Mercer School Of Business Alumnus Leads Global Food Distributor

Felix Lin. Photo courtesy Felix Lin

By nan clip he was 30 years old, Felix Lin was vice president of Georgia’s Blue Bird Corp., and astatine 36, he is now nan CEO of world nutrient supplier HF Foods Group. The 2011 School of Business postgraduate said his Mercer acquisition and experiences were monumental successful nan guidance and progression of his career. 

Lin grew up conscionable a fewer hours from Macon successful Valdosta, but he didn’t initially see going to Mercer. He applied to 3 larger schools successful Georgia and Alabama, but his applications were mislaid during a glitch successful nan process. At nan urging of a friend, Lin applied to Mercer and was accepted soon after. He thought he’d transportation to different schoolhouse aft a semester aliases two, but he stayed. 

“One semester in, I fell successful emotion pinch nan school,” he said. “The mini organization wherever everyone knows everyone, there’s conscionable thing to emotion astir that atmosphere.”

Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, Lin knew astatine a young property that he wanted to spell into business and majored successful accounting and finance astatine Mercer. He sewage his ft successful nan doorway astatine Blue Bird during a summertime internship, which led to a part-time occupation during his elder year. 

After graduation, he took a full-time occupation astatine Blue Bird while moving connected a master’s grade successful accounting astatine Georgia College and State University successful nan evenings. Later on, he earned a Master of Business Administration successful world proviso concatenation management, firm finance and finance guidance from nan University of North Carolina astatine Chapel Hill. 

Lin said he likes assortment and alteration successful his work, and his Blue Bird mentors allowed him to move to a different duty each 12 to 18 months. He started successful accounting and precocious to roles successful finance, world business development, mergers and acquisitions, accumulation supervision, quality assets compliance and firm strategy.

“In astir 10 years, I went from an intern to becoming a vice president of nan company. In that time, I had done everything fundamentally pinch nan objection of engineering. The acquisition from Mercer really helped me,” said Lin, whose wife, Lauren Kritsas Lin, is simply a 2010 Mercer trading graduate. “The situation wherever you tin beryllium who you are, nan smaller classes … nan societal and individual skills that you’re capable to accumulate extracurricular of what you study successful classes really paid dividends for me, particularly successful a institution for illustration Blue Bird.”

In 2019, Lin joined nan committee of board of HF Foods Group, a publically traded institution that is nan marketplace leader successful nan Asian specialty nutrient work industry. He near Blue Bird and Georgia successful 2022 erstwhile nan opportunity arose to go nan main operating serviceman astatine HF Foods Group, based successful Las Vegas. He became president successful early 2024 and CEO earlier this year.

“Never successful a cardinal years would I person thought I’d move to Las Vegas and beryllium successful nan nutrient work business,” said Lin. 

Lin is starring HF Foods Group during a clip of transformation, and he hopes to build a lasting bequest arsenic he useful to grow nan company’s footprint. As a awesome nutrient supplier to Asian independent restaurants successful nan United States, nan institution brings successful much than $1.2 cardinal successful yearly revenue, he said. It has 19 locations, including 14 distribution centers, 4 transverse dock operations and 1 manufacturing installation passim nan country. It services complete 15,000 restaurants and specialty market stores successful 45 states.

“I really judge successful nan ngo that we have,” Lin said. “It is nan expertise for america to bring civilization together. At nan extremity of nan day, I came from an migrant family myself. We ever talk astir nan American dream. Being capable to thrust a business that has a adjacent relationship successful position of what America is each about, there’s a batch of worth successful that for me. Given my quality arsenic personification who likes to bring alteration and alteration for nan better, it conscionable checks each nan boxes for me, personally and professionally.”

Lin’s semipermanent goals see further solidifying HF Foods’s activity position successful nan broader nutrient work abstraction and building nan institution into a nationally recognized brand. He besides wants to do his portion to supply much jobs and thrust economical growth. 

“I’ve been very fortunate successful nan measurement my profession has progressed,” he said. “A batch of it had to do pinch really I grew up and nan personification I became done my acquisition astatine Mercer. Mercer holds a very typical spot successful my heart. Even though Mercer is simply a smaller schoolhouse … graduates of Mercer execute large things, and I deliberation I’m an illustration of that. I dream that much group tin leverage that going guardant pinch what Mercer has to offer.”