April 7, 2023

In this episode, Frito-Lay’s Senior Vice President of Supply Chain Karl Schraer shares his more than 33-year career journey at PepsiCo. He explains the difference between career mentors and sponsors, how to be open to learning new parts of the business, as well as why PepsiCo has such high standards for suppliers.

 

 

Jillian (00:02 - 00:25)

Hey, everyone. Welcome back to PepsiCo Foods Podcast Recipe for Success. I'm your host, Jillian Emens, and I'm glad you're here. This podcast features PepsiCo employees who share their unique career journeys. By the end of each episode, you'll learn something new to add to your own recipe for success.

(Myron Music Mix) (00:26 - 00:32)

Are you ready? To keep on dreaming. To keep on believing. I'm here to motivate you. I’m here to push you.

Jillian (00:33 - 00:51)

Today, I'm honored to be joined in-person at the PFNA Studio with Karl Schraer, Senior Vice President of Supply Chain at Frito-Lay. Karl began his career at PepsiCo right out of college and has been here for more than 33 years. So he has a lot to share about proven success. So let's get started, Karl.

Karl (00:51 - 00:51) Good morning.

Jillian (00:51 - 00:57)

Thank you for being here. 

Karl (00:57 - 00:57) Glad to be here.

Jillian (00:57 - 00:59)

Let's jump right in. How did you start your career at PepsiCo?

Karl (00:59 - 01:18)

I was actually a college hire. You know, we've had different college hiring programs over the year. So this one was quite a few years ago. I actually came to Plano, interviewed with quite a few different people. Some of the people I still remember their names, but came here and interviewed and then was able to get a job offer with Frito.

Karl (01:18 - 01:35)

And so I was in Houston and put down as my first location, Rosenberg, which was right there in southwest Houston. And graduated in May and started at Frito in June. So it was just awesome to be able to come work for Frito right out of school.

Jillian (01:35 - 01:39)

Amazing. So you were in Rosenberg. How long were you there?

Karl (01:39 - 01:56)

I spent nine years in Rosenberg, so it was a great place to start. You know, coming into the working world. And it was just such a great environment where everybody you worked with, it was a real can do environment. Plant was rather new. It was a great experience to come in and have your first job.

Jillian (01:56 - 02:06)

And I know during the length of your career here, you've moved around a few times. Can you give us the highlights? How many times did you move and what do you remember about those moves?

Karl (02:06 - 02:23)

You bet. So I moved from Rosenberg to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and that was a big shock for me. For me, it was like one of the first times I ever moved to a small town. So it was kind of interesting to sit there and go from, you know, growing up outside of Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, and then moving to Williamsport.

Karl (02:24 - 02:43)

Fortunately, my wife grew up in a small town, so she helped me with the small town life. But it was it was great, great plant again, great people. So much to learn, you know, coming in to be a manufacturing kind of manager, a ascending manager at the plant. So it was it was a unique experience.

Karl (02:43 - 02:51)

It's, you know, right in the middle Pennsylvania, home of the Little League World Series, it's also based there. But it was just a unique experience and really enjoyed it.

Jillian (02:52 - 03:02)

So we talked about moving locations, but what changed from that first day out of college in Rosenberg to then moving? What were your responsibility changes?

Karl (03:02 - 03:25)

Well, when I started in Rosenberg, I was a third shift corn processing resource or, you know, staff three or supervisor, whatever we called it, you know, 33 years ago. And so that's where I started and had different roles across Rosenberg, whether it was a department manager. We had weekend managers, worked as a business unit leader. And then the last job I had was a performance manager.

Karl (03:25 - 03:30)

So from performance manager I went to a manufacturing manager in in Williamsport.

Jillian (03:30 - 03:36)

Williamsport was there for a relatively brief amount of time. Then what came after that?

Karl (03:36 - 03:58)

I went to our plant in Irving, so a person I worked with, or worked for in Rosenberg, our kind of, you know, senior director in today's terminology. I worked for him in Rosenberg. He had then assumed responsibility for the Irving plant, had a conversation with them, said, “Would you like to move back to Texas?” And, you know, you could work at our Irving plant?

