Chamber trustees get inside look at ‘unreasonable leadership’
Gary Chartrand, Executive Chairman of Acosta, Inc., was the keynote speaker at the annual Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce Trustees Luncheon, held Oct. 2 at the Deerwood Country Club. Chartrand shared insights from his strategic management of the 91-year-old company, taking the business from a regional brand to the national level.
Acosta was founded in 1927 by Louis Acosta as a family-run, single-market food broker in Jacksonville. After acquisitions gave the company a regional presence in the Southeast, Gary Chartrand became president in 1993, CEO in 1996 and board chair in 1998. One year later, the company went national with a contract with Minute Maid. The group continued its stellar growth for the next two decades.
In his remarks to the Chamber trustees, Chartrand referred to his 2010 e-book, “Unreasonable Leadership,” noting that it is only by being an unreasonable leader and taking risks, that a company can grow and succeed.