The 2023 Packer 25 — Kieran Ficken McNeice
Editor’s note: The following profile is from the 2023 Packer 25, our annual tribute to 25 leaders, innovators and agents of change across the fresh produce supply chain. (You can view all honorees here.) This feature has been edited for length and clarity.
Kieran Ficken McNeice — Director of sustainability programs, Measure to Improve
As director of sustainability programs for Measure to Improve, what motivates you to hit the ground running each day?
Each day I have an opportunity to take a topic that is incredibly important, but also very complicated, and make it approachable and meaningful to others. I love getting to share my passion and empower clients to take action.
Sustainability is top of mind for many at the moment, whether they see it as an important aspect of their company's strategy, are responding to pressure from their customers or are personally committed. The clients I work with have great expertise in areas such as food safety, compliance or marketing, but sustainability is often new to their role. They don't yet have all the tools to engage with these topics, make change and accurately report on their progress. Through my work, I get to provide the resources, training and information they need.
What’s one produce-related goal you hope to achieve in the next one to three years, and why is this important to you?
In my role at Measure to Improve, I often get to help clients set their own goals and then map out how they'll reach them. One trend in goal setting that I'm quite excited about is around transparency. This industry has done some really excellent work on sustainability, but it's been difficult for companies to understand how their practices compare to others — where do they excel, and where is there room to improve?
Recently, we're seeing companies shift toward talking about how they can do more public reporting and even have their results validated by a third party. Sustainability isn't zero-sum; we can all benefit from improved transparency, whether we're talking about greenhouse gas emissions, regenerative practices or social accountability.
Over the next few years, I have a goal to help more clients with their sustainability reporting and in the process, highlight both their success and their room to improve.
What is one professional accomplishment of which you are most proud?
I've had the chance to work with several companies as they build out programs that support their supply chains. Change needs to happen at scale, and by virtue of where some organizations sit in the supply chain, they have an opportunity to make change easier or harder for their partners, depending on their approach. Over the last six years, I've helped clients implement voluntary programs that give back to their supply chain partners, move the needle on sustainability and, most importantly, drive greater collaboration across the supply chain. Sustainability problems can be tough! But they are much easier to solve when we're working together.
More about Kieran Ficken McNeice
Kieran Ficken McNeice is the director of sustainability programs at Measure to Improve. A team member since 2017, McNeice supports MTI's clients in building programs that meet their individual goals, third-party standards and buyer requirements. With a knack for training and communication, she helps the MTI team turn complex sustainability topics into step-by-step guides and other resources. Her dedication to scalable solutions allows clients to expand pilots into companywide initiatives.
Always up for a new challenge, McNeice's recent work addresses supply chains, sustainability strategy, greenhouse gas emissions and reporting.
She holds an MBA in global impact management and a Master of Arts in international environmental policy from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. Her undergraduate degree is from the University of Vermont.
