Business Address: 214 N. Hamilton, Ste. 202, Madison, WI 57303
Phone: 608-236-4753
Email:brenk@bioforward.org
Website:www.bioforward.org
Birthplace: Madison
Spouse/Partner’s Name: Marygrace
Board Membership: Maple Leaf Farms/director; FluGen/director; WALSAA/director; WROF/director; Academy of Science, Arts & Letters/council member; UW-Madison CALS Board of Visitors/board member
Organizations: National W Club; WALSAA; Wisconsin Academy of Science, Arts & Letters; Council of State BIO Associations; NAVHDA
Education: M.S., meat & animal science and muscle Biology, UW-Madison; B.S., animal science, UW-Madison
Hello, Bryan. How long have you been at Bioforward, and what’s your day-to–day job description?
Three years, and overall management.
Management toward what long-range goal?
I would like to see our association help pass an investment capital bill in the state of Wisconsin.
And a personal aspiration you might share?
Working on making sure all three boys get through college.
At IB, we’re always interested in mentors. Who helped you along the way to develop into the manager you are today? Who has influenced your career the most, and in what way?
My father, John Renk, and graduate advisors Bob Kauffman and Dan Schaefer. Also, Dick Leazer, WARF’s managing director. They all taught me to be a critical thinker, and they had different but positive management styles. They also all valued hard work.
You come from a pretty well-known and established agricultural family, with the Renk Seed background. When you were in high school, was joining the family farm your career aspiration?
To work at the family farm, yes.
Was that your first job?
[I earned] $23 at 50 cents per hour pulling weeds by hand in my father’s research nursery – that went into my bank account since I was 8 years old.
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When IB first interviewed you on radio a few years back, you then were CEO at aOva Technologies, Inc., working in biotechnology, redefining somewhat the food supply chain. You’ve come a long way from the family business and the farm since getting your M.S. degree in meat and animal science and muscle biology, as your memberships listed at the top of your bio illustrate. With all those experiences and ongoing professional interests and board involvements, what do you do beyond the office to relax?
Pick-up basketball, time with my family (wife and three boys), upland bird hunting with my two griffons, reading and watching movies, fishing, and golf.
Let’s go back to the “reading” response. What type of books do you read for pleasure?
This past year I read all of John Sanford’s books.
And movies – what character in any movie might you most like to be identified with, and why?
Han Solo – for his humor, and he was a little irreverent.
Okay, Bryan, we’ve registered the word “irreverent.” To close this update interview, can you list three more words you think best describe you?
Outgoing, humorous, gentleman.
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