Garrett Lofto – Link of Distinction – J.R. Simplot Company

Garrett Lofto has quite a bit in common with the founder of the company he now leads.

Both Lofto and John Richard Simplot grew up on farms, learning the value of agriculture and the hard work it takes to grow a business from seedling to nourishing, market-ready produce.

And just like the plants at the heart of the J.R. Simplot Company, Lofto, 56, has branched out in his career to become a well-respected, admired and grateful leader. These are just a few of the qualities that led to Idaho Business Review choosing the CEO as its 2025 CEO Link of Distinction.

Growing up on a farm just outside of Fannystelle, Manitoba, in Canada, Lofto’s character was informed by that upbringing and the lessons grounded in family.

“You learn a lot of religion when it comes to farming,” he said. “It was a great experience and I wouldn’t want to change one moment of it, that’s for sure. I always tell people we grew up extremely rich in love, not in money, and that was all because of the community and my family, what my parents and sisters did. Growing up in that rural setting was just incredible.”

Although he eventually left the farm, Lofto didn’t really leave the farm life, starting his career with Simplot in Canada after graduating from university. His first position with the company was as a probational sales agronomist, which he said translated to doing whatever needed to be done. He’s carried that with him throughout his 33 years at the company.

“I tell employees all the time, if I had to clean, we cleaned toilets, we did whatever we needed to do at the location we were at,” he said.

The values instilled in his early life translated into his young adulthood. Lofto said that he would not get married until he could take care of a family. Not long after starting his career with Simplot, he married Carol, with whom he will soon celebrate 33 years of marriage. From that union came three sons, as well.

Though he puts in a lot of hours and travel in his role as CEO, managing a global company, Lofto also recognizes the value of not working and spending time with family. He said he’s fortunate to live in Idaho when it comes to the things he and his family enjoy doing together.

“In my downtime, what I love is slalom waterskiing,” he said. “I’m not good at it, but I just love it. It’s one of those things where my wife and kids say, ‘Let’s just get it out of the way because dad’s going to get grumpy unless you get that waterski in.”

That precious downtime also includes spending time in Kona, Hawaii, and with Kona Moose, the family’s labradoodle. And why that name? “We love coffee and we love Hawaii, and then ‘Moose’ for Canada.”

During his three decades with Simplot, Lofto has held various positions within the company, and though he doesn’t have a defining moment when he knew he was meant to lead, he has had many moments teaching him the difference between leadership and management.

“I have so much to learn on leadership,” he said. “I can tell you that, to this day, we can learn. [As for feeling like a leader] it was the day that I got inside was better, and that I felt more satisfied in my job from the success of the team I was working with than for my own personal success. That was when I finally thought I might be starting to understand leadership a little bit.”

Along with learning from his roles at Simplot, Lofto also had mentors that guided and taught him through their own actions and approach to their jobs. He cited John Malinowski, a coworker at Simplot, and his predecessor, Bill Whitacre, at the company.

“John was one of those people who was just a very sincere, passionate person who said when somebody finds what they love to do, it’s OK that they just stay there and do it. Not everybody needs to continue to move up the organization. That was a really important learning lesson for me,” Lofto said.

He learned additional and valuable lessons from Whitacre.

“When it comes down to it, Bill, who I worked for for a long time, was great at just listening,” he said. “You could have a lot of discussions, and he would listen and give you input and so forth. But not everybody listens. There’s a difference between hearing somebody and listening to somebody.”

Lofto added that it’s everyone in his life that has shaped him, not himself.

In 2018, following Whitacre’s retirement, Lofto took the reins of Simplot’s global CEO. In the seven years since, he’s developed a leadership style that he describes as situational and collaborative.”

“When you hire people, you have to hire people that you trust and let them do their jobs,” he said. “The last thing that we need to do is micromanage. … You have to make sure that you give all the support to the people around because they’re the ones getting the work done and they’re the ones leading the people that are out there across the organization globally.”

The challenges of leading a worldwide company are not lost on Lofto. He acknowledged the hurdles of language, geography, culture and other factors. But when it comes down to it, he said it’s about the people and getting to know them.

That’s apparently something he does quite well. Colleagues have noted that Lofto takes the time to get to know not just Simplot’s employees, but the people he interacts with in the community, too.

He learns their names and remembers them.

“I believe that you’ve got to be with people,” Lofto said. “It’s very important to me that [I’m] out there with our employee base, our customers, our stakeholders, but especially with our employees, where you shake their hands and say, ‘Thank you.’ I think it just doesn’t happen enough.”

When it comes to a lifelong career with one company, he has one word to sum up his time with Simplot and for his time on earth:

“Grateful,” he said. “I’m very grateful for being a part of the agricultural and food industry and helping feed people. I’m very grateful for the Simplot Company and all the employees that have been here before and that are here today, and, quite frankly, for the ones that will be here tomorrow. They’ve helped shape my life. And then I’m grateful for my family. My wife gave up her career so that I could chase my dream and she’s the love of my life. And my boys.”