The Ripple Effect
From the plant floor to the C-suite, the many faces of Axel Johnson credit upward mobility as the company's unique north star.
Whether it's bonding over a Ragnar relay race with Parkson colleagues, an internship for a daughter at Walk2Campus, or being presented with the decision to live abroad while advancing a career at Brazeway, opportunity within Axel Johnson's family of companies may take on vastly different life pivots. Yet one common thread remains:
“There’s always a way to take the next step” says Omar Gadalla, Director of Sustainability and Corporate Communications.
How so?
The unique career trajectories of these five AJI employees are genuine case studies.
Chuck Force
Vice President of Administration,
Brazeway Incorporated
Career Tenure: 27 Years
From bartender to vice president, Chuck Force knows a thing or two about adaptability. Gregarious, witty, and transparent, the father of two is quick to jump at opportunity though he's discerning in his decision making. He attended the same high school as former Brazeway CEO Stephanie Hickman Boyse, which is how he learned of the company-first as a bartender for Hickman family events and later as a college grad recruited to join their team. Force has stayed with Brazeway ever since, climbing the ranks in various roles and even relocating to Monterrey, Mexico, along the way. He's also earned his Six Sigma Blackbelt Certification and an MBA from Michigan State University during his 27-year tenure. Today, as the Vice President of Administration at Brazeway's Michigan headquarters, Force continues to play an integral role in the company's longevity and culture, overseeing human resources, procurement, IT, and corporate quality. "I've never worked for anyone else," Force says. "Brazeway has a lot of different areas to work in, and I enjoy that diversity. The Hickman family like Axel Johnson believes in community, philanthropy, professionalism, and culture. They've always said, 'It's not about optimizing every single dollar. It's about finding somebody like us, that cares about the business and community we're in."
Ilustración de Veronica Grech
"I've been able to see what we do tactically and strategically from all different angles, and it's helped me be proactive. I can guide and coach because I can say, 'I've been there before, and this is what they will worry about.' It's also helped me have compassion."
Recipe for Success: "An openness to try new things. Living abroad in Mexico and earning my MBA from Michigan State were pivotal. Both required personal and professional sacrifice. You have to have the desire and interest to give it a go and then deal with the things that come out of it. You're eating Thanksgiving dinner but doing a paper in between half time of football games. It's sacrifice, interest, and desire. Those are important facets to where I am today."
Never Thought I'd: "We had my daughter in Monterey, Mexico. It was an amazing experience and benefited us as a family and me professionally. It really was a true blend of personal and professional learnings. When you can truly immerse yourself in a culture, it changes your outlook and world view. We also did an acquisition while there and grew the business significantly."
On Mentorship: I've had the opportunity to work for a lot of great people at Brazeway. David Gasson was an early-on motivator for me. And Stephanie Boyse certainly gave me guidance. Our current CEO, Terry Sheehan, was really helpful in pointing me toward the MBA. And peers such as Jeff Adams, who I work alongside now, have been really helpful, too. While there's no formal mentorship program at Brazeway, there are a lot of opportunities to have those conversations."
Lateefah Graves
Utility Specialist, Walk2Campus Holdings
Career Tenure: 10 years
Lateefah "T" Graves was just 30 years old when she discovered Walk2Campus. After applying for an accounting position while her predecessor was on maternity leave, Graves' talent and, most notably, enthusiasm, was quickly acknowledged. The result? Her original temp job evolved into a full-time career path. Graves has now spent 10 years with the company, crediting its think-outside-the-box mentality and family-first culture to her continued success. "I brag about my company all the time," Graves says. "When I come to work, it's not just because it's what I do for a living, but because I love what I do. And if I have a personal challenge-from finding a space for my daughter's after-school tutoring to shipping military supplies to my brother fighting in Afghanistan-I've had the backbone of Walk2Campus behind me. They always support me."
Ilustración de Veronica Grech
"I don't shy away from talking with people - even if they are angry or upset. I listen. Walk2Campus has taught me how to be more patient, to be light about life. And when things feel overwhelming, I've learned how to better manage my time."
