Marquis Who’s Who Honors Greg McNeil for Innovative Leadership in the Nonprofit Sector
Under his leadership, The Equalizer Project has helped to implement a Department of Justice best practice community collaboration and violence reduction program in Lansing.
DEWITT, MI, March 05, 2025 /24-7PressRelease/ — Greg McNeil has been included in Marquis Who’s Who. As in all Marquis Who’s Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Mr. McNeil has earned a distinguished reputation in the non-profit sector and currently works as the chief executive officer of the Equalizer Project. In this role, he has exhibited a persistent focus on fostering community collaboration, safety, and prosperity. Under his leadership, The Equalizer Project has helped to implement a Department of Justice best practice community collaboration and violence reduction program in Lansing, Michigan with the establishment of the Lansing Empowerment Network. The Lansing Empowerment Network is an independent non-profit that collaborates with local authorities, businesses, schools, and non-profit organizations to enhance community safety, education, and economic prosperity.
Mr. McNeil’s professional journey is marked by significant achievements across various industries. He initiated his management career with Kraft Dairy Group in 1979, where he quickly rose from production manager to vice president and general manager. His tenure at Kraft was highlighted by a remarkable operational and business turnaround of its facility, which became a best-in-class example for the dairy processing industry based on the efforts of Mr. McNeil and his team. Mr. McNeil became the Division Manager for several divisions of Dean Foods before leaving the dairy industry after 30 years of service. During this portion of his career, Mr. McNeil was very involved with industry trade associations. He served as Board Member and the President of the Michigan Dairy Foods Association and a Board Member for United Dairy Industry of Michigan.
This early business