1995 shifted the direction of her career. Asked to speak to a group of produce executives participating in a DuPont-backed leadership program, she arrived for what she still calls “Day One, Hour One, Class One” and, as she puts it, “fell deeply in love with the industry.”
That connection was personal as well as professional. Krivanek’s grandparents were farmers in what was then Czechoslovakia before immigrating to the United States and opening a grocery business. “We were food people,” she says. “When you’re eating breakfast, you talk about lunch. When you’re eating lunch, you talk about dinner.” Within a day, she made a decisive choice. “I fired all my other clients. Literally in one day.”
Krivanek grew up in Chicago and earned her undergraduate degree in general management from Purdue University, with a minor in market research. She later completed a graduate degree in interpersonal communication at the University of Denver, a combination that grounds her work in both analytical rigor and human behavior. Today, based in Denver, she works exclusively with the produce industry. As companies confront questions of succession, consolidation, and leadership readiness, her perspective reflects decades of close observation across cycles of growth, disruption, and change.
When you look back, what first shaped your approach to leadership and strategic thinking? Was there a defining moment?
It wasn’t a gradual evolution. It was the very specific development I received in the energy industry.
We were a subsidiary of Amoco, so this was not a small operation. Out of thousands of employees, there were five of us selected for a high-potential program. What they did was expand on our general management training.
Most people confuse leadership and management. They are very different things, and that distinction was made very clear. We were taught what strategy actually is and how to think about a strategic plan in a meaningful way.
After that, each of us was placed where the company saw potential. In my case, it was labor relations, where I worked as a negotiator. Later, the company acquired a mining business and moved operations to Denver, and I joined a small mergers and acquisitions team.
Looking back, I realize how valuable that formal, structured training was. It’s something I find missing in some executive rooms within the produce industry. Ours is very much an earn-as-you-learn business, often built around family enterprises.
Over the years, I’ve looked inside dozens of produce companies. I’ll ask why something is done a certain way, and the answer is often, “My grandfather did it this way,” or “My grandmother did that.”
That can absolutely be addressed through training and development. It’s not a flaw, but it does explain why classic, formal leadership education has been so influential in how I approach my work.
What is your vision for the future of the produce industry? Where would you like it to be in 10 or 20 years?
There are several dynamics I’d like to see the industry fully embrace. The first, without question, is succession.
I work with a lot of boards, both public and private, and their core question for the CEO is always the same: Who is your successor, and what are you doing to prepare that person?
The data is sobering. Seventy percent of small businesses fail to transition successfully. Two-thirds of family businesses have no succession plan. Fewer than 25% of private companies have a plan at all. And 75% of senior leaders worry their business would not survive the sudden exit of the owner.
That’s not just a produce problem. That’s a business problem.
For me, stewardship means helping leaders find a meaningful next act. You can’t go forever. At some point, the business outgrows the leader, or the leader outgrows the role. That means being willing to bring in external talent, even in family businesses where it’s often assumed the next generation will take over.
So the first part of my vision is this: prepare people properly, and prepare the top person to let go. That means handing off key functional areas and saying, “I took the business here. I expect you to take it there.” We should be hiring people who are better than us and giving them the latitude to move the business forward.
Beyond leadership, what other shifts do you see shaping the industry’s future?
The second dynamic is a collision between sustainability and plastic. Since the pandemic, sensitivity around food handling has driven an explosion in plastic packaging. We’re working against our own stated goals, and that tension has to be resolved.
The third is the comeback of taste. Have you bought a tomato recently? Many taste like a tennis ball. Flavor has taken a back seat. Yes, varietal innovation is happening, but that’s a long game.
The real vision is breeding products that people genuinely want to eat. “My kids will eat those blueberries.” “I want to cook with that.” Volume alone can’t be the goal.
You can already see it with Driscoll’s Sweetest Batch blueberries. They were sweeter by accident. Leaders recognized it and said, “Why don’t we grow more of these?” They’re expensive, and people don’t care. Kids can’t stop eating them. That, for me, is the magic.
The produce supply chain faces unique challenges, from perishability to constant disruption. How does that shape the executive mindset you see among produce leaders?
If we’re not careful, the mindset becomes reactive. It turns into “oh no, the truck is late,” or “here’s today’s crisis.” You see that even at senior levels — leaders reacting to the problem of the moment instead of lifting their heads and looking forward.
To avoid that, leaders need a strong foundational platform so they don’t slip back into constant reaction. I focus on identifying which functional skill sets are missing and where leaders may have gaps, using feedback and assessment.