Karl (03:58 - 04:19)

And I said, “Sure”. I thought it would be a great opportunity. You know, the Rosenberg plant had a certain culture, Williamsport had a certain culture, and then you get to go to Irving and it was another culture. And so it was a much larger plant as well. Great experience. I love the people at the Irving site. We had a lot of hard work to go do, but it was a great experience.

Jillian (04:19 - 04:26)

And you said that was a former boss who recruited you back to Texas, would you consider that boss a mentor of yours?

Karl (04:26 - 04:45)

You have great debate on, do you have a sponsor or do you have a mentor? Right. And to me, I think a mentor is somebody that you can go to that if you're going to have conversations about how am I going to do a presentation or how do you think I came across in a certain avenue or event?

Karl (04:45 - 05:10)

You know, they can give you some coaching and guidance, which is very important and you need those people across in your career. But I think this person was more of a sponsor. And by that I mean is somebody that really wants you to join them on their team, somebody that's, you know, in the room trying to help pull you along or pull you up in some cases to a new role.

Karl (05:10 - 05:25)

And so I think that's where I get, you know, you can say, well, you're splitting hairs. It's like, what's the difference? You know, there's not that's not the difference between a mentor and sponsor. And I just think it is as a sponsor, as somebody that's it's going to help you progress and continue to give you opportunities in your career.

Jillian (05:26 - 05:36)

Absolutely. I think that's a cool philosophy to understand mentor and sponsors, both important, but maybe playing different roles in your career and whatever your next steps are.

Karl (05:36 - 05:36) That's right.

Jillian (05:36 - 05:39)

So Irving, Texas there for how many years?

Karl (05:39 - 05:47)

Four years. It was almost four years to the day. So I think it was September to, you know, four years later in September. So ‘99 to 2003.

Jillian (05:47 - 05:48)

Then what was next?

Karl (05:48 - 06:07)

When we went to Cincinnati. And it was just a fantastic opportunity to go in work with the sales teams. It was my first a lot of interaction where you got to partner with sales teams and you know, some of the sales VP's that we got to work with were Al Schrader, who went on to lead Quaker for a while and Kurt Tanner actually.

Karl (06:07 - 06:10)

So from a Michigan standpoint. And so it was a

Jillian (06:11 - 06:13)

Who's now with PepsiCo Beverages, or leading PepsiCo Beverages.

Karl (06:13 - 06:22)

That's right. That's right. And so, you know, it's interesting to see how our things will change in the future or where people end up. And some of the people that worked in the Michigan business team are still work with today.

Jillian (06:23 - 06:25)

Very cool. Yeah. How did you get to Cincinnati?

Karl (06:25 - 06:52)

So I actually, so you talk about the sponsor, you know, role. I worked for a person in Irving after some time, you know, one person changed, start working for another and that person went up to be the VP of the Great Lakes region, that's what it was called. And he actually brought me then pulled me up to work in Cincinnati.

Karl (06:52 - 07:02)

So I had worked for him for a couple of years in Irving and then got the opportunity to work for him in Michigan, Ohio area. And so again, it was an opportunity where somebody could, you know, help you advance in your career.

Jillian (07:03 - 07:08)

Yeah. So two big moments where you're making location changes, but you're having two different sponsors.

Karl (07:08 - 07:09)

Two different sponsors. That's right.

Jillian (07:09 - 07:12)

Alongside you to open those doors.

Karl (07:12 - 07:26)

That's right. Yeah. It was great. It was, you know, a great opportunity and, you know, appreciate them giving me that chance to kind of move up and take on different areas of responsibility in different locations.

Jillian (07:26 - 07:30)

And moving, was that something you always said? I'm up for going anywhere?

