NatureSweet

NatureSweet was growing rapidly — its production-floor culture delivered the industry's highest produce quality and lowest field attrition — but that same culture hadn't yet taken hold across the company's fast-expanding administrative ranks.

A private equity acquisition brought new budget scrutiny and a classic “do more with less” mandate, raising the risk that cost discipline would come at the expense of the positive culture that had built the company's reputation in the first place.

Working directly with the CEO and CHRO, Lori led the redefinition of NatureSweet's core values — including new principles like “unlearn” and “be humble” to fit this next phase of growth — along with their formal definitions, a rollout plan, and a culture map to guide implementation.

The plan established a deliberate rhythm of townhalls, trainings, and investment over a 2–3 year horizon, and was integrated into NatureSweet's existing Fair Trade USA framework to keep greenhouse Associates — the majority of the workforce — at the center of the strategy. The approach won Board and executive alignment in just one month, versus the six months such decisions typically took at NatureSweet, by operationalizing the strategy into a clear blueprint the company could scale as it continued to grow.

The values framework and culture map were adopted by the Board and executive team within a month — a fraction of NatureSweet's typical six-month alignment cycle — giving the company an operational blueprint to scale culture alongside its rapid growth.

NatureSweet remains Fair Trade USA certified and continues to be recognized as a top-tier employer in the produce industry, a reputation built on the same people-first foundation this work was designed to protect.