Few leaders have shot up as fierce advocates of Alberta’s agriculture industry quite like UFA President & CEO Scott Bolton. After moving from a decades-long career at Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Scott joined UFA in 2014 as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. And just a few months before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Scott stepped into the role of President & CEO at UFA.
Despite starting his CEO career during one of the most challenging situations, the leadership lessons and philosophies that Scott employs have been inspired in many ways by his father and are grounded and true to his own values, including open, honest and transparent communication and leading by example. One area in Scott’s life where this becomes clear is in his passion for creating inclusive workplaces, especially for those with developmental disabilities.
Leading one of Alberta’s oldest organizations—UFA started in 1909—is no easy feat, and the ag industry has gone through some considerable challenges over the course of the pandemic. However, Scott remains committed to ensuring that agriculture is not only positioned as a leader in Alberta’s recovery but is a thriving sector that contributes solutions to many of the world’s big challenges.
Forward-looking, Scott harnesses the embedded progressiveness of the organization and remains unrelenting in telling the story of the industry to Canada and beyond. Supporting the producers who feed the world is not just a brand slogan for Scott and his team at UFA; it’s a promise—and one that Scott Bolton is deeply committed to.
To read more about the history of UFA and its mission to support farmers, visit: https://coop.ufa.com/our-roots
In this episode:
- Scott’s journey from accounting to the C-Suite
- Scott’s leadership philosophy and how COVID has shaped this
- A day in the life of Scott, the CEO
- Scott’s passion for creating inclusive workplaces
- Brief history of UFA—from political party to farmer’s co-operative
- The unique value of being a co-operative
- Current state of agriculture in Alberta
- Future of the sector in Alberta
- Value of value-add in agri-food
- Growth of ag tech in the industry
- Importance of connectivity in rural Alberta
- Ag and sustainability
- What’s next for UFA
Resources mentioned:
- Inclusion Alberta
- Strategic Action. Plan. An Industry Plan to Grow Agriculture & Forestry in Alberta
- PODCAST: Episode #018: Feeding the World: Alberta’s Agri-Food Opportunity
- PODCAST: Episode #012: There’s a crisis in our beef industry, so what do we do about it?
About C-Suite Unplugged
In this series, C-Suite Unplugged, host Adam Legge talks to Alberta’s top CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business leaders about their journey to the C-Suite, what keeps them up at night as an Albertan and as leader in their industry, and what their outlook is for the future.
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