John Church: 2024 Distinguished Achievement Award recipient

BSChE ’88
Chief Transformation and Enterprise Services Officer, General Mills (retired)

A chemical engineer, food industry executive, servant leader and mentor who advanced his company’s global reach and impact while at the same time maintaining an inclusive, team-first culture.

John Church spent more than 33 years working for the food company General Mills as a leader in operations, sourcing, business integration, supply chain logistics and change implementation.

Church, a Green Bay native, says that the process of transformation drew him to chemical engineering. “My bias was toward consumer-products companies,” he says. “I liked the idea that I could use science and take concepts that most people don’t know about and turn it into something that everybody knows about.”

That led him to Minneapolis-based General Mills after graduation, where he spent his entire career until retiring in 2022. He began in the product development and R&D branch of the company, leading the development of Multigrain Cheerios and the construction of a state-of-the-art plant that makes the cereal (making and mixing different types of Cheerios, it turns out, is surprisingly complex). That led to a decade of overseeing plant operations in factories across the United States before he spearheaded the integration of the Pillsbury Company into General Mills.

In 2003, he became vice president in charge of global sourcing and later chief supply chain officer, leading 22,000 employees at 56 plants producing $11 billion worth of product. During his tenure, he set new records for productivity, improved worker safety, and navigated COVID-related supply disruptions, while also championing net-zero emissions, developing opportunities for Hispanic leaders and improving the company culture.

Church capped his career by leading a company-wide restructuring and technology-integration effort that improved the company’s agility and decision-making speed and saved $200 million per year in the process.

Since 2022, Church has worked as a consultant, advising clients including Kimberly-Clark and Chick-fil-A on operations, business strategy, executive coaching and other topics.

How did your engineering education enable your success?

Engineering labs really taught me to think, how things work, and how to manage complex systems to achieve things. I have applied that every day in my career and I’m still doing it. The idea is, you start over here, you run an ingredient through a process, and it comes out differently. And if you do it right, you minimize waste, you minimize inputs. Those lessons apply to all processes and outcomes.

Which engineering professor made the greatest impact on you?

Professor Ed Crosby was a remarkable and very practical teacher; I would seek out his classes. When I was having trouble and didn’t understand everything in the books, he was able to turn engineering principles into things that I could relate to, and suddenly it was like a switch flipped for me. Professor Charlie Hill really helped me think differently and challenged me to be better. Those professors showed me how this stuff can work in the real world.

Which do you prefer?

Camp Randall, the Kohl Center, or the UW Field House?
Camp Randall. Not only did I go to every game my freshman and sophomore years, but I lived on Breese Terrace my senior year. The house I rented was owned by a beer distributor, and in the lease you had to give them authorization to put up a giant inflatable Bud Light can, bring in a DJ, and let them serve you free beer all day. I was like, ‘Where do I sign?”

Flamingoes or badgers?
Badgers. They’re pretty distinctive.

Orange custard chocolate chip, or something else?
Orange custard, for every date I ever went on.