Todd Drake

Founder and CEO of Balance4ward, Todd Drake started his career in Emporia, Kansas, working in animal health distribution sales after graduating college at NWMSU in Maryville, Mo. He would later return to his home region in southwest Iowa, to build his ranch and first-generation feed yard with his wife Kristi and two sons. After building the feed yard with zero farming efficiencies, it didn’t take long to see he needed to be better at sourcing ingredients. With the help of the ethanol boom, he started New Balance Commodities to help fill a feed procurement void of the timing of contracting and logistics.

While the success of New Balance Commodities was undeniable, it was evident it wasn’t going to make the impact Todd wanted to keep the mid-market cattleman thriving. The pivot to Balance4ward was the natural next move. The pivot was made by Todd reaching out for help. He hired a mentor who had scaled a business and taken it public. With this change came the recommendation to form a board of directors. For personal leadership development he joined Vistage a worldwide CEO group that meets regularly. Todd, along with his team at Balance4ward are now leading the charge of an even bigger opportunity of building a better beef supply chain for the mid-market cattleman.

Todd is a consistent advocate for the cattle industry and relies on his experiences to continue to build trust amongst himself and cattlemen across the Midwest. His passion for leveling the playing field for mid-market cattlemen has taught him many lessons and given him many mindset changing experiences. Todd says, “Cattlemen are genuine, grounded in faith, and have a deep respect for doing the hard things that most of society cannot fathom.”