Mentors: "One of the greatest things about this company is its executives-the CEO and CFO are always available to you. If I have an issue, I don't hesitate to reach out-it's like talking to a family member. With the bigger companies you don't have this access. At Walk2Campus, everyone is hands-on and ready to help you."
Company DNA: "Positivity, openness, and dependability. We genuinely care about each other and acknowledge personal and professional success. And we celebrate everyone's birthday. Every year we are acknowledged."
Paying it Forward: "Right now we have a young man, an international student named Diego, working for us. My door is always open, and I told him when he started, 'No question is a dumb question.'"
Never Thought I'd: "See my daughters working alongside me. Walk2Campus offered my oldest daughter a paid summer internship. She worked two summers with us. My youngest interned with W2C as well."
What's Next: "I know exactly where I want to be. The utility side has been my baby, and eventually it will be larger. So I want to be a supervisor and help that facet of the business grow."
Phillip Miller
Production Manager, Brazeway Incorporated
Career Tenure: 22 Years
The old adage, "Ask and you shall receive," catapulted Phillip Miller from a Brazeway line worker at age 20 to-22 years later-production manager. Moving from the unemployment office to the Brazeway floor, then driving forklifts for nine years prior to his current role, Miller has never shied away from sharing ideas or taking on extra responsibility. "I started going through all the lines and different processes from a production standpoint so I could keep my mind engaged, and that was the first step," Miller says. Many steps later, he's months away from completing his bachelor's degree while maintaining the same level of intellectual curiosity as when he first joined the company. "I've always been into jigsaw puzzles," he says. "That's kind of what I see my role as being: I know all the pieces and what they mean, and I have to figure out a way to put them together."
Ilustración de Veronica Grech
"Be patient, make yourself valuable and ready for an opportunity. Always operate in a manner that's professional. And treat people with respect."
Paying it Forward: "We're looking for and identifying people who want to learn. I was at Brazeway for 19 years before I became a manager. I was always patient, never discouraged. I always tell people, just because you don't have a title it doesn't mean you can't deliver more and put yourself in a position that if a door opens, you can slide right in. Brazeway likes homegrown talent. They like to see success from within, promote, and recognize that."
Never Thought I'd: "Through all of this, I didn't have a degree. It's something I always wanted to achieve, and then life happened. I just got my associates degree in December 2019. Brazeway made it a requirement. They said, 'We're going to invest in you.' With that encouragement, I've now put 33 hours this year towards my bachelor's degree-while also being a production manager, father, and husband-and I'll graduate in July of this year."
What's Next?: Logically, it's plant manager, and that's what I'm preparing for. My current plant manager knows it's my goal and he's providing the opportunity to learn alongside him so I can prepare for that position, too."
David Long
Chief Financial Officer, Sprague Resources LLP
Career Tenure: 23 years, between Sprague and Kinetico Incorporated
David Long has pivoted between two AJI companies during his journey to the top. After graduating from business school in June of 1998, a friend told him about Sprague, and while he hadn't originally envisioned himself at an energy company, serendipity turned into opportunity. As he moved between Sprague Energy and Kinetico Water Systems in various roles-growing his family and obtaining a master's degree in finance along the way-one guiding principal anchored his success: a willingness to take risks. "Axel Johnson, along with Sprague and Kinetico have, to my good fortune, provided me with opportunities to expand, learn, and build on my capabilities and interests," Long says. "It would have been easy for them to say, 'we want to find someone more senior,' but instead they committed to my development and believed in me as an employee-that I could provide value over two different companies for more than 23 years."
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"To continuously seek to understand a situation or issue from another person's point of view. It can be really hard to do, but it has certainly advanced my career. My best ideas come from when I look at a topic from a completely different vantage point. It allows me to think more broadly and helps me develop the business over time."
Mentors: While Long points to Axel Johnson's President and CEO Mike Milligan as a longtime mentor, he adds, "a collection of people pushed me out of my comfort zone. I was advised to take risks and try new things, and that led to my own growth and development. I'm a reasonably ambitious person, but relationships were critical."
Growth Mindset: "I was at Kinetico for 11 years. The honeymoon was short, as I arrived in February of 2008 and the financial crisis hit later that year. It was a tough time to walk into the business, but it was also a tremendous learning experience. It helped position the business for the success it's having today."
