John Ellsworth has served the dairy industry in numerous capacities during the past 25 years. Following his graduation with degrees in Dairy Husbandry from both the State University of New York at Cobleskill and the University of Georgia, John worked as a consultant for the Holstein Association from 1979 until 1987. During that time he had the opportunity to interact with hundreds of dairies throughout the US in the areas of herd management and genetic improvement and delivered presentations to dairymen in twenty different states. He also taught a major seminar for 30 dairy industry leaders in Budapest, Hungary in 1980 on the topics of herd management and breeding for herd improvement. John was ranked number one in Consultant Productivity from 1981 to 1984 and was selected as recipient of the Holstein Association’s “1987 Top Consultant Award.”
In an effort to serve the dairy industry in a different capacity, John opted to pursue a Master of Business Administration degree with a focus in Finance at Duke University where he was the recipient of a Business School Scholarship. During his attendance, he was also awarded the Robert Rumler Business Scholarship twice. Following his MBA graduation in 1989, he served two years as Director of Operations for NASCO International, Inc. of Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin where he was directly responsible for strategy development for six subsidiary companies and managed worldwide business operations for this $120 Million mail order and manufacturing company. He also guided the turnaround of the company’s Canadian operation by growing sales 20% in one year to assist in the subsidiary’s return to profitability that same year.
John has since served eight years in the banking industry, working with two of the three largest commercial lenders to US agriculture, with a particular focus on financing the dairy industry and related agribusiness. During his three years at Wells Fargo Bank, he redesigned their budgets and cash flow models for use in borrower analysis within their $2 Billion agricultural lending division and authored a bank wide report on the use of options within agricultural commodities. From 1994 until early 1999, John served as a Vice President and Commercial Loan Officer for Sanwa Bank in Modesto, managing a $73 Million portfolio of borrowers throughout California.
In late 1998, John started the development of a client base throughout the US, working with dairymen and related businesses in the areas of strategic planning, debt restructuring, and cash flow management. He has worked with over 80 different business operations during the past fifteen years, assisting them to improve their financial picture. He believes we are in an exciting era for most entrepreneurs, including dairymen, where decisions that sometimes must be made in a heartbeat can impact a business for many years to come. As a result, working through his company, Success Strategies, Inc., he and his Team are striving to provide a positive impact with clients that want to move forward in the financial success of their business.
John has been a regular columnist in the
Eastern Dairy Business and the
Western Dairy Business publications since 2001 and has been heard on
DairyLine Radio since 2007 where he has offered his insights through his “
Success Strategies” program. In 2005, he authored his first book entitled
A Roadmap for Success. He has since authored two more e-books:
The Business Confidence Maximizer and
Where Have all the Lenders Gone? In April & July of 2013, respectively, he has published his latest two books:
Taking Your Business to the Next Level and
The Five Factors Guaranteed to Impact your Future.