A recipient of many national and international business and marketing awards, Kim McConnell has a long, influential track record of advancing the agricultural industry, rural Canada, and emerging leaders. In 2012 he was inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame and at the time became the youngest recipient to be receive this prestigious award. In 2017 he was named a Member of the Order of Canada, one of few Canadians from the agri-food industry to receive Canada’s highest civilian award. And in 2024 he was named the University of Calgary ‘Inspired Business Leader of the Year’.
Kim McConnell is proud of his rural roots and Western Canadian background. Raised on a family farm in Hamiota, Manitoba, he’s thankful for the foundation provided by his parents, 4-H, and growing up in a rural community. His BSc. Ag from the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Manitoba (1978) opened his eyes to opportunities and helped groom his leadership skills. Kim’s entrepreneurial career started in his early 20s when he founded one of the first North American marketing communications agencies dedicated to agriculture and agribusiness. Over the years he acquired and merged other complementary companies to co-create AdFarm, one of the largest and most respected marketing and communications firms in North America.
In 2007, at the age of 50, Kim retired from ‘operational leadership’ and turned AdFarm over to the next generation of management. For the next 15 years his career moved into ‘directional leadership’ where he became a director on many North American corporate, industry and community boards, and has led several special assignments important to the advancement of Canada’s agri-food industry. While his ‘directional leadership’ journey continues, today Kim’s primary focus is ‘inspirational leadership’ where entrepreneurs, business executives, and emerging community and industry leaders are tapping his connections, experience and philanthropic support.
Kim is a combination of big picture and hands on experience, and has a passion and track record for advancing Canada and Canadians. He is widely recognized as a respected champion who inspires next generation leaders.
Today’s episode is the first in our mini series on Developing Leadership in Agriculture, and we are honoured to have Kim McConnell join us on the show. Our conversation today moves from Kim’s experiences developing his own leadership skills, to how he put these to use with AdFarm, and finally how he is focusing on developing leaders today.
Kim shares some resources and tools listeners can use to advance their own leadership skills, and we chat about how important leadership is to the agricultural industry, especially today, when Canadian Agriculture has so much to offer and there are so many opportunities available.
The research programs and daily operations at MBFI would not be possible without the funding from the Province of Manitoba, Government of Canada, and Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, as well as the partnership with Manitoba Agriculture, Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) and Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC).
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