Supply Chain Stories is a series of recorded interviews with Chief Supply Chain Officers and senior operations leaders to provide advice, guidance and mentorship to the supply chain community.
Chris Droney, Chief Operating Officer, Milo’s Tea Company
Sam Berke, Head of Global Supply Chain Search at Pod Talent, sat down with Chris Droney, Chief Operating Officer at Milo’s Tea Company. Chris brings leadership experience from some of the world’s most recognisable consumer goods businesses including Heinz, Keurig Green Mountain, Mars and private equity–backed companies.
Milo’s Tea Company, a third-generation family-owned business founded in Birmingham, Alabama in 1946, has grown into the largest refrigerated tea manufacturer in the US, producing four out of every ten units sold nationwide. In the past decade, the business has doubled in size 3.5 times, creating both opportunities and challenges in scaling operations, people capabilities and infrastructure.
Chris shares lessons shaped by a career spanning multinationals, high-growth environments, family businesses and private equity. His leadership philosophy centres on simplifying complex problems to create alignment and momentum, and tackling the toughest challenges to accelerate growth and learning.
He explains why people leadership is the most important skill for supply chain leaders today, the value of cross-functional experience early in a career, and the importance of aligning values, beliefs and behaviours for long-term success at the C-suite level.
This episode offers practical insights for supply chain professionals at every stage, from building a strong professional network to developing the systems thinking required to lead an entire enterprise.