RE LOG - Spring 2017

14 Ransom Everglades LOG SPRING 2017 You moved to Miami when your late father, Tad Foote, became the president of the University of Miami. You entered Ransom Everglades as an eighth grader. How did that experience shape you? I think I was probably a late bloomer when it comes to global citizenship and having a life of purpose. One of the events that profoundly shaped my journey was moving from Missouri to Miami in 1981. Dad became president of the University of Miami. It was an interesting time to live in South Florida, and I quickly became fascinated by Latin America: its culture, music, history and politics. I’ve been looking south ever since. I was coming of age as a student at Ransom Everglades and learned early on that you must have empathy and appreciation for other cultures. The liberal arts, holistic approach to education at Ransom was perfect for me. I felt like I was a sponge. After your years at Ransom Everglades, you took a traditional path to success: Yale, the London School of Economics, a job on Wall Street. How did you transition into rural farming? I traded my job on Wall Street, where I focused on Latin American corporate finance, for a two- year business journalism fellowship. I wanted to see what the business world looked like from the ground. The fellowship took my then-girlfriend, now-wife, and me on a journey throughout rural Mexico. Almost overnight, I went from wearing a suit and tie to driving a four-wheel drive. We were bumping around on backroads in our truck, spending time in mud-floored homes with thatched roofs, and meeting families that lacked the very basics. How did that journalism fellowship change you? I was very distressed by what I saw among hard-working small-scale farmers. I met with leaders of cooperatives and agricultural businesses that would bring these farmers together by the hundreds or thousands and link them to markets, but many of these businesses would fail to thrive – or just fail, period. They failed because they lacked access to many things the formal economy provides: capital, business skills, training, market, and trade partners. For two years in my early 30s, I witnessed real poverty and the tremendous opportunity that agriculture can – and does – offer to help the world’s rural poor lift themselves out of poverty. Did you really take a pass on Harvard Business School? After our two years in Mexico, my wife and I drove to Boston, where we both planned to enroll at Harvard Business School. Then I had what I call my moment of existential clarity. I needed to follow my instincts. I thought to myself, I don’t really know what it’s like to be an entrepreneur, but I’m going to jump in. Serving the World