Karl (07:30 - 07:46)

Pretty much so. I was, you know, my wife was very supportive. Our kids were still very young. And so it was easy to kind of move. And I had family in Ohio area. And so when we went that direction, it was nice in that respect.

Jillian (07:47 - 08:00)

Nice. And would you say in these occasions, were you raising your hand to do new things or go new places, or were you being approached? How would you describe that?

Karl (08:00 - 08:18)

Definitely a little bit of both. I definitely would raise my hand and say, hey, I would be willing to relocate for an opportunity because I think that's an important part of when you're having conversations about career advancement with anyone on your team, anybody that you're working with, and people really understand, what's your preference from relocation?

Karl (08:18 - 08:34)

Are you willing to move? Are there certain geographies and being really candid about it, there's nothing wrong If you sit there say, hey, I don't want to move, that's fine. Just realize that you have to then balance what your career aspirations are with what positions are available in that geography.

Jillian (08:35 - 08:38)

So then you're in Cincinnati. How long are you there?

Karl (08:39 - 08:59)

So I was in Cincinnati for about two and a half years, roughly. We actually changed up our regions. And, you know, you can sit there and say you had some sort of a Reorg. So if you sat there said, hey, were you ever Reorg-ed? I guess I could technically say I was Reorg-ed because at the end of 2005 where I worked in the location, it went away.

Karl (09:00 - 09:15)

And so you have to choose kind of a new location to go work. And so I worked with who I'd be working with back then and said, I'd love to go to Texas. I'd love to go back to Texas. We were here, you know, nine years in Rosenberg, four years in Irving. Both my daughters are born in Texas.

Karl (09:15 - 09:35)

It's like, I’ll come back to Texas and maybe if I got to Dallas, I could, you know, be there long enough where my my kids could get through high school in one location. So I said, okay, that was my plan. And fortunately it worked out. So I went to the Texas VP job for supply chain in 2006.

Karl (09:35 - 09:37)

So we moved actually moved over Christmas.

Jillian (09:38 - 09:43)

So for those not familiar. Texas Region Vice President Correct.

Karl (09:43 - 09:43) That's right.

Jillian (09:43 - 09:47)

And that was managing, just like it sounds the whole region.

Karl (09:47 - 10:12)

It was a whole region from a supply chain standpoint. And so we actually had the Lubbock plant back then as well, which closed during, I think 2007. But it was a great opportunity to, you know, come work in a larger region, worked in Carrollton. And so I had still had not made it to headquarters by that point in time and then spent about four years in the Texas region.

Karl (10:12 - 10:13) Vice President Job.

Jillian (10:13 - 10:17)

And then what brought you to Plano? That's our headquarters here.

Karl (10:18 - 10:55)

That was yeah. So my first time coming in to really work in headquarters, I came to work in it was global procurement at that point in time and working as a Vice President of Contract Manufacturing, first time kind of stepping outside of supply chain, working in procurement and really had a just a completely eye opening experience. You know so much about the internal workings of the business as you're, you know, working in supply chain, you know, how we make products and then you realize it's a much different environment or much different things that you get to go work against as you work on the external landscape.

Karl (10:55 - 11:14)

From there, I moved into the West Division SVP in Supply Chain. So again, I think this is probably another person that really helped sponsor me in my career. And, you know, she was able to, you know, called me up one time and said, “Hey, I'd love for you to come run West.” And it was a great opportunity to go do that.

Karl (11:14 - 11:20)

Got me back into true supply chain. And again, working with with all of our locations in the West.

Jillian (11:20 - 11:33)

Hearing something like that, like, Hey, do you want to come run the West? For some people that might be like, oh, intimidating or I don't know if I'm ready for that. From your perspective, like as a person, what makes you be like, All right, let's do it.

Karl (11:33 - 11:55)

I think you have to be nervous. Whatever next job you take, even if it is in a different level, right? I mean, if you're not a little nervous about, well, am I going to do well here? How is this going to change things up? You probably need a little self-reflection, right? Because any time it's a learning experience, something you have the opportunity to really prove yourself.

