Sheptor Addresses Students at Business Today Conference

Students crowd around Sheptor at end of his speech to ask questions. Tatiana Mirutenko (r) of Clemson and Emre Bar (center) of Virginia Tech listen to an answer.

John Sheptor, president and CEO of Imperial Sugar Company, issued a challenge to a group of university students attending the recent Business Today Conference in Austin, Tx.

Speaking on the widening gap between Wall Street and Main Street, Sheptor asked them: “Will you continue to allow the manufacturing sector to erode, or will you be the catalyst of recovery? Will you invest today for the sake of our next generation, or will you extract what you can before the ultimate failure of our economic model?”

Those comments were part of a keynote presentation Sheptor made at the February 20 conference where approximately 80 students from top universities around the country gathered to hear from business executives. The event was conducted by Business Today, a non-profit foundation run by undergraduates at Princeton University.

Sheptor answers students question during a twenty minute quizzing.

Panel discussions, seminars and keynote addresses were framed against the backdrop of the current financial meltdown and students’ potentially jaded attitudes toward big business regarding future career choices.

In his remarks, Sheptor told the audience that a vibrant manufacturing sector has preceded the development of every great economy and suggested that the retooling and growth of this sector would provide the basis for a turning point in our current economic crisis.

He went on to say that employees have been redefined as human capital where they were once considered a company’s most valued asset. “Our appetite for short term financial return has swayed our wisdom to sacrifice our future for what we can exploit today. We must urgently rebuild what we have allowed to erode away.”

Sheptor said those thoughts figured into Imperial’s decision to rebuild its refinery in Port Wentworth, near Savannah, Georgia, after a combustible dust explosion two years ago.

Amy Kao of Carnegie Mellon University listens intensely to remarks by Sheptor on the importance of manufacturing.

“We made the choice to rebuild and at the same time to invest in the future by renewing our technology and establishing new industry best practices,” he said. While the shutdown of the Port Wentworth refinery reduced the company’s earnings capacity by 50 percent for 22 months, Imperial kept all of the plant’s employees on the payroll during the entire rebuilding process.

Today, Port Wentworth boasts one of the most modern and safest sugar refineries in North America.

“It was uplifting to find a CEO that believes in the moral responsibility of a corporation,” said Amy Kao, a student at Carnegie Mellon University. “How he turned a time of crisis into an opportunity and added value for both the employees and stakeholders is remarkable. I hope to have the same opportunity in my career to put the that same resolve to work for both employees and stakeholders.”

Business Today is dedicated to fostering dialog and bridging the gap between students and an elite group of business leaders. Other executives participating in the event included Lawrence Dickerson, CEO of Diamond Offshore Drilling; Albert Reese, CFO of ATP Oil & Gas; Ed DiSalvo, CEO of LoneStar Overnight; and Lew Little, CEO of Harden Healthcare.