Thank You Liz, Addy and Sergio Ethan Puente
posted on Friday, November 22, 2019
Sergio began his career at Iowa Select Farms in June of 2001. Despite his lack of experience in pork production, his competitive nature paired with how much he cared about his people are farms made Sergio successful in every role he was given.
Like most employees, he began as an entry-level animal caretaker. Joining the Nursery 3 and Nursery 8 teams, he pushed himself to learn all aspects of those farms so he could get better. He was reliable, dependable and went above and beyond every day.
Within a year, Sergio was promoted to manager of those nurseries. He trained, mentored and worked closely alongside his people to keep improving the performance of the farms and make things better.
A year later, Sergio left his nursery manager post to try a new opportunity within Iowa Select Farms. He moved to Kramer Sow Farm (Sow 4) where he started over, now learning all of the aspects of breeding, farrowing and early pig care.
His manager quickly recognized his work ethic and drive to improve and promoted him to department head.
Sergio was proud of his accomplishments and worked even harder. He was quickly promoted to a department head.
In 2004, Sergio moved to Rout Sow Farm (Sow 3) to be the farrowing department head. Seeing the talent and drive in Sergio, he was promoted to manager of Sow 114 by the end of the year. Now he led a 12-person team on a farm of his own. It was clear there was something special about Sergio and his ability to organize and motivate teams and improve results.
In October 2013, Sergio was again promoted, this time taking over the management of two farms—Union and Clarke Sow Farms in south central Iowa. Two new teams of 12, twice as many sows and twice as many piglets.
Nothing could get Sergio down—not PRRS, not short staffing, not the brutal winters or setbacks on his farms. His notable enthusiasm and drive was infectious and his leadership at N3, N8, S004, S003, S114, S019 & S020 touched so many people.
We cannot recognize him enough for the impact he made as a pork industry leader.
Sergio tragically passed again five years ago, and earlier this week his family announced a donation of $10,000 to establish the Sergio Puente Hug Fund.
The Hug Fund was created by the Puente family to pay the kindness they were given after his passing to help other Iowa Select Farms employees facing financial stress immediately after an unforeseen personal hardship.
We’d like to thank Liz, Addy and Sergio Ethan Puente for their amazing strength, thoughtfulness and kindness extended to Iowa Select Farms on this difficult anniversary.
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