Staff Spotlight:
Brian Sapp
This month, we'd like to shine the spotlight on our very own Brian Sapp! Brian is our Plant Manager here at White Oak Pastures.
Brian Sapp is a native of Lake Placid, Florida where he spent his childhood growing up in a family farming operation that produced a flowering landscape bulb known as a caladium. The strong hand of the farming life instilled integrity in his day to day life that has become invaluable in his professional life.
Brian graduated from Lake Placid High School in 2001 and went on to attend a small local community college for 3 years where he would spend his spare time helping out on the farm and learning the welding trade through a small business in Lake Placid.
After completion of his AA degree, his life-long dream of going to the University of Florida was realized. Brian moved to Gainesville, Florida in August of 2004 to work on a BS degree in Food and Resource Economics. While working on his undergraduate work, Brian took a part time job at the University of Florida Meat Processing center where his love for the meat industry would begin.
Brian's ambition would lead him to learning the meat cutting trade and helped him land a spot on the meat animal evaluation judging team at the university. Traveling the country with the collegiate team would give him a new respect for the meat industry and the process in which proteins are produced for consumption.
Upon completion of his BS degree in 2006, Brian was offered an assistantship at the university to go on and complete a master's degree in meat science. During the next two years he would learn the in depth battles of the meat industry and learn the tedious work of food safety and dealing with the USDA in day to day operations of a meat processing plant. Brian was tasked with updating and controlling the food safety program at the university processing center while finishing his research.
After completion of his master's degree in 2008, Brian moved to Bluffton to manage the beef processing plant at White Oak Pastures. Brian, fresh out of college, had little experience in management. The slow start was key in getting his feet under him and has helped him become instrumental in the day to day operations of the processing facility as it grew. His job is ever changing as the business grows and his tasks include cattle procurement, human resource management, customer service, order taking and delivery scheduling, stocking of supplies at the plant, food safety management, invoicing and billing, troubleshooting customer issues, business growth and projections, as well as being the on-site mechanic for the meat processing equipment.
Brian has recently been tasked with blue-printing and contracting for the new poultry processing plant that is now under construction. He is excited to see this addition to the business and is sure he will have a strong influence on the day to day operations of the new facility.
"As a young professional, I still have a lot to learn. The past 3 years have been a roller coaster ride. But one thing that I live by is a quote from one of my professors at the University of Florida. He would tell us before every class, 'Today, I am going to learn you how to learn.' I didn't know what that meant at the time, but every day I look back and say - what if I didn't know how to learn... where would I be now?"
Brian will continue his education every day at White Oak Pastures to become better at his job and continue to be instrumental in the growth and sustainability of the business.
