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<\/p>\nMeet Ashley Van Natta, a Woman in Ag who is making her mark as Wayne-Sanderson Farms\u2019 first female Complex Manager in company history. In this role, Ashley leads the Tyler, Texas complex, overseeing every aspect of live production, processing, and facility operations, working closely with her team to meet production goals efficiently while upholding the highest quality standards.<\/p>\n
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The Tyler, Texas complex is a state-of-the-art facility built by the company and opened for production in 2019. Its operations include a 252,000 square-foot retail processing facility, feed mill, and hatchery, employing over 1,700 employees and more than 70 farm partners. The scale of these operations doesn\u2019t intimidate her\u2014instead, Ashley embraces the opportunity with confidence and determination, always looking at challenges as a chance for growth.<\/p>\n
Ashley has been with the company for over 15 years, demonstrating her strong work ethic, adaptability, and leadership as she\u2019s advanced through the ranks. Her journey took her from Broiler Service Technician in McComb, MS, to Advanced Trainee and Broiler Manager in Hazlehurst, MS. In 2013, Ashley relocated to Palestine, TX, to serve as Production Manager, where she played a key role in building the complex from the ground up. When the Tyler, TX complex opened, she was promoted to its Division Manager, contributing significantly to the development of chicken houses, the hatchery, and the feed mill, as well as recruiting farmers\u2014and navigating through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. She later served as Live Operations Manager in Tyler before stepping into her current role as Complex Manager in 2024.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on her promotion to the Complex Manager role, Ashley credits leadership development courses and the guidance of great mentors, including Brent Glasgow, Wayne-Sanderson Farms\u2019 Senior Director of Retail Operations, for helping her along the way. \u201cBrent has done a really good job helping me transition from a Live Operations Manager mindset to step up into the Complex Manager role, and helped give me the confidence to decide that I really wanted to take that on.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for what makes an effective leader, Ashley emphasizes the importance of a sense of urgency, especially with the high-stakes nature of the poultry industry. \u201cYou have to trust that you have the knowledge, and make the decision. Sometimes it\u2019s the right one, and sometimes it\u2019s the wrong one, but you have to make a decision and go with it,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n
Leading by example, Ashley keeps her team motivated and inspired by offering unwavering support. She is always available to address any questions they may have, maintaining an open-door policy to foster transparent communication. While she ensures her team has the guidance they need, she also encourages problem-solving, believing that, \u201cIf you feed them every answer, you don\u2019t help grow them as leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a forward-thinking mindset, she lets her leadership and performance speak for itself, driving initiatives that prioritize employee well-being, improve retention rates, and earn recognition for award-winning environmental efforts. As she puts it, \u201cThe impact that I hope to make on the industry is that, at the end of the day, I have a top-performing complex, and people don\u2019t even consider that me being female is a factor in that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ashley Van Natta\u2014making history as she\u2019s Making Chicken Amazing!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Meet Ashley Van Natta, a Woman in Ag who is making her mark as Wayne-Sanderson Farms\u2019 first female Complex Manager in company history. In this role, Ashley leads the Tyler, Texas complex, overseeing every aspect of live production, processing, and facility operations, working closely with her team to meet production goals efficiently while upholding the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2874,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-company","category-people"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n