About Jerry.

Jerry Bouma lives in Edmonton, Alberta and has spent his career as a Management Consultant in the agri-food sector. He has worked with such firms as Deloitte and Maple Leaf Foods before starting his own firm, Toma & Bouma Management Consultants now operating as Jerry Bouma & Associates. He has also been very active in the broader community having served as Board Chair of Northlands, Chair of TrackTown Canada as well as serving on such boards as Horse Racing Alberta, AVAC, and AFSC (Agriculture Financial Services Corporation). He currently serves as Chair of The Little Potato Company Advisory Board and as Chair of the Corporate Governance & Nominations Committee with AVAC.

 

As an experienced management consultant in the agriculture and food industry. Jerry’s specialties include strategic planning, governance reviews, business, and marketing plans as well as market research specific to the agri-food sector. Some of his more notable contributions include:
 

• “Changing Course.” The Agri-Food Value Added Strategy for Alberta Agriculture Food & Rural Development.

• “The Pursuit of Quality” – A Blueprint for Alberta Agriculture and Food Industry.

• “The Value Chain Initiative” – an organizational strategy for industry, adopted by Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and British Columbia.

• Master Agriculture Plans for the Counties of Strathcona, Parkland and the Edmonton Metropolitan Region.

• Numerous strategic and organizational plans for the Dairy, Beef, Pork, and Crop Industries.

 

All in all, Jerry has managed and/or worked on over 1,000 projects in the agri-food sector in all provinces and across various agri-food industries throughout his career.

 

Jerry grew up on a family dairy farm outside Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada.  As a boy, he took a great interest in such sports as hockey and baseball, however his daily duties on the farm precluded involvement in team sports. At the age of 14, he took up running, a sport he could pursue on his own schedule and on the roads near the farm. Self-coached and by the time he was 17 years of age, Jerry set several under-18 age class Canadian records. He was also the Canadian Junior Outdoor 800-meter champion. In 1970, he became the first Canadian high schooler to secure an athletic scholarship to Villanova University, which at the time was home to some of best runners in the world.

 

Jerry completed a B.Sc. of Mathematics at Villanova. After graduation he built on his interests in economics and agriculture by completing a M.Sc. of Agricultural Economics, at the University of Guelph.

 

Jerry has spent his entire professional career as a management consultant in the agriculture and food industry. He has written hundreds of reports, proposals and produced thousands of documents over the past 40 years. His first book, “Touching Greatness, Forever Together - The Villanova Track Story” is the Track and Field Writers of America 2022 Book of Year award winner. He has also written published three books of poetry: “Beyond the Woodshed”, “Yearnings – Reflections on Life, Love and Loss”, and “Beyond Yearnings.”

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