I often use a basketball analogy. At its core, the game is dribble, pass, shoot. It doesn’t get more complicated than that. Even the best teams drill the fundamentals before moving on to advanced strategy.
It’s the same with leadership. I’ll say to clients, not as a criticism but honestly, “You have some gaps here. Let’s fix them.”
When you talk about foundations, what capabilities matter most for produce executives?
My passion is working with top executives who can truly move mountains. I work from the VP level up, and when you look at emerging leaders early, you can prevent gaps from forming 20 years down the line.
I look at a few core areas. Emotional intelligence is one. Are you self-aware? Do you work in a way that doesn’t exhaust or alienate people? Strategic thinking is another. People use the word “strategy” constantly, but very few actually understand it. Strategy is about the future, not today’s tactics.
To make development less threatening, I describe it as “still you, only better.” When people receive feedback and understand themselves, it’s not a deal breaker. It’s an opportunity.
Once leaders have a solid foundation, they start asking, “Now what?” That’s where real progress happens.
Wonderful Citrus, for example, developed seedless lemons. Leaders with a sturdy platform looked at a lemon and said, “What do you do with a lemon?” Then they committed to a long varietal effort, about 10 years, because, as they saw it, “It’s a pain in the neck to have all these seeds. Let’s figure out how to take them out.”
For me, that’s thrilling.
And at the senior level, where do blind spots tend to appear?
At the senior level, the blind spot is comfort. “We’re fine. We’re making money.” Or, “I can keep doing what I’m good at forever.” That leads to being frozen, complacent, and locked into the status quo. I think, tick tock.
I’ve worked with companies that were comfortable, and 10 years later, you see the consequences. The blind spot is thinking everything is OK and that you can run a business the same way it’s been run for generations. That’s not true.
The pandemic made this impossible to ignore. Before it, many leaders talked about diversification, but were still heavily reliant on foodservice. When the foodservice industry collapsed, it shocked everyone.
That part of the economy is recovering, but it will never return to pre-2020 levels. We still compare everything to 2019 because it felt real, but the lesson is broader.
It’s not enough to say you want to move mountains. You need a reality check on what you’re doing right now. If you get that reality check and don’t listen, act, and implement change, it eventually becomes too late. I hate to sound like a harbinger, but that’s what we’ve seen again and again.
CEOs face intense pressure to deliver results. In your experience, what differentiates leaders who achieve sustainable impact from those who burn out or plateau?
I’m a market research geek, so I pay attention to CEO longevity. These are tough jobs. When people say it’s lonely at the top, they’re not kidding. You see leaders staring out the window, thinking about what needs to happen next.
Burnout is real. Average CEO tenure has dropped from seven years to six, and it’s still declining. Family businesses are different. You can’t just say, “I quit,” so tenure tends to be longer.
What differentiates the CEOs who don’t flame out comes down to focus. If you focus on everything, you’ve focused on nothing. When a CEO says, “This is happening, that is happening, and this is happening,” they’ve already entered the burnout track.
The leaders who last say, “We’re going to do these two things, and we’re going to do them well.” They don’t spread themselves thin.
The second factor is discernment around busy work. Too many leaders get lost in meetings and reports that have nothing to do with where the business is going. Time is precious. When leaders let it get eaten up by low-value activity, the whole organization follows that rhythm, and everyone burns out.
Another critical skill is the ability to say no. Even at the CEO level, people want to be liked and admired, so they say yes too often. At the very least, I’ll say, “Let me think about it,” which is usually code for no.
Then there’s delegation. You don’t need your fingerprints on everything. You need strong people around you and to be comfortable with things being done differently. Leaders who are stuck in ego lose the ability to say, “I trust you.” Those are the leaders who get fried. They burn out, and suddenly they’re gone.
You mentioned emotional intelligence earlier. What practical steps can leaders take to build a more emotionally aware organization?
Do it yourself. Senior executives emulate the top, and the rest of the organization follows. It’s like parenting. If the parents are a mess, the kids don’t magically turn out differently.
For leaders who focus on culture statements or words on the wall, I say, forget that for a moment. Look at how you are showing up. That behavior ripples through the organization.
One of the best examples I’ve seen is Wegmans. After lockdown, I offered one hour of my time to executives who had been through leadership programs. I expected maybe five people to respond. Three hundred did.
I spoke with someone from Wegmans and asked how they were holding up when so many people were struggling. She said, “We’re fine.” When I asked why, she said, “We go back to our values. Our No. 1 value is employees first.”
That wasn’t just a slogan. They live it. That, to me, is culture done right.
