MANRRS Alumni Spotlight - Ryan Locke

Sarah Spradlin (SS): Give me a quick look into your story growing up.

Ryan Locke (RL): We were Federal brats.  Most people know Army brat or Navy brat as a term but we use Federal brat because both parents were employed by the government.  My Dad is retired from the Army, and my mother was with investigations and program development with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development before she retired.  That meant a lot of moves.  While I was born in Seattle, we lived in Alaska, California, Virginia, Alabama, Texas, and Colorado just to name a few places.  

We were raised to treat every opportunity to see or experience something new as an adventure and to be willing to leave your comfort zone to follow opportunities that make sense.  I had intended to return to school on the west coast but ended up at Texas A&M for my undergrad (Animal Science).  We had a lot of family tragedy as I graduated high school, and I wanted to be close to home to help out.  It ended up being a great decision as I loved all my time there.  

These days I make my home in Delaware.  I live just outside of Wilmington in Bear.  A lot of people don’t think or know a lot about Delaware but it really is in the center of everything when it comes to the northeast United States.  One thing I love is travel and from Delaware you are two hours or less from D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC and everywhere in between.  You’re two hours from the beach in the summer and the mountains in winter.  You can even do day trips to Boston and upper New England with enough planning and thought.  I love being able to change my perspective and interact with the unique cultural pockets of the northeast.  It’s one of the many reasons I enjoy what I do as I’m often off the beaten path interacting with growers and local communities and really getting a feel for what makes an area unique that you don’t always see if you’re in a major city.  

To be honest a shorter list would be things I don’t enjoy doing.  Having lived in a lot of places I’ve gotten to experience a lot of different things.  If I had to narrow it down I’d say travel, art and museums, reading, and outdoor activities (I snowboard and am working on being a better golfer...definite work in progress).  I also got certified to Scuba Dive about five years ago so always try to carve out time to do that.  It’s really the one activity I do where I totally disconnect from the world.  Phone and email don’t work 100ft below sea level and the natural beauty of some of the dive sites and reefs around the world are without comparison.

SS: What’s your MANRRS story?

RL: I think in a way my MANRRS story is unique.  I wasn’t active at all in college.  I knew a lot of the members; however, the rule of our house was your education belongs to you and so you should invest in it.  In other words, we worked our way through college and our parents paid for living expenses.  However, to pay for tuition, books, and car for a full-time schedule at a flagship institution still required 50+ hour work weeks.  However, the chapter members never let me feel unconnected and sometimes would even stop by my job after meetings to update me on what was going on or just so I felt included.  Once I became a working professional, it was critical to me to become more involved, and I was pleased to be able to do just that.  I’ve sat on the Alumni Committee, judged the Chapter of the Year and Impromptu Speaking competitions at the National Level and mentor several undergrad and graduate members.  I am always blown away by the creativity and effort our members put into what they bring forward.  It makes me very happy to see the future of the industries we represent and of the organization are in such capable hands.  I think my proudest moment has seen seeing the group evolve for the new era.  Seeing our young professionals step up and shape the future of what MANRRS can and should be.  We have a great foundation based on what we have done.  Now it’s time to see what we can DO!

SS: Where are you now?

RL: These days I’m the District Sales Manager for Bayer’s CropScience division for the Colonial District which encompasses what most consider the northeast US (Maine to Virginia).  I have a team of five very talented sales reps who call on growers and retailers representing our brands and innovation.  I’ll have been in the role 3 years come February, and it’s been a phenomenal and challenging opportunity.  The northeast is very diverse both culturally and agriculturally.  We grow everything except citrus fruits and some are even trying to do that in small scale greenhouses.  My days are anything but typical but that’s what I really enjoy about my job.  I may be in business meetings, walking a corn or soybean field, in an apple orchard, or wading though a cranberry bog.  I’ve always been one who likes to touch all aspects of something I’m involved in so I’m probably more hands on and in the day to day than most managers but I also try to stay out of their way.  I hate to be micromanaged and so I try to be the manager I’d want to have to my team.

 SS: How have you stayed involved with MANRRS even after you graduated?

RL: For the most part I’ve just tried to be accessible and available.  MANRRS isn’t one person or one chapter, and there are so many different ways to carry the message forward.  As I have moved through different organizations in my career I have endeavored to always not only tell the MANRRS story but be the best example of what investing and recruiting from an organization like this provides.  I make it a point to block out the National Conference dates as soon as they are announced and am proud to have not missed a National Conference since becoming a professional member.  I also try to engage and reach out to members at the conference and locally when I’m out and about in my travels.  

