John Kreger has worn many different hats in his years working for food banks, and as of this week, he will be wearing a new one; Chief Operating Officer of the Montgomery County Food Bank.
Before being named COO, Kreger held the position of Director of Sourcing and Industry Partnerships for the Montgomery County Food Bank for four years. Before that, he held the position of Director of Sourcing for the Houston Food Bank.
CEO and President Kristine Marlow joined the food bank in August and given the complexities of the operations of a food bank, with the added increase in need locally due to the economic impact f the COVID-19 pandemic, she felt that COO was a necessary position to create. Because of his long history working for food banks, and the many hats he has worn over the years, Kreger was just the right candidate to fill the position.
“You can imagine what has to go on behind the scenes in order to serve our 70 partner agencies, keep our vehicles running, taking product in, having it go out,” Marlow said. “What I saw in John was a natural leadership ability.”
Moving from Houston to the Montgomery County Food Bank, Kreger was looking forward to the challenge of having to fill in multiple roles, as often happens at smaller not-for-profit organizations.
“I was always pretty focused on sourcing,” Kreger said of his role in Houston. “So, expanding what I did at the food bank was something that intrigued me.”
In his new position, Kreger said his goals for the food bank, in general, have not changed. The goal has always been to help people.
“We do what we do, we help people that are hungry. But we do a lot more than that,” he said. “Every person that we feed, there’s a story behind that. Every family is going through something.”
One specific goal he has, which is shared by everyone that works at the food bank, is to get more produce output. More specifically, Kreger wants at least half, if not more, of the food bank’s output to be fresh produce. It’s not just about giving people food to eat, he said. It’s about good nutrition for the client, and helping to divert more produce from filling landfills.
Kreger wants people to know that he’s honored to have this position and be able to help the community, and he wants to be able to help everyone, not just those experiencing food insecurity. He was born and raised on a farm in the Klein-Spring area so Texas, and the local area, means a lot to him.
“We really just want to help all those that we can and partner with other organizations to help them help us, and to help them at the same time,” he said.