Jillian (11:55 - 12:06)

Awesome. Well, congrats to you for taking all those leaps and jumps. I think it is true, I've heard it be said before, of if you're feeling too comfortable or not being challenged, go out and find that next challenge. 

Karl (12:06 - 12:08) That's right.

Jillian (12:08 - 12:11)

Bring us in to where you're at today and how you got there.

Karl (12:11 - 12:27)

So in let's say 2016, took over and we changed again and had one person to lead our field supply chain. And so I did that for about three years. Instead of having east and west, there was just one from a national standpoint.

Jillian (12:27 - 12:35)

And let's just make sure people are following. So that's supply chain across all of Frito-Lay nationally.

Karl (12:35 - 13:03)

Yes, that's right. And so that's working with manufacturing our plants, warehouse distribution centers across. And so did that for, again, about three years and then went into a role that's continued to change now. But it's always been pretty much more on the manufacturing and kind of what I would call external supply. So I'd say right now I have two rather unique teams that go out and work against kind of, you know, trying to deliver results and helping to grow the top line.

Karl (13:03 - 13:25)

So the first group is everybody that really works to support manufacturing. So we have our engineering team, we have our quality food safety team or manufacturing COE team. So those teams all really working to support the manufacturing teams in the field. How do we continue to get better? How can we hopefully simplify? What tactics can we bring to improve performance?

Karl (13:26 - 13:50)

So that's one half of the team. And then really you think about the other half of the team is all focused on everything external. So we buy food, we repack food and now we're working with third parties to store it in warehouses or actually picking cases for sales in our distribution centers. But we have those three leaders that all kind of work together.

Karl (13:50 - 13:58)

It really makes, I think, for, you know, really good synergy that we all kind of reside together and work together in that space.

Jillian (13:58 - 14:10)

And for someone outside of supply chain, just understanding how this all works together. So part of your role and responsibility today is helping to oversee how we're working with our external suppliers.

Karl (14:10 - 14:25)

Correct. All of our external suppliers, we have about, oh goodness, we have 60, 70 probably plus suppliers that are again making food for us or making all of our multipack or again, you know, running distribution centers for us.

Jillian (14:25 - 14:33)

Right. So a very important piece of it. And how does a supplier begin to work with PepsiCo? What is that process like.

Karl (14:33 - 14:53)

A supplier working for PepsiCo? It's it's like a big plus on their resume, right? It's like, oh, we work for PepsiCo and everybody knows that PepsiCo has very high standards. Right? And so for I think for our external suppliers, again, it's a big resume building to say, hey, I can meet all the standards and expectations from a PepsiCo standpoint.

Karl (14:53 - 15:10)

But then it also goes to the fact that, you know, it's it's a great opportunity for them to grow their business. You want to align with a winner. You know, we bring a lot of credibility from we can be a great customer for these folks and we can continue to grow. But there's also really, really high expectations for them.

Jillian (15:10 - 15:15)

And why is it important to have a supplier code of conduct and how do you best implement it?

Karl (15:16 - 15:33)

If you're going to be a supplier that's going to produce force, you have to sign the contract and says you have to adhere to this. You just want to make sure that if you have people that are making, that you have relationships with, right. Whether it's we're buying film or from, you know, seasoning, whatever it may, maybe it runs the whole gamut.

Karl (15:33 - 15:48)

You want our suppliers to make sure that they're ethical and they're doing all the right things just as we would in our own internal buildings, because again, the consumer, you know, expects that. And it's the right thing to do.

Jillian (15:48 - 15:54)

For sure. Hearing you talk about your career from starting in college to today, what has kept you here?

Karl (15:54 - 16:14)

Oh, easily the people. You know, everybody's really committed to just making the business better. Everything that we do, we want to be the best. And so, you know, it's a combination of working with great people who all are striving to be the absolute best is what really keeps you motivated and makes me excited to come to work every day.

Jillian (16:14 - 16:19)

What advice do you have for someone creating their own career path in supply chain?