SS: As you reflect, what would you say you learned in MANRRS that helped make the transition from student to professional easier?

RL: Since I wasn’t directly involved in college that’s a difficult question to answer.  What I can say is that the example I saw in the members I was friends with was inspiring.  As I saw them prepare to graduate and do interviews, it made me work that much harder because I wanted to achieve what they were achieving.  I don’t think the transition to the professional word can be made easier as it’s a pretty jarring transition but having the support network I found from MANRRS members definitely made it manageable.

SS: Is there something you use every day that you learned in MANRRS?

RL: I would say just the example MANRRS sets that hard work reaps benefits and to not forget those you can help along the way.  It’s important to me to reach back and help support those that want to get involved in Agriculture and the Related Sciences.  It’s a great industry with great people and huge opportunities for those that believe in hard work and doing good business.  

SS: For students who are still in MANRRS, what advice do you have to them now that you’ve graduated? 

RL: Learn EVERYTHING and if something interests you TRY IT.  As the next generation enters the work force, the opportunities really are endless.  I would have never thought I’d work in agriculture but when the opportunity presented itself I leapt at it and I have never regretted it.  Nothing is forever (no job or location posting) and success is the best leverage anyone can have in the business world.  My first job in the industry I lived in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  Probably not on my top 10 list at the time but I worked hard and when the time came I got to pick my future and I’m still doing that today.

SS: Imagine you’re interviewing someone for the position you currently hold. What types of skills and experience are you looking for? What kinds of questions would you ask them?

RL: As a manager you really have to be able to flex into a lot of different roles.  You’re a business man, a counselor, a coach, a tactician, and an advocate.  I consider my team as a second family and we are very close.  I never wanted to be a manager to be “the boss,” and I actually hate that word.  I’m the coach and we have a job to do and each of us is a part of that success story, I just get to call the plays.  So with that said, some of the skills I would be looking for is empathy, innovative thinking, a curious and inquisitive mind, and a love of people.  Some of the questions I would ask is how they have worked through problems in the past both personally and professionally.  How comfortable they are when the picture isn’t 100% clear.  Can they make a decision with 70% of the information and have contingency in place to change direction on the fly?  The business world moves very fast no matter where you work, but in agriculture we deal with another variable that always makes it interesting and that is Mother Nature.  Being able to navigate through ambiguity and still get to the objective is a critical skill for anyone to have but it’s critical to be able to think on your feet in this industry.

SS: What gets you out of the bed each morning?

RL: My biggest motivators are my team and my customers.  My team is so passionate about what we do for and with our customers and it’s very energizing and inspiring.  I think it’s often underestimated how many hats a farmer wears.  They have such a wealth of knowledge and experience that they apply to feeding the world everyday and being a part of that is something that has always driven me.  When I get home exhausted at the end of a 16 hour day or a week of ridiculous travel I think about what my work was a part of doing and that’s feeding the world...my family, their family, and your family.  If that doesn’t make you want to kick the covers off and put the best foot forward in your day, I don’t know what will!

SS: You can buy a plane ticket to anywhere in the world—where would you go and why?

Do I have to pick just one place?  I’m blessed that travel is pretty fundamental to what I do so I get to see a lot of places.  I pick something new every year and try to do it in each place I visit whether it’s chocolate makers, craft brewers, art museums, or hiking trails.  A lot of people think work travel is all glamour but it’s really a lot of sleeping in a strange bed and trying to stay healthy eating out.  Plus, you don’t get to really experience a city from a hotel or conference room.  I always try to carve a little time out to explore even if it’s just an hour before I head to the airport.  If I had to pick one place though it would be the Pacific Northwest.  I have always felt a certain energy when I’m there.  Maybe it’s the air, or the people, or because it’s the region of my birth but it calls to me.  I love taking advantage of any opportunity to get back to Washington, Oregon, or Idaho.  I recently got to spend some extended time in Montana and really fell in love with the unspoiled expanse of it all.  Maybe some exotic paradise sounds more exciting, and I have loved traveling to South America, Europe, and Asia.  At heart, I’m more of a homebody...a trait that probably would surprise most people with how much I’m on the road but being at “home” whether it be the metaphor I made about the Pacific Northwest or just on my couch in Delaware with my dogs, it’s great to get to just recharge the batteries.