What conditions need to exist before a company can meaningfully change?
There are really two paths. One is when people are enlightened, open-minded, and genuinely excited about future possibilities and trends. That mindset does exist, and I see it in many places across our industry.
The other path is pressure through adversity. And here’s the analogy I use.
Imagine someone who is 400 pounds goes to the doctor, and the doctor says, “This is it. You’re diabetic, your heart is failing, and you might not make it another year.” That’s when people say, “Oh my God, it’s real this time.”
Unfortunately, that’s how humans often work. Pressure comes through adversity. I hate that for businesses, because it’s far better when change comes from awareness and anticipation. Too often, by the time adversity forces action, it’s simply too late.
You don’t want change to come because you’re in a crisis. You want it to come because you’re forward-looking. You see what needs to be fixed, and you fix it. Or you see what’s coming, and you prepare.
You’ve spoken about the need to anticipate change. How should leaders think about technology and big structural shifts like AI?
I say this over and over again: AI is coming. People still react with fear, asking, “Oh no, what should we do?” The better question is, “Who should we be watching?”
Take Walmart. They have a very clear strategy: low cost. Everything else happens behind the curtain. They recently rolled out a generative AI shopping assistant called Sparky. Customers don’t see the complexity behind it. They just see something helpful, and it’s driving sales.
There’s nothing new or mysterious about this. We’ve been talking about AI for 10 years. They’re just executing.
Now compare that with companies like Taylor Farms. These are executives who can truly move mountains. They didn’t try to build everything internally. They bought FarmWise, a tech company in Salinas, and acquired a similar company in the U.K. They’re watching what’s happening and making bold moves.
That’s what moving mountains really means. It’s making the big moves now to position for future growth and prosperity. It’s not about month-to-month adjustments.
Looking ahead 10 years, what will be most important for the produce industry to get right? Are there dynamics that don’t get discussed enough?
What I don’t want to see happen, and it’s already happening, is executives losing the ability to embrace bold moves and big ideas about the future.
Instead, what happens is consolidation. You see it clearly, especially among wholesale distributors. In many cases, leaders whom I expected to keep moving mountains have simply run out of runway. That’s not a criticism. They’ve done a great job. But the future keeps pulling unless you say no.
There is good news in consolidation. But the next question is, now what? What happens after consolidation, and how does that benefit the consumer?
At the same time, we’re seeing the rise of true food technology companies. That’s real, and it’s accelerating. The question is how that intersects with companies that are doing excellent day-to-day work.
Food is fundamental. What is more vital than the food supply? But the assumption that if we sell something, people will eat it is no longer safe. Ultra-processed alternatives, changing preferences, and more choice are all challenging that old thinking.
How should companies rethink culture and leadership practices to stay competitive in this post-pandemic era?
Here’s the reality about culture. There’s visible culture and invisible culture. The visible culture is what’s written on the website. The invisible culture is what actually runs the company, whether it’s functional or dysfunctional.
People don’t tell the truth to the very top. It’s intimidating. So if the C-suite and the board really want to understand what’s happening, they have to uncover the invisible culture and be willing to address it.
That means listening below the C-suite. Walk the plant floor. Talk to people. Ask how they’re doing. Many senior leaders are strangely distant from frontline workers.
Third-party assessments can help, especially when they’re anonymous. You want to know what’s really going on. And it’s not all bad. Often there are wonderful things happening. If there’s a flaw, fix it. If the culture is strong, celebrate it.
Leadership development follows the same logic. Don’t assume that because someone has reached a certain level, they have the capabilities required for the next one.
The same holds true in leadership as it does in learning. Someone may function well at one level but never develop the foundational skills needed to move forward. Business acumen is a big one.
A healthy leadership culture constantly asks, what’s next? What needs to be rethought? Things that worked five years ago may not work now. That openness and curiosity, the willingness to say, “This served us well, but maybe it doesn’t anymore,” is essential.
If you could offer one challenge to produce executives reading this interview, what would it be?
It’s my war cry. I had to do this myself. I shifted my own business to focus on executive development and succession planning, because I believe in it that strongly.
My challenge is simple: New year, new vision. Don’t rinse and repeat.
Every year, reassess your vision. Don’t make it small or safe. I had the same vision for 30 years, and after the pandemic, I stopped and reflected. I incubated a new concept for three years. This isn’t something that comes to you over a holiday cocktail. It takes real thought.
So my challenge is this: Ask yourself whether there is a new vision for you, for the people you lead, and for the organization you are stewarding.
To me, that is the most profound work a leader can do.