Advice to the Next Gen: "Maintain a growth mindset, commit to continuous learning, and don't be afraid to push beyond what's comfortable. I've made the most progress in my career by seeking knowledge and perspective from others and pushing myself to try new things, despite some uncertainty."
Paying It Forward: "I'm at a point where I am more actively trying to avail myself as a mentor to some of the younger folks in our organization, knowing that was important in my own career. So, I allocate my time to make sure I'm engaging some of our newer, younger employees. I try to be helpful as they navigate their own opportunities, interests, and development."
Omar Gadalla
Director of Sustainability and Corporate Communications, Axel Johnson Inc.
Career Tenure: 6 Years at Parkson Corporation, 2 Years at AJI
It was during a grueling running relay called the Ragnar that Omar Gadalla's ingenuity piqued AJI CEO Mike Milligan's interest. "We had 12 runners. So, I suggested we put everyone into a spreadsheet, calculate the distances, along with their suspected pace, and pinpoint exactly where each runner was going to be at any given time," he says. "Then, instead of spending 48 hours in a stinky van, we could shuttle back and forth from our hotel rooms. With showers. And sleep." All of which gave the team a competitive edge-something Gadalla has fostered throughout his career whether applied to winning a race or creating award-winning videos on wastewater treatment (Parkson's YouTube channel grew from 100 to 1,500 subscribers in a span of two years, peaking with 110,000 video views in 2018). Raised by a single mom who cleaned homes for a living, Gadalla explains, "I was always into art and music, but growing up below the poverty line, that wasn't a way out, so I went into engineering."
After paying his way through college, Gadalla initially started out as a consultant but quickly realized he desired more autonomy. "I needed to find something where I'd be in charge of myself or be in charge of something," he says. "Parkson had a product manager role for one of their products, the Rotary Drum Thickener. When I interviewed, Mike Miller, who was a VP there at the time, said, 'The one thing you can do to get yourself in trouble is not doing it, not trying.' It felt like the leash was taken off." Gadalla spent more than six years at Parkson, wearing both product manager and marketing hats before joining AJI's leadership team at their NYC headquarters in 2019. Today, as Axel Johnson's Director of Sustainability and Corporate Communications, Gadalla is responsible for connecting employees to the company's unique DNA, while also overseeing sustainability efforts and AJI marketing initiatives. Just what makes upward mobility unique at AJI? "Anyone in the company can have access to the leadership," explains Gadalla. "And not just walking past them or meeting them once, but an ability to really show, 'This is what I can do.'"
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"There are people on the factory floor that might not realize there is no limit to what they can do. We want to find that. A big part of that is educating them about the other companies and telling each other's stories. AJI is as close to family as you will ever get, and it's not just window speak. It's for real."
Secret to Success: "If there's something you want to run up the flagpole, there's nothing stopping you, no matter who you are. You have to present your idea, but if you think we should do something differently, do the homework, build the plan, and it will absolutely get looked at. And if it makes sense, it will get done."
Mentor Moment: "If Mike Milligan is talking to you, you're the only person he's talking to. He never looks at his phone or his computer. I was really impressed with that. Now that I'm in a leadership position, I try to model that as much as I can."
Key Learnings: "A big part of moving up at AJI is creativity. Look around you. Look at how the business is working. Look at how the factory floor is operating. Look at how the mailroom works, how the computer systems are operating. And then don't be afraid to ask questions. That intellectual curiosity will lend itself to creativity. If you continually ask these questions, things will come to life. AJI leadership never stops asking questions either. That intellectual curiosity is a trademark of what makes us successful."
Never Thought I'd: "At AJI we hold a 'fika,' or a Swedish coffee break, once a week for an hour. The whole idea is like a family Thanksgiving dinner, where nothing is off the table as far as discussion: religion, politics, relationships. The point is we can get into really heated debates, but in a very respectful way. And when it's over, we move on. If we could have AJI-wide fikas, that would be amazing. It's definitely a vision moving forward."
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—
Omar Gadalla,
Director of Sustainability & Corporate Communications
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