HyLife announces changing of the guard as CEO steps down

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This article was published 11/01/2024 (574 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HyLife CEO Grant Lazaruk will step down from the position he’s held since 2010 and will be replaced by HyLife chief strategic officer Karan Sangfai.

The company made the public announcement Friday after first holding a meeting to inform top level staff and distributing the news through the company.

Lazaruk has been with HyLife since 1997, working with company founders Don Janzen and the Vielfaure brothers, Paul, Denis, and Claude. He became CEO in 2010.

HyLife, which was founded in 1994 operates feed, barn, fleet, and pork facilities in Canada with 2,800 employees who produce 3.4 million hogs annually.

Lazaruk said he left the Royal Bank to work with HyLife and said the company was very different to what exists today.

“We had about 65 employees at the first Christmas Party I attended, and we’re in excess of 2,800 (today),” he said. “We sold weaned pigs into the U.S. markets and today we sell meat around the world. The company has changed way beyond the way we envisioned it back then.”

HyLife has gone from a company representing a pair of farm families to a multinational company and Lazaruk has been there every step of the way.

Now 60-years-old, Lazaruk said it was time to step back.

“There comes a time in life when it’s just time,” he said. “We’ve developed a team with succession. It makes sense for me and I think it makes sense for the company.

He remains heavily involved in the community sitting as the president of the Southeast Events Group as well as president and governor of the MJHL’s Steinbach Pistons. He also has two married children in the community and young grandchildren he’s looking forward to spending more time with.

“I moved here in ’94,” he said. “I fell in love with this place. I live here in town and I’m not going anywhere. I’m excited about continuing to be involved in the community and doing things that I’ve been doing.”

One of HyLife’s mottoes is that challenges are opportunities and Lazaruk said that has proven true over the years.

Attracting employees for their growing workforce has involved welcoming immigrants and offering work visas, and Lazaruk said that has made for a strong company and community.

“I’m proud to say we’re a very diverse company with lots of different cultures and I think Manitoba in general is like that,” he said. “That’s been a great thing for our company.”

He said today HyLife is one of the largest suppliers of chilled pork into Japan.

While he’s no stranger to meetings with his executive team, the one on Friday morning as he announced his retirement felt different.

“I didn’t cry, but I did have some tears,” he admitted.

And that’s because of the relationships he’s established along the way, both with his inner circle and other employees.

“Everybody’s almost like a family,” he said. “We can sit and talk about challenging things and come to conclusions and direction and it’s just a great team.”

“I love coming to work and I love working with them because we can solve any problem and we can turn any challenge into an opportunity,” he added.

Karan Sangfai will step into the CEO chair following Lazaruk’s Feb. 29 retirement date.

He lives in Steinbach with his wife and son and boasts a resume that includes senior vice-president of international business with CPF (Charoen Pokphand Foods) which has had a majority ownership of HyLife since 2019. He’s also worked as the director and head of marketing at Samsung Electronics, and senior vice president and head of food business at Myanmar CP Group.

He has spent the last two years as HyLife’s chief strategic officer.

Sangfai gave credit to Lazaruk and the executive team for their success and thanked them for welcoming him to the team.

He said teamwork and the collaborative culture is evident here at HyLife, something that shone through in the last two years as they faced tough decisions, ultimately resulting in layoffs of 87 people or about 3.5 percent of their workforce.

Sangfai said he is confident they are well equipped to face future challenges.

The company has a longstanding tradition of giving back and being involved in their communities and Sangfai said that will continue.

“Without the community we cannot be successful,” he said. “Company and community have to come together.”

Sangfai’s first exposure to HyLife was while working with the majority shareholder, CP Foods and he said though he came to support HyLife he quickly realized Lazaruk and his team had plenty to teach him as well.

“The company sent me to support HyLife but on the contrary we learned from HyLife a lot,” he said.

He admitted that when he prepared to move to Steinbach, he was told it would be cold, not at all like the climate he was used to after growing up in Bangkok, Thailand.

“But you know what, when I first came, my first week, I already felt really warm,” he said.

He embarked on a tour of the region, using his free time to travel across Southern Manitoba and discovering communities like Winkler, Morden and Miami.

“This is a really good place to live and to work,” he said, adding his family agrees. “This is home.”

And at the office teamwork will continue to prevail.

“There are still some challenges down the road but we’re confident that we can, together with the team, we can handle that,” he said. “Grant has built a great company, a great team.”

Lazaruk said he’s confident he’s leaving HyLife in great hands.

“I’m looking forward to this company continuing to grow and prosper,” he said.