Edmonton entrepreneur Jennifer Wood is not one to sit still for long.

If she's not in the corner office running four cattle companies with husband Jake Burlet, you might find 39-year-old Wood in the cockpit of a plane or in the saddle herding Hereford cows.

Chris Wood, Business Edge
Jennifer Wood wants to build her life and business on honesty and integrity.

It's rare to find a woman running a cattle business in Alberta, but Wood has taken the industry by storm as president and chief executive of Cattle & Co. Investments Inc. and Weiller & Williams (Saskatoon) Ltd.

Wood, who was recognized last year on Report On Business magazine's list of Canada's Top 40 Under 40 Entrepreneurs, is also director of strategic initiatives for Viewtrak Technologies Inc., a technology company serving the cattle industry.

1. What was your childhood dream?

“Business was always something that interested me and fascinated me, more specifically the cattle business. But I didn’t start in that direction.”

2. What was your first job?

“I was a commercial pilot for a couple of years and then I managed a group of restaurants and nightclubs. After that, I did my (bachelor of science) degree in ag-business management. Going back to university was a perfect opportunity for me, where I was able to pursue my dreams.”

3. Why did you choose to become a pilot?

“I love adventure and I just love to learn new things and experience life to the fullest.”

4. After managing your father Ted’s cattle business, why did you and your father go your separate ways?

“There were just differences in opinion where we wanted to go. I was looking to grow the business, and he was just happy where it was. My father owns Weiller & Williams, Edmonton, and I own Weiller & Williams, Saskatoon.”

5. How has your father influenced you?

“In terms of my influence in my business, it has always been from outside people, from mentors.”

6. So who’s had the greatest influence?

“My husband (business partner Jake Burlet).”

7. How has your husband influenced you?

“Up on our office wall, we have our guiding principles. I think that’s something that I look at every day and just hope that that’s just how I live my life. There are five of them. One of them, which shows you where my husband fits in there, is to value the people who work for you. They’re really the ones who guarantee our success. I think that’s extremely important. Our business is totally dependent on the management team and the field staff.”

8. What are the other principles?

“The other principles are: never forget that communication is a skill that no leader can do without; it’s hard to put ideas and vision into practice if the world around you doesn’t understand what you’re doing; build your business and your life on honesty and integrity; and my reputation is really the only thing I truly own. That last one is really what I’ve taken from my husband, that as long as I live my life in a fashion that I’m going to be happy with when I’m 80 years old, that’s success to me.”

9. What has been the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome in business?

“In any business, it takes a while for a newcomer to get known and recognized. But I think that if you do work honestly and you have integrity, you’re going to start to build your business contacts, and your business is going to start to grow, and the team that works with you is going to be happy and successful as well.”

10. What has been the most important lesson business has taught you?

“I’ll go back to that one guiding principle – to build your life on honesty and integrity. I think your actions speak louder than anything else.”

11. Has it been intimidating for you working in the cattle business, which is known as an old boys’ club?

“No. That didn’t intimidate me at all. You know, in an old boys’ club, and it is an old boys’ club, it wouldn’t matter if it was me or somebody else starting new in the business, you have to pay your dues. I think it’s important that what you say is what you do.”

12. How do you see the cattle and agrifood industries evolving over the next five to 10 years?

“I think there’s going to be a lot of changes in the business. I think consumers are driving really what the cattle producers need to do. Consumers today are demanding products that are high-quality, they’re consistent, safe to eat and produced in a responsible and environmentally sustainable manner. I think the producers need to listen to what the consumers want and act accordingly.”

13. Specifically, what are your companies doing to meet the consumer demands?

“We’ve started a new business – Viewtrak Technologies. It’s an Internet-based solution for beef cattle producers to collect individual animal breeding and production data and link it to the unique lifetime animal identification numbers. By doing that, we can begin at the farm of origin and we can provide information rapidly, efficiently and economically, and transfer that information between the beef sectors right through to the consumer level. I think that’s where the industry is heading.”

14. What’s the most important issue facing the cattle and agrifood industries?

“I think the most important issue is that producers need to be listening, which they are doing. There has been a shift in the industry to listen to what the consumer demand is for food products.”

15. How important is money to you?

“That is not the end-all. As long as I enjoy what I’m doing, I think what I really want is to be able to look back at the end of life and say: ‘Look, I did OK, and I’m proud of the way I’ve lived my life.’ And I’d like to instil in my son (Joshua, 2) the importance of a good education, working hard, caring for others and just living life in an honest and integral way.”

16. What’s the greatest escape from business for you?

“Swimming and golfing. I really enjoy golf. I think it’s a wonderful game. You have to concentrate so much on golf that you forget about everything else around you, and it’s a great way just to get out and socialize with people. I also love northern Saskatchewan. We have a cottage at Waskesiu, Sask.”

17. Is it difficult to balance business and personal life?

“It’s always a challenge, and I think that at times business gets a little more focus, but I think I’m doing it fairly well. Since I became a mother, I’ve had more of a balance between home and work life whereas before it was generally all geared towards work.” 18. What’s your next business venture? “We don’t have anything specific on the horizon right now. The whole focus is to make all four of our businesses successful and have a great team.”

19. What do you see in your life’s crystal ball?

“I never stop dreaming, but life has been very good, and I just really enjoy the business I’m in. And hopefully we’ll be able to continue doing that for a very long time.”

20. Do you look forward to an early retirement?

“No. I’m not contemplating that right now.”

IN PROFILE: Jennifer Wood

* Born/raised/age: Saskatoon, Sask.; Edmonton; 39.

* Title: President/CEO of Cattle & Co. Investments Inc., Weiller & Williams (Saskatoon) Ltd. and Edmonton Stockyard Inc.; director of strategic initiatives, Viewtrak Technologies Ltd.

* Education: Bachelor of Science, agriculture business management, University of Alberta.

* Family: Husband Jake Burlet, son Joshua, 2.

* Career: Wood began her career in the cattle industry in 1990 with her father Ted Wood's company, Weiller & Williams. Prior to that, she worked as a commercial float-plane pilot and restaurant/nightclub chain manager. She has been featured as an ITV Woman of Vision, and is a recipient of the Report On Business magazine’s Top 40 Under 40 Award for Canadian business leaders and of the Prairies Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the business-to-business sector.

* Passions: Golf, biking, swimming, skiing, arts.

THE COMPANY: Cattle & Co. Investments Inc.

* Brass: Jennifer Wood, president/CEO; Jake Burlet, chief operating officer; Joe Gagliardi, controller.

* Profile: Cattle & Co. feeds beef cattle in feedlots across Western Canada and offers brokering, financing, supply management, financial risk management and professional animal health reporting to the industry. Its affiliated companies are Weiller & Williams (Saskatoon) Ltd., a livestock order buying company; Edmonton Stockyard Inc., a cattle auction facility; and Viewtrak Technologies Inc., an Internet-based application that provides integrated food-source management, marketing and source verification from producer to consumer.

* Websites: cattle-co.com (under construction), www.edmonton-stockyard.com,http://viewtrak.com

* Address: #222, 13220 St. Albert Trail, Edmonton, AB, T5L 4W1.

* Phone/Fax: 780-456-4642, 780-457-8465.