The Toler File
William Toler, CEO, Advance Pierre Foods
Born: Raleigh, N.C.
Education: Graduated from North Carolina State University with a double major in business management and economics
Previous work experience: Procter & Gamble, Nabisco, Campbell’s, Pinnacle Foods
What was your first job, and what did you learn from that experience?
My very first job was as a swim coach and from that I learned that leadership matters. Trying to lead to inspire others is an important approach in business and in life.
What is the toughest challenge you’ve had to face in business?
The hardest thing is letting go of bad business. Getting out of bad businesses or getting rid of customers that you don’t make money on. That’s always the hardest thing, because people love revenue and sometimes they confuse revenue with good business. Getting out of business is hard and saying no to new ideas is hard. The trick is to not do the things that can distract the business.
What is your favorite thing about working at Advance Pierre?
It’s the quality of the people I get to work with. The way we feed off of each other and the things we do to challenge each other makes it fun every day.
What is your favorite Advance Pierre product?
My favorite product is our Graham Snackers, which are two graham crackers with peanut butter and jelly in between. They’re really good.
