Arnold Wayne Donald 1954–

Business executive, agriculturist

Working Class Roots

Succeeded in Biotechnology

The Makings of a Business Mogul

New Means of Achieving a Dream

Sources

St. Louis-based industrialist Arnold Wayne Donald was best known as a magnate of the nation’s “Bio Belt” who applied biotechnological breakthroughs to improve human diet, health, and welfare. From an interest in providing a growing world population with adequate nourishment, he developed and marketed Roundup, the most widely used herbicide around the globe, which dramatically increased agricultural yield without endangering planetary or human health. After reaching the top of the corporate structure in 2000, he chose to venture into a new area of interest, making and selling Equal sweetener and other low-calorie additives as CEO of Merisant. In his free time, he advised and supported his high school and college, a number of St. Louis charities and cultural agencies, and a corporate foundation supporting diabetics.

Working Class Roots

Donald grew up in a lively and challenging household. The son of homemaker Hilda Aline Melancon Donald and carpenter Warren Joseph Donald, Sr., he was born on December 17, 1954, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and grew up in the Desire district. His father built the family home, which accommodated Donald’s sisters, Radiah Alethea and Alicia Aline; brother, Stephen Zachary; and 27 foster children in a nurturing, inclusive atmosphere. Although his parents were limited by their ninth-grade educations, by age four, Donald was adept at reading, writing, and math. He proudly confided to WGN-TV, “There is no question a lot of my early upbringing contributed to who I am today and a lot of that has created the successes I’ve enjoyed as a CEO. And a very huge part of that is being African-American,”

At 14 Donald learned self-esteem and honed a life plan at St. Augustine, a predominately black Catholic boys school where the public address system broadcast daily pep talks urging students to go for greatness. Donald was groomed for success by the mentoring of past St. Augustine grads and summer classes at Exeter and Andover, two schools known for educating the sons of the nation’s elite. By age 16 he knew that he wanted to merge business and science by managing a sciencebased company that would improve the world with advanced products.

After high school Donald rejected Yale, Stanford, and West Point, choosing instead to earn a B.A. in economics at Carleton College. Before graduating, he chose for a life partner Hazel Alethea Roberts, mother of Radiah Alethea, Alicia Aline, and Stephen Zachary. After graduation Donald realized his initial career plan by securing a B. S. in mechanical engineering at Washington University, where he was co-founder and vice president of the National Society of Black Engineers.

Succeeded in Biotechnology

In 1977, after turning down twenty job offers, Donald opted to join Monsanto while completing his education with an M.B.A. in finance from the University of Chicago. Fortified with degrees in economics, engineering,

At a Glance…

Born December 17, 1954 in New Orleans, LA; son of Hilda Aline Melancon Donald and Warren Joseph Donald, Sr.; married Hazel Alethea Roberts, 1974; children: Radiah, Alicia, Stephen. Education: Carleton College, B.A., economics, 1976; Washington University, B.S., mechanical engineering, 1977; Univ. of Chicago, M.B.A., finance and international business, 1980.

Career: Monsanto, sr marketing analyst, 1980-81, mktg research supervisor, 1981-82, product supvs, 1982-83, roundup manager, 1983, mktg mgr, 1983-86, prod director, 1986, specialty crops dir, 1986-87; lawn & garden bus dir, 1987-91, Residential Products Div, 1991-92, vp and general mgr, Crop Protection Prodcuts Div, 1992-93, group vp and gen mgr, North Amer Div, 1993, pres, Crop Protection Unit, 1995, senior vp, 1998; Merisant, chair/CEO, 2000–.