Karl (16:19 - 16:49)

I think in supply chain there's a couple aspects that are important. Number one is be excellent in what you're doing today and it's really immerse yourself into the role. You know, so many of us, we learn things in supply chain that you can take with you forever, right? Because although the business continues to change and it continues to be dynamic and it continues to grow, a lot of the base fundamentals of the important aspects of a potato chip or Cheeto or something like that never change.

Karl (16:49 - 17:11)

That's the recipe. That's how you're supposed to make the products and that's what you do.

You get consistency. And so I think learning some of the things in your current role is absolutely critical. The other aspect to supply chain and what's so great about the organization is I don't think you have to be focused on I want this next job because we continue to change so much.

Karl (17:11 - 17:27)

There's going to be so many different opportunities, right? I mean, sustainability is a huge team now, right? I mean, it wasn't there a couple of years ago. And so as you think about like how you can continue to move through supply chain, you can do different things that you just might not even have known existed in the past.

Karl (17:27 - 17:44)

ECOM is another large team, a lot of different areas to go work against, but it wasn't there a couple of years ago. So I think if you're excellent in your current role, you know, I think that's what helps. Then you get pulled to a new role because everybody wants to, you know, win with the winners or have a great player join their team.

Jillian (17:44 - 18:00)

Part of that advice that was great. I phrased that question of advice for people in supply chain, but I think what you shared is applicable to anything, any career or job path you're on. So, you know, I have to ask, how would you describe your own recipe for success?

Karl (18:01 - 18:19)

The first thing is surround yourself with great people. It's like if you're going to have a team you want, you want the absolute best and best and brightest working with you right to accomplish the goals. And I think you hear about, you know, your career, Oh, you it's really important that, you know, you develop people or you have, you know, good people.

Karl (18:19 - 18:42)

And I think as you continue to take on different roles, having great people working with you is absolutely critical. So I think, number one, it's really staffing, trying to build the absolute best team. The next part is, you know, be inquisitive, ask questions and learn about the business having healthy debate to try and make sure that we're headed down the right path is very important.

Karl (18:42 - 18:53)

And once you land on the strategy, it's really hard to unwind it. But being able to continue to debate the merits of it and the best parts of it, you can definitely do so. That part is critical.

Jillian (18:54 - 19:17)

 And when you speak of the people you surround yourself with and the relationships you foster throughout a career, I feel like your story in particular is a huge testament to that. As you talked about in the beginning, mentors and sponsors and how you really had sponsors, part of those key moments that brought new experiences and new responsibilities.

Karl (19:17 - 19:32)

That's right. You know, you think about people getting those opportunities or I was able to get that opportunity. I was fortunate and able to go do that and I think, you know, if I can help do that for those, you know, on my team or create different opportunities or, you know, you've worked with them in the past.

Karl (19:32 - 19:42)

I've worked with some people like three times. Right? And it's like because, you know, they're great people. So I think if I can continue to support that, it's you know, it's something that is important to do.

Jillian (19:42 - 20:05)

Pay it forward and bring the great people we work with every day providing them. I mean, yeah, that's like once you get to leadership, that's part of your responsibility too, is bringing those new opportunities to others. Very inspiring for me. And educational too, and the supply chain space. So Karl can't thank you enough for being with us and sharing your story today.

Karl (20:05 - 20:07)

Thank you so much for having me.

(Myron Music Mix) (20:08 - 20:08) Are you ready?

Jillian (20:08 - 20:29)

That's a wrap for today. Thank you, Karl, for inspiring us all to make the most of our relationships and embrace new opportunities. It was great to learn more about supply chain and the resiliency of our frontline teams. And thank you to our listeners, I hope you've learned something new to add to your own recipe for success. Don't forget to hit that follow button on Spotify to know when our next episode is live.

Jillian (20:29 - 20:31)

Thanks for tuning in. See you next time.

(Myron Music Mix) (20:32 - 20:40)

The top. Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on. Everybody keep working.