Doug

Clemens

Former CEO & Chairman, Clemens Food Group

As former CEO of Clemens Food Group, Doug pairs four decades of hands-on leadership with principled governance. He’s a trusted advisor in complex, capital-intensive environments, having helped grow the enterprise from roughly $370M to more than $2B in annual sales through disciplined strategy and operational excellence.

Joining the family business in 1978, he rose through procurement, operations, and business development to President and then CEO. He led signature projects: a 650,000-sq-ft harvesting facility in Michigan, a 300,000+-sq-ft smokehouse at Hatfield, and a state-of-the-art feed mill—strengthening vertical integration and adding 3,000+ jobs. He retired as Chairman in 2022 after 44 years.

Metrics-driven and execution-focused, Doug deployed a 15-metric scorecard and delivered a $310M plant that staffed 800 in six months while stabilizing turnover and keeping safety paramount. A disciplined financial steward and principled governor, he led major capital programs, hedged volatile inputs (feed/livestock at 65–80% of costs), upgraded finance leadership, and executed smooth CEO/CFO transitions and family succession—embedding risk/ethics in reporting and earning a reputation for candid counsel and a high-performance bar.