Member: Natl Society of Black Engineers, co-founder and vice president, 1976; Canadian Agricultural Chemistry Assn, 1983-86; Natl Lawn & Garden Distributor Assn, 1988-91; Monsanto YMCA, team captain, 1988-89, bd member, 1989-91; Leadership St. Louis 1988-89, bd vp, 1990-93, pres 1993; Theater Project Co, bd mem, 1989-91; Ecumenical Housing Production Corp, bd mem, 1990-98; Lindenwood Coll, bd mem, 1991-93, exec comm; John Burroughs School, bd mem, 1992-93; United Way of Greater St. Louis, comm mem, 1991-93; Leadership Center of Greater St. Louis, Ppres; British-American Project, exec comm; Junior League Advisory Bd; Natl Adv Council WA Univ.’s School of Engineering; Elliot Soc; Future Farmers of Amer; 4-H Club.

Awards: Natl Achievement Scholar, Carleton College, 1972-76; Dave Okada Memorial Award, Carleton Coll, 1976; Natl Black Alumni Award, Natl Black Alumni Council, Wa Univ., 1994; Black Enterprise Executive of the Year, 1997; Agri-Marketer of the Year, Natl Agri-Marketing Assn, 1997; Founders Award, WA Univ., 1998.

Address: Office —Merisant, One North Brentwood, Suite 510, St. Louis, MO 63105 Phone: (314) 657-1100 Fax: (314) 657-1101. Website —www.Equal.com

and finance, Donald’s 23-year career with the company began with market analysis. He rapidly advanced to product supervision for glyphosate-based Roundup, the company’s star product, eventually building its revenues to $2.5 billion. To an interviewer from Black Enterprise, he explained the function of the environmentally friendly weed deterrent: “A very large use of it is through a process called conservation tillage. Weeds are killed and farmers plow less, minimizing topsoil loss and increasing productivity.”

In subsequent projects Donald traveled the globe introducing around fifty technological advancements to control crop-eating insects, notably Bollgard insectprotected cotton and Roundup Ready soybeans. He proved useful to Monsanto as an independent thinker, a results-minded problem solver, and an adviser to the Executive Operations Council, as well as to Searle, the company’s pharmaceutical wing. By 1986 he was named specialty crops director, followed by his promotion at the age 33 to lawn & garden business director. Two years later, Donald’s strategy to boost Roundup sales above Ortho Products involved increasing customer recognition through point of purchase promotions and media advertising. Within a year, Monsanto outsold Ortho; five years later, Donald’s firm acquired Ortho from Chevron Oil.

During this stirring era of corporate growth, when Monsanto’s profits rose fivefold from $40 million to $200 million, Donald advanced to vice president of home products, then general manager of the North American division. While making and marketing herbicides and early biotech products, he collaborated with the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create responsible guidelines suited to agro-tech demands. Obviously successful at delegating authority, he explained to Fortune magazine his philosophy of “high-performance organization,” which equates with demanding over-the-top performance from his employees and rewarding excellence accordingly. By age 44 he was senior vice president supervising sales throughout the Western Hemisphere. In 1997, when Monsanto split its chemical company into two divisions, Donald shared the role of co-president of the agricultural biotechnology sector with Robert Fraley.

The Makings of a Business Mogul

Monsanto’s executive vice president Hendrik A. Verfaillie declared Donald a corporate dream and an inspiration to other staff members. On a plant tour, he strolled familiarly through research and development projects at Monsanto’s lab in Chesterfield, Missouri, examining a money saving cotton grown in selected colors. The cotton eliminated the need for the dye process in the manufacture of denim and khaki. A tall, gracious Southerner, Donald varied his working wardrobe from business suits with ties sporting a double helix to sweaters and polo shirts. He made himself available to customers and colleagues and listened to input from all sides. Balancing heart with head, he directed compassion toward the world’s agrarian problems, then selected the scientific means of solving them.

On the way up, Donald accrued accolades and awards for shrewd business moves. At a pinnacle of success in 1997, he was named Black Enterprise Executive of the Year and the National Agri-Marketing Association’s “Marketer of the Year.” In April of 1999 President Bill Clinton named Donald to the five-member Export Council, which advised the President on export performance. The consortium fostered expansion of international trade and sponsored the National Dialogue on Jobs and Trade Day the following November.

New Means of Achieving a Dream

In 2002 Donald, who supervised a staff of 20,000 at Monsanto, left the company to head Merisant. The considerably smaller Chicago-based corporation employed 700 people who produced and distribute a variety of culinary sweeteners sold in over 130 countries. In addition to Equal sugar substitute, the company also marketed powdered soft drinks in India. Influenced by friend and associate Andy Bursky, Donald aimed to increase sales in Latin American and the Pacific Rim, yet wanted to remain at his three-acre home in St. Louis. To Kevin Kipp of St. Louis Commerce magazine, GenAmerica Financial CEO Kevin Eichner summarized Donald’s intent: “[He] wants to put his own stamp on something… his whole stamp on something a little smaller than a partial stamp on something much bigger.”

Donald’s break with Monsanto was more than ambition or challenge. Still optimistic about the role of chemistry in world health and well being, he told WGN-TV, “We have a collective vision and the vision is to touch every person on the planet every day in some positive way with our products or services.” His characteristic altruism continued to capture attention in high places. In 2001 Governor Bob Holden appointed him to the eight-member Missouri Life Sciences Research Committee, which parceled out the $21.5 million the state received in the national tobacco settlement.

Donald’s vision of fitness for the future incorporated therapeutic foods and other beneficial elements to help rid humankind of famine and killer diseases like heart failure and diabetes. The latter was the target of Merisant’s Equal Sweetener Foundation, which bankrolled research, education, and public awareness of the disease. Donald stressed that 800,000 new cases of diabetes came to light each year, raising the disease to epidemic proportions. He extolled Equal as a product that freed diabetics from problems metabolizing glucose. To spread the benefits of his product, he dedicated himself to urging people to stock Equal for use by family and guests, and to distributing recipes in which Equal provided taste without upping the intake of carbohydrates. In reference to a dearth of healthful foods for humankind, he told an interviewer for Black Enterprise, “With today’s technology, the planet cannot handle the demands that will come with a growing population that’s living longer. We don’t have enough natural resources and must find new and more productive ways of feeding people.”

To improve quality of life on planet earth, Donald has become a one-man road show for Equal, which he touted personally in restaurants that didn’t stock his product. To jump-start a new generation of campaigners for better living through chemically improved agronomy, he mentored promising black students and helped guide them toward jobs in farming and agrotech research. In May of 2001, he addressed a world agricultural forum on global food production, supply trends, and consumer attitudes. Through service to his alma maters, the national 4-H council, United Way, and the city of St. Louis’s opera theater, art museum, botanical garden, and science center boards, Donald also scheduled time to give back to the community.

Sources

Periodicals

Black Enterprise, September, 1997, pp. 106-110; February, 2000.

Buyouts, April 3, 2000.

Forbes, May 22, 1995, p. 256.

Fortune, September 9, 1991, p. 186.

Pittsburgh Business Times, November 9, 2001, p.32.

PR Newswire, August 17, 2000; July 19, 2000; July 31, 2000; October 19, 2000.

St. Louis Business Journal, April 29, 2002.

St. Louis Commerce, December, 2000; April, 2002.

Wall Street Journal, July 23, 1999, p. B4.

On-line

BET, www.bet.com/articles/1c3gb526-1217,00.html

http://gsbwww.uchicago.edu/news/gsbchicago/summer01/profiles/donaldprofile.htm

www.infowar.com/class_2/99/class2_0_42399aj.shtml++%22arnold+donald%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

www.purpleknights.com/events/page2.html

www.stl.unitedway.org/UWPressReleases/NRDONALD4.htm

www.sweetevent.com/about_merisant/donald_bio.html

WGN-TV, www.wgntv.trb.com/news/local/eveningnews/wgntv032102equalizer.story?coll=wgn-evening-news

Other

Additional information for this profile was obtained through a telephone interview with Arnold Donald’s executive secretary, Barb Jones, and with Jo-Ann Digman, vice president of community relations.

—Mary Ellen Snodgrass