COVER STORY — Staying on the Forefront
The Next Generation at ForemostCo
For nearly 30 years, Joseph C. Roberts VIII has been running tropical young plant supplier ForemostCo. Sometime in the future, that will be the job of Joseph C. Roberts IX.While the company founder and CEO has no immediate plans to retire, he knows that day will come eventually. And when it does, he wants to be sure the company continues to be successful.
Joe knows that for ForemostCo to flourish in the future, they need to continually “bring in young people with energy and a different view and a fresh perspective” rather than just doing things the same way they have been doing them for the past 28 years. One of those people is his son, Joseph.
When Joseph was in high school, “I was hauling boxes for my father in the warehouse on the weekends.” But he really didn’t know if he would have a career in the young plant business.
When it came time to go to college, Joseph wanted to explore his options outside of Florida so he enrolled at Virginia Tech University and graduated with a double major in political science and psychology. After graduation from VTU, he attended the University of Miami School of Law where he got his law degree.
After a year or so of working in civil litigation, Joseph went to work for an engineering firm where he worked on the firm’s contracts and the bidding process for projects.
While he enjoyed his job, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to make that his lifelong career. “I knew I wanted to travel and do something that was productive and creative and make a contribution.”
He realized that he could do many of those things at the company that his father developed. “I would get to travel a bit. There would be a little adventure and there was a product that we were contributing to the world to make it a greener place.”
So about seven years ago, after much discussion with his father, he became a ForemostCo employee.
At first, he was doing some of the company’s legal work like reviewing contracts and agreements. Eventually he began to learn about other aspects of the business and gaining a deeper understanding of the products and the entire process as well as ForemostCo’s position in the industry.
Today, Joseph is responsible for a sales territory and still works with many of the company’s contracts, while continuing to learn about the production facilities and their products, developing vendor relationships and getting an overall view of how the company operates. And he constantly talks to his father all the time about all aspects of the business.
“They’ve had no problems throwing me in the deep end,” he jokes, “but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Joe knows there are exciting times ahead for his son and the company. “One of he biggest mistakes I could make is to tell Joseph which direction I think the company should go in. I really believe it is going to be up to him and his team to figure it out.”
“I have been fortunate to surround myself and work with some really, really good people who are very passionate and committed,” the senior Roberts says. “He will need to do the same thing [in the future]. I can help him, but he is going to have to figure it out.”
That is something Joseph is looking forward to in the years ahead. He knows that he is going to have to continue to explore new products lines and cultivate existing relationships with customers and suppliers while, at the same time, looking to develop new ones.
“We are going to continue to find new opportunities” like the company’s line of perennials or its color program. “It’s all about teaming up with good people who complement what you do.”