As Tom Welge positions his family’s 129-year-old private label food processing company for growth by tapping into innovation in operations, R&D, quality, and logistics, he recalls the advice he received early in his career from a Nigerian export customer: Walk in your own shoes while still honoring the company’s history. Welge started absorbing that legacy while sweeping floors in his grandfather’s dusty feed mill and continued under his late father, Don Welge. “He taught me a lot about our business, but even more how to work successfully with people,” he says.
PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS & OPPORTUNITIES
What has been your or your company’s most significant success over the last 12 months? Building our business back and positioning it for growth after coming out of Covid-19.
What has you most excited about the future of your company or industry? For the store brand industry – the potential for growth and the innovation that is occurring in all areas of the business.(operations, R&D, quality, logistics). For our company – our opportunity to be a part of that.
If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be and why? I wish more of the collaboration and partnership that the industry experienced during the pandemic years would have stayed with us.
What’s the toughest business challenge you’ve had to overcome (excluding the pandemic) and why? Managing a challenging market for talent, at all levels of the organization.
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MENTORS & PEERS
To whom or where do you go for sound business advice? I’m fortunate to have a trusted group of family, friends (in and out of the industry), and business associates that I can call on for quick opinions or long discussions.
Do you have a business mentor? If so, who and why? Until his passing in 2020, it would have certainly been my father, Don Welge. I was lucky enough to work directly with him for 25 years. He taught me a lot about our business, but even more how to work with successfully with people. Today I’m lucky to have some great business leaders that I can count on for good counsel, some personal friends and some current or former business associates.
What piece of advice has had the most significant impact on your career? I had an export customer from Nigeria that called on me when I first started my career here. I didn’t have a lot of accounts, and he didn’t have much business, so we talked quite a bit. We discussed me possibly leading the business one day. He told me, “Tom, no doubt people will tell you “you’ve got big shoes to fill”. Don’t worry about that. Remember, “you will be walking in your OWN shoes,” In family business as old as ours there is tremendous amount of history, tradition, and success that we recognize and honor. At the same time, we have to be willing to change the business (sometimes dramatically) and confident in our decisions to ensure the business continues and grows.
If you could have dinner with any two area business leaders, who would you choose and why? Dave Peacock: I admire the way he’s implemented great leadership across a diverse group of companies. Chrissy Taylor: I admire not only the very successful business they have built, but the tremendous social and economic impact they’ve had in their support of many organizations across the region.
Who is the most interesting under-the-radar/emerging business leader in St. Louis and why? Kevin Lemp with 4 Hands Brewing. He’s built a really impactful business that represents the city and region from the ground up.
What is one thing you would change about the St. Louis metro area business environment and why? A broader approach to economic development that includes not only the attraction of new business, but the support of existing industries.
BACKGROUND
Where were you born? Chester, IL
What was your childhood aspiration? I had so many. I don’t think one rose the top of my thinking as a child. (None of them were joining the family business!)
What was your first job, and what did you learn from it? I swept the floors in my grandfather’s feed mill. There was great job security. That mill generated dust 24 hours a day.
What educational degrees do you hold, and where were they earned? I have a BA in Business Administration from Illinois Wesleyan University and a JD from Washington University School of Law.
HOBBIES & INTERESTS
If you were not in your current profession, what would you be doing and why? I would probably be doing something to help support children and people with special needs. As a parent of a child with special needs, our eyes were opened to all the support and gaps that exist for individuals with special needs from their early childhood and up through their adult lives.
What is your favorite St. Louis-area restaurant, and what do you typically order there? I am a craft beer fan, so I enjoy all the wonderful options that St. Louis brewpubs and tap rooms offer. Top of the list at the moment might be Perennial on Lockwood. The combination of Perennial’s beer and the food offerings from Olive & Oak is outstanding!
What is one item you recently crossed off your bucket list? The challenges of the past few years slowed down my bucket list chase. I intend to get back at it!
What is one book you think everyone should read (or podcast everyone should listen to) and why? Travis Macy’s The Ultra Mindset. It’s a really inspiring book with some amazing race accounts alongside leadership and mindset tools that everyone can use. (Travis also has a podcast.)
What’s your hobby/passion? I really enjoy bicycle riding here in southern Illinois and southeast Missouri.
What is your most prized possession? My dad’s wristwatch that the employees of Gilster-Mary Lee gave him back in the 1960s. It stopped working well in the 1970’s, but he wore it his entire life because it meant so much to him.
What would people be surprised to learn about you—a fun fact? I played in a band in the ’90s in and around St. Louis, Royal Motor Lodge. We had a lot of fun but were typically paid in pizza.
What is your go-to karaoke song? Anything by the pride of Rockford, Illinois, Cheap Trick.
