From the warehouse to CEO, John Anderson appointed to Order of B.C.

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When John Anderson started out loading trucks and trains at a food distribution warehouse in Coquitlam when he was 17, he didn’t envision running the company some day, or of collecting a trove of business and service awards along the way.

He took the warehouse job because he was too young to be a commercial pilot.

On Monday, Anderson was one of 12 people appointed to the Order of B.C., the province’s highest honour, for transforming global farming with sustainable practices and championing community causes.

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“I had my pilot’s license before I had my driver’s license,” Anderson said from a property on Lasqueti Island that has been in his family for generations.

“By the time I was 16, I had my my commercial pilot’s license and that was my goal, to be a commercial pilot, but the airlines didn’t hire someone unless they had 10 years of experience back in those days.

“So I was given an opportunity to work in this warehouse and I took it.”

He started out unloading 50-kilogram sacks of potatoes and 25-kilo crates of ice-covered cabbage in 1975 from railcars and semitrailers, but managers obviously saw something in the North Vancouver teen and Delbrook Secondary grad, and moved him into sales by the time he was 18.

Today, Anderson is chair, CEO and managing partner (having sold a 65-per-cent stake to food giant Dole in 2011) of Oppy, formerly Oppenheimer Group, 49 years after his humble beginnings with the company.

And he didn’t give up on his dream of flying, founding Anderson Air in 1980 to provide charter services throughout North America, Europe and South America. The planes are also used, when time is of the essence, to transport doctors and organs for transplants, another part of the reason he was appointed to the Order of B.C.

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He credits his mother’s teachings during summers growing up on Lasqueti, lessons about hard work and integrity, for how he was able to convert Oppy into a global leader in sustainable agriculture and income provider for thousands of farm families worldwide.

“I was in the warehouse and they asked me if I’d come into sales. I guess maybe opportunities existed and they thought maybe I’d be good at it,” Anderson said.

He started by selling Chinese gooseberrires (Kiwifruit) and Granny Smith apples from New Zealand, both of which needed a publicity agent at the time.

“Back in those days, those fruits weren’t much of anything,” Anderson said. “The challenge was to branch those out across North America.”

He worked with food critics, including The Vancouver Sun’s, on recipes, and he convinced people that Granny Smith’s weren’t just for baking apple pies.

He oversaw the introduction of the golden Kiwi (and soon to be released, the red Kiwi, a cross between the green and gold, Anderson said, with hints of strawberry, that should appear on shelves next year).

Oppy also introduced Gala, Braeburn, Jazz and Envy apples to North America.

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Growers in more than 30 countries get hundreds of millions of dollars in low-cost financing every year from Oppy, while tens of millions of dollars go back to producers through fair trade and living wages.

“Fair trade means we put a certain amount of money from everything else we sell back into the community we purchase the produce from,” Anderson said. “It doesn’t go to the businesses there, it goes to the workers.

“It’s very structured, the workers vote on where the money gets spent. Does it go to dentistry, to health, to education, to school buses, to housing?

“We’ve been doing that for many years in Central and South American countries.”

Oppy has been around since B.C. was founded in 1858. Although it has about 350 direct employees today, Oppy has offices in 18 countries dealing with 400,000 growers.

The company also donates to Metro Vancouver food banks and area hospitals.

When Anderson joined in 1975, annual sales were $7 million, about $40 million in 2024 dollars. Sales today are almost 40 times that, at about $1.5 billion annually.

Anderson became CEO in 1992 and was the sole owner until Dole acquired a majority share 13 years ago.

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Oppy’s corporate philosophy of sustainability and of giving back has roots in his mother’s lessons and his own experience.

“I want workers to feel they’re being taken care of properly,” Anderson said. “I started in the warehouse and i’ve done pretty much every job in the company before taking over and owning it.

“I know how important everybody’s job is, it’s really clear to me. I want people to feel valued for what they are doing.”

gordmcintyre@postmedia.com

twitter.com/gordmcintyre

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