Business Leader Speaker Series: Jordan Beck
Jordan Beck is a School of Business alum and former owner of Rogue Biofuels. In the late summer of 2007, Jordan and a few former classmates from SOU came together to form a biodiesel production company. Rogue Biofuels was incorporated in April of 2008 with 4 shareholders, 3 of which were involved in day-to-day operations.
Very quickly it became clear that finding a low-cost feedstock to produce the biodiesel from was the most challenging piece the puzzle. After trying a few different biodiesel production methods, the founders decided to shift Rogue Biofuels’ focus from producing biofuels to collecting used cooking oil from restaurants and institutions, thus providing the feedstock to established large scale biodiesel companies. Though Rogue Biofuels operated underfunded, Jordan and his team found success by being resourceful and working incredibly long hours. Over the years they added hundreds of restaurants to their oil collection routes and continued to sell retail biodiesel produced from the oil they collected.
Operating Rogue Biofuels was very demanding but Jordan and his wife Casey were able to make time for adventure, travel and in 2013 took on a new Challenge and had their first child. For the next couple of years, Jordan was able to work from home most of the time while he navigated his new role as a father. Over the years changes in energy prices, government subsidies and challenges with employees made for unique challenges but kept things interesting.
After a joyous 2016 holiday season with family and friends, Casey died unexpectedly in January of 2017. Jordan’s priorities shifted and he took on full-time parenting their two young children, who were 18 months old and three years old. This didn’t leave any time or energy for managing Rogue Biofuels and in July 2017 the business was sold to a long-time industry peer. Jordan will share his experiences as a founder and owner of a growing company.
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