CJB Companies Announces Leadership Appointments Focused on Growth and Innovation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 16, 2024

CJB Companies Announces Leadership Appointments Focused on Growth and Innovation

VALDOSTA, GA – CJB Companies announces the appointment of Mitchell Tatar to Director of Innovation and Sims Turner to Vice President of Sales and Business Development along with several other supporting promotions. The organizational structure is designed to enhance the customer experience, capitalize on technology, and grow relationships in the broader chemical market while advancing the thoughtful succession of the family of family-owned companies. Other supporting promotions include:

Amanda Lupo, Sales and Operations Planning Manager for CJB Industries and CJB Applied Technologies, who will serve as a liaison across customer, facility, operations, and logistics stakeholders to ensure service excellence and on-time project delivery.
Krystal Cadle, Quality and Systems Manager at CJB Industries, who will drive strategic initiatives that use data, artificial intelligence (AI), and technology to enhance the customer experience while reducing risk and increasing speed.
Shane Kiselica, Digital Transformation Specialist at CJB Industries, who will guide the adoption and implementation of advanced technologies that optimize operational processes and enhance effectiveness.

In addition to her role as Director of Innovation for CJB Companies, Tatar will assume General Manager responsibilities at CJB Applied Technologies, replacing Jim Loar who will maintain his role as Chief Commercial Officer for CJB Companies. Tatar will bring her expertise in analytics and AI, developed as Industrial and Systems Engineer at CJB Industries, to formulation development at CJB Applied Technologies. Loar will deepen his focus on managing CJB’s commercial operations and tap into his decades of experience to drive commercial strategies across the CJB Companies family of companies.

“As we look toward the future, I see this new organizational structure enabling our family of companies to create and deliver added value for our customers, expand our businesses with new customers and markets, provide employees with additional growth opportunities, and continue developing our future leaders. We have a great company with great people, and I’m excited for the future,” said Clinton Beeland, Founder and CEO of CJB Companies.

Enhancing Customer Experience through Innovation

Over the past two years, Tatar has been instrumental in transforming operational data across CJB Industries’ three manufacturing plants. With support from Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP), Tatar, Cadle, and Kiselica implemented dataPARC to provide real-time data analysis and visualization that enabled them to optimize their manufacturing process. They also deployed new quality management software that helped the facilities realize increased productivity by reducing quality concerns, expanding capacity, and communicating more effectively. In 2024, they kicked off a project that will train AI to extract necessary information from customer packets into standardized formats that will enable more automated digital workflows and account for safety and quality checks.

In her role as Director of Innovation, Tatar intends to expand the opportunities presented by automation and AI into formulation development and pilot plant processes at CJB Applied Technologies. “We have always been focused on delivering the best product in an efficient manner and on time for our customers. With all the technological advancements, we want to be sure we deploy technology where it makes sense. Our priority is the customer, so how can we use technology to add value to their project – whether that be AI to run faster testing, or automation that improves safety in our pilot plant, or any of a number of other opportunities,” Tatar explained.

Tatar will continue working alongside Cadle and Kiselica to build upon the foundation of data systems and processes deployed at CJB Industries. The new organizational structure opens the door to further technological innovation designed to offer customers a more streamlined approach to their projects, elevated quality controls to ensure project accuracy, and expanded services and capabilities.

Driving Growth through Market, Relationship Development

In his role as VP of Sales and Business Development, Turner will be focused on strengthening current customer relationships and developing new market and customer opportunities for both CJB Industries and CJB Applied Technologies. Supported by Lupo, Turner will build upon the companies’ strengths and capabilities in the agricultural market, assess opportunities in additional chemistry-centric markets, and dive deeper into understanding current and prospective customer needs.

Turner and Lupo will tap into their relationship expertise to create a customer experience defined by the CJB values, or R.I.T.E.S, of respect, integrity, trust, excellence, and stewardship. “We are deeply committed to upholding our CJB RITES in all our interactions, and I believe that is our differentiator with our customers. We strive to deliver our best work, be honest, and treat each customer’s project as if it was our own. We’ve seen success with this approach in the agricultural market and are excited to share it with partners in more markets,” Turner said.

Securing the Future of CJB Companies

As a family-owned business approaching its 28th anniversary, CJB Companies is committed to a deliberate succession plan that affords future leaders the ability to gain valuable hands-on experience. These organizational changes are a key steppingstone for the future success of CJB Companies. As the daughter of founders Clinton and Jeana Beeland, Tatar will hone her management and leadership skills through her role as General Manager of CJB Applied Technologies. Likewise, Cadle and Kiselica will be instrumental in solidifying a leadership position in the deployment of technology for the benefit of customers, while Turner and Lupo will shape value-added customer experiences across multiple markets.

“Talent development is a critical strategic pillar at CJB Companies. It’s particularly important to us as a family-owned company. We want our future leaders to have the autonomy to learn and forge their own path, while being nurtured and mentored by our current leadership. Our intent is to create an environment that allows learning without added angst from a pressurized timeline,” Beeland emphasized.

For further details about how these announcements impact CJB Industries and CJB Applied Technologies:

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