🥄 Chobani's Chief Impact and Comms Officer, Nishant Roy
On being mission-driven from the military to Chobani
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🥄 Nishant Roy, Chief Communications and Impact Officer at Chobani
In this episode, we meet Nishant Roy, Chief Communications and Impact Officer at Chobani.
Chobani is one of the fastest-growing food companies in the world and has been a pioneer in the natural food movement for the last decade. Nishant has an incredibly variegated career to date. He began his career with distinguished service in the United States Air Force as an airman where he served with the Security Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Upon his honorable discharge, he channeled his commitment to service into a role as a Domestic Policy Assistant at the Clinton Foundation, during which time he also completed his B.A. in Economics from St. John's University. Upon his graduation, he spent time at Goldman Sachs in their Asset Management Division.
After two years at the financial institution, he was recruited back into public service in 2009. He joined the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) where he served as a special adviser during President Obama's administration. He contributed significantly to President Obama's Feed the Future and Power Africa initiatives. Today, Nishant serves in the c-suite of Chobani, a company he joined almost seven years ago (2017). He initially joined as Chief of Staff to illustrious CEO and Founder Hamdi Ulukaya. He later took on the role of Chief of Strategic Operations, before ascending to his current role spearheading communications and impact work. Nishant is an alumnus of the NYU Executive MBA Program, as well as a team member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He also sits on the Board of La Colombe, the famed coffee company recently acquired by Chobani.
Read on for episode excerpts, which we’ve edited for clarity and brevity. 👇🏾
Simi: After serving President Obama’s administration, you were recruited to Chobani team by famed founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya. You’ve served as Chief of Staff to the CEO, Chief of Strategic Operations, and now as Chief Communications and Impact Officer. Give us some insight into your journey to and at Chobani.
Nishant: For five and a half years, I served as Hamdi’s Chief of Staff. And candidly, I would have stayed in that role longer. But he said, ‘Listen, it's time for you to grow. You’ve got to take on other responsibilities.’ Initially, he had me learn a lot more about the operations of Chobani, so they moved me into this executive leadership role called ‘Chief of Strategic Operations,’ where I just learned a ton. How was the product even made? What does it look like in the supply chain, manufacturing process, delivery process, etc.? Who are our biggest customers? How do we engage with them? How do we sell to them? What does that cycle look like? All of that soup to nuts. He empowered me with a ton of responsibility in such a short period that it's very fulfilling to be here. You just feel like a young entrepreneur building something quite meaningful.
And then, he asked me to step into this role as Chief Communications and Impact Officer a little over a year ago. I have no background in communications. Zero. the closest thing I've ever come to communications was the hard technical stuff I learned while I was in the military about satellite and wideband systems. I did not expect that I would ever step into a role like this. So I looked at him and I said, ‘Hamdi, we are Chobani. We have a remarkable brand. We're at a time in this company's history and this country's history where we have our pick of the litter. We can get so many more talented people to go and sit in communications and impact. Why do you want me to take on this function?’
He said, ‘Nishant, The impact work and the government affairs work, is going to come naturally to you, given your background. The communications one is interesting, because you have no background. That's not lost on me. But I want you to feel challenged, I want you to be challenged because being challenged in your career is where innovation is born.’
Simi: As Head of Communications and Impact, you spearhead work on some issues like food insecurity which is presumably a a lot easier to get broader buy in on from the public. But there are other issues like refugee and immigrant rights awhere there's a lot more political rancor and polarization within our communities. How do you think about managing that division?
Nishant: The best way for me to answer that is through a case study. Hamdi had done a 60 Minutes episode, where they highlighted the number of refugees that Chobani was hiring. At one point, 30% of our company was refugees.
As a function of this, a TV commentator said that we were bringing some of the worst extreme elements to Twin Falls, Idaho. If you think about the demographics Twin Falls, it's probably over 90 percent conservative in terms of their politics. But before we got a chance to even defend ourselves, before the politicians, the governor, the local mayor got the chance to defend us in the process, it was the people of Twin Falls, Idaho that said, ‘You're so wrong. I actually know that person or I know these people that you're claiming are bad to be the coach of my kids soccer team, to be the person that is my local barista my coffee shop, to be the person that helps me every weekend at my farm. I know them to be the person that's working at the Chobani plant that's paying taxes and contributing to society.’ So it was a very different narrative.
You’re absolutely right that there's a lot of political rancor and grandstanding, and so forth. But from my own experience at USAID (the U.S. Agency for International Development), I will say this: our country is the one of the most generous countries in the entire world. In the moment of devastation across the world, it's not only our government that stepping up, it's our people.
In this episode, Nishant delves into his journey from the military to serving Presidents Obama and Clinton, to driving impact at one of the fastest-growing food companies in the world. Tune in to hear his insights on Apple, Spotify, and our website!