Personal Profile: Nathaniel Steadman

Personal Profile: Nathaniel Steadman

            Nathaniel Steadman is an American business magnate and the current Chief Executive Officer of the agricultural conglomerate, Steadman Agriculture Limited. Steadman was born in 1972 in the American overseas territory of Puerto Rico to an American father and an Argentinian mother. Nathaniel commenced his schooling in Puerto Rico while living with his mother until he attained the age of 13 years. The two then migrated to the U.S mainland state of Arkansas to join his father in 1985. In the city of Little Rock, Nathaniel joined Little Rock Central High School. He later proceeded to the University of California, where he pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Management and Finance, majoring in Agricultural Management.

During our interview session, Nathaniel revealed that he started working and earning money at the age of 12 while working in the coffee farms spanning the territory of the island nation during school holidays. It is during these excursions that he fell in love with agriculture and decided to pursue a career in the sector, Nathaniel says. To further supplement his mother’s earnings and his father’s remittances, Nathaniel also used to make artistic pieces from plastic materials and curve small-sized ornaments from coconut shells, which he would sell in their local market.

After graduating from the university, Nathaniel worked as a farm manager at Gilford Farms in California. After working at Gilford for three years, he moved to his home state of Arkansas. He obtained work as the senior manager of Fayetteville Agriculture Limited, a business entity involved in the farming of various crops and animals and the processing of the resulting raw materials into final, market-ready products. In 1995, Nathaniel teamed with his father to acquire the majority stake in the fledging Peddybrook Farms Limited. After making the purchase, Nathaniel was installed as the company Chief Executive Officer and tasked with steering the company to profitability, diversification, and innovation. With time, the Steadman family bought out other shareholders of Peddybrook Farms Limited to become the sole shareholders. The company’s shareholding was equally divided among Nathaniel, his father, and his mother. Hence, the three are the directors of the company, and Nathaniel is technically its Managing Director. In 2002, the new directors of Peddybrook Farms Limited renamed the company Steadman Agriculture Limited, an entity that has grown over the years to become one of the leading farming and food processing businesses in the United States.

Based on his success as an astute manager and his ability to lead and produce excellent results from his workforce, Nathaniel has been appointed into various local, state, and national positions. For instance, he has served on the board of his local farmers’ association, the Arkansas Agriculture Board, the Arkansas Food Processors Organization Board, the National Agricultural Development Board, the National Food Processing Monitoring and Regulation Agency Board. He is also a member of Food-for-All, a not-for-profit initiative formed by a group of nationally renowned leaders in the farming and food production sectors. The objective of this NFP is to formulate enhanced ways of ensuring that the excess food that is produced by both small and large-scale farms and food processing entities does not go to waste, but instead, it is efficiently distributed to the less financially endowed people at reduced prices and if possible, given out freely.

Furthermore, Nathaniel is currently serving on the Arkansas Agricultural Transformation committee, is a serving Trustee in the Food Safety Trust, and is the Chairman of the Arkansas Agriculture Regulation Board. In 2014, Nathaniel was conferred state honor of Farmer of a Generation, which was awarded to him by the former governor of the State of Arkansas.

Nathaniel got married to Marie Claremont on September 12, 2001, in an invite-only wedding at their expansive family residence in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and the couple is blessed with two children, Tyrell Steadman, aged 16, and Ryan Steadman, aged 12. The boys, following the family tradition, are inductees in the family farms where they are learning about agriculture through apprenticeship and hands-on experience.

Additionally, during our interview with Nathaniel, he disclosed that aside from business, he has other personal pursuits and hobbies. For instance, he loves flying helicopters, reading, golfing, and during his days in Puerto Rico, sailing. He is also a lover of art and music and reminisces about his great moments when he used to play as a lead guitarist in his college music band. He divulged that it is through this love of music and art that he met his wife, a ballerina during their high school and college days.

When queried about his future ambitions and desires, Nathaniel disclosed that he would love to go into consultancy after his retirement from agricultural management. Specifically, he would prefer to be involved in endeavors that are geared towards improving farming practices and output in the developing world. It is through these efforts where modern farming and food processing techniques are adopted, he believes, that food deficiency will be minimized or eliminated in these parts of the world.

In conclusion, Nathaniel is a particular person to me since he embodies my career ambitions, family goals, post-career pursuits, and the love for the most exciting things that the world has to offer to men, such as sport, knowledge, music, and art.