My CIO Career: Veteran CIO Mark Reimel on Seeking New Challenges After Long Tenure at One Company

Mark Reimel, CIO at Rosen’s Diversified, discusses the importance of gaining varied experiences as an IT leader – and sensing when the time is right for a change.

Mark Reimel spent 26 years at Michael Foods, a multibillion-dollar supplier of foodservice, food ingredients and retail offerings, including more than eight years as CIO – unusual feats in an age when just two to three years is the average tenure for an IT job and five is the typical term for the IT chief.

That longevity brought benefits, Reimel said, notably the opportunity to rise from an entry-level position, fresh from earning an information systems management MBA, to CIO in charge of creating both a strong IT organization and a workplace culture where staffers wanted to stick around the company based in Hopkins, Minn.

At the same time, he said he recognized that companies seeking executive talent are looking for candidates with a variety of experiences. The sense that he had much to offer – and that he would enjoy new challenges – was a driving factor in his decision to explore a new opportunity, a process which led to his becoming CIO at Rosen’s Diversified, a family-owned agricultural holding company based in Eagan, Minn., in January 2024.

Sharing his thoughts in a January 2025 interview for the “My CIO Career” series, Reimel discussed what prompted him to make the move, the importance of gaining varied experiences as an IT leader, and how he recognizes organizational cultures that need improvement, and that demonstrate strong cohesiveness.

Mary K. Pratt: Why did you decide to leave Michael Foods after such a long tenure?

Mark Reimel: I started as an entry-level analyst at Michael Foods and worked my way up to CIO. That took a lot of work, and I am proud of that. But there was another piece of me that asked whether this company was the only place I could do this. There was something inside of me saying, “I want to do this somewhere else so I can do prove to myself, and maybe prove to others, that I did not just fall into this at Michael Foods out of luck.” That was one of the drivers.

The other trigger, though, was my youngest son’s graduation from high school. With that, stability was not quite as important anymore and I felt more freedom to try things out in my career.

Additionally, I wanted a challenge. I had built a strong IT department at Michael Foods; things were running smoothly. And even though technology changes every year, there was a little bit of a rinse-and-repeat-type feeling to it because things were running smoothly.

All of those things coming together told me it was time to look for a new role.

What are the benefits of a long tenure at one company?

I was able to see IT from its many different aspects and watch it mature.

I was also fortunate at Michael Foods to have a broader view of things. As a business analyst early in my career there, I worked with many business functions, from order entry and sales, through warehousing, distribution and shipping, to accounting. And as I progressed in my career, I had opportunities that further broadened my interactions with the business, so that I worked with pretty much every function in the company.

And I was able to see all these different disciplines within the company work their way up through a maturity model. That has helped me here at Rosen’s Diversified, because I can assess how mature or immature we are in certain areas. 

Would you advise others in IT to aim for a long tenure instead of moving around every few years, as is typical?

I think there is a happy medium between two- or three- or even five-year tenures and the nearly 26 years I had spent at one company. Like I said, I got lucky with the company I was at, because of the variety of opportunities I was afforded, but I do think as you build a career, you want to make yourself marketable, and companies are looking for a variety of experiences in the candidates they hire. I was able to convey the variety that I had in my 26 years at one company, but on the surface someone could look at it and think I lack that variety.

What do you see as your top accomplishments as Michael Foods CIO?

The teamwork and the culture I built. When I left, the team’s average tenure was 13 years. People really liked working there and wanted to stick around.

The other thing that I am proud of is the time I spent helping people succeed. There were people who struggled at certain times, and I coached them directly. I do not want to take too much credit for it, because they had to do the work. But that coaching helped turn around their careers and how things were working for them. I think when people see that, they understand that I care about the team and I will put time in to help them improve.

How would you describe the IT department culture at Michael Foods when you were CIO?

I believe that if you are going to be at work eight or 10 hours a day, then make it fun and enjoyable to be there. Have a relaxed atmosphere. Have an environment that is not tense and too corporate-feeling. Have an open door so people could come in and talk. They may just chitchat or talk about work or come in to complain, and I think it is important to allow for all that.

I believe my tenure helped me create a positive culture, because people saw that I knew what I was talking about. I had worked up through the ranks and had performed almost everybody’s job already, so they knew I could relate to everything they were doing. And I was even able to help technically when people were stuck; I could ask, “Have you tried this?”

That also helped me create a high-performing team. They drove themselves because they liked working for me and they liked the atmosphere.

What made the workplace fun and enjoyable?

Our daily interactions. If I was out walking around talking to people, I would be joking and laughing with them. I like to rib people a little bit, in a good-natured way. And even in meetings, I would make sure they did not get too stuffy. We could have a lighter mood.

Additionally, we had an IT social committee that would plan events and off-sites. For example, we would take a day to work together for a charity and then get together afterwards at a restaurant to have food and drinks. I do not think this is unique, but it helped create a positive atmosphere for the team.

Also, I worked hard to hire the right leadership team and the right staff people, to make sure we have people who would be great teammates versus an A player who was a lone wolf and would not work well with others.

What appealed to you about the CIO position at Rosen’s Diversified?

My current company did not sugarcoat anything during the hiring process. They told me there was a lot of work to be done here. And that was the challenge I was looking for.

They laid out the issues they were having and the projects that were coming up. And I thought to myself, “These are things I have seen. These are all things I have done.” I thought I could bring my skills here and add value right away.

Also, I had met with the executive team during the interview process, and they all said that relationships really matter. That was important to me, because I think it helps make a company an enjoyable place to work. And I was right. It has been great here so far.

What has been the toughest challenge in your new position so far, and how are you addressing it?

The challenge was addressing the dysfunctional culture that was here. Before I took over, nearly the whole management team in IT had been released, and the culture was one of the reasons they were let go. There was poor teamwork, and the teams were pointing at each other, thinking the other group was the problem. And there was this cowboy culture, where there was a reward structure, albeit informal, for being someone who would get out there and just get something done, even if that might mean, for example, that they ended up with multiple solutions covering the same areas. And there was a lack of accountability; there would be discussions about issues and nobody would take responsibility for fixing them.

When I started, it was me and a couple remaining managers. I had all functions reporting up to me. It was pretty tough. But it meant I was able to hire new directors, all of whom came from a culture of accountability. We are now driving that accountability down through the teams here.

Fixing it is not going to happen in a year, but we are making good strides now. I hope over the next year it will be completely turned around.

What nonprofessional activities define you?

I have run six or seven marathons, and I get up every morning at 5 to work out. When I was training for a marathon, I would get up and go for an hour-and-a-half run every morning before work, which is over 10 miles every day. I still run a bit, and I lift weights. I pretty much like all kinds of sports.

And with the marathon running and the training and my healthy diet, I became well known in my last job as someone who had all this discipline. People at my last job would say that I am the most disciplined person they ever met.

But here is the thing: I feel like I am the least disciplined person, because I know I have to put structures in place to make me be able to be successful.

That showed me the importance of being self-aware. You have to recognize what your weaknesses are and build structures to overcome those. So, like I said, I feel like I am the least disciplined person in the room, but I build ways to force discipline upon myself. For example, I do believe I have ADD of some sort, and I cannot stand sitting at my desk for too long and there are certain days where I struggle to concentrate. I recognized that and found ways to manage it. I managed it well enough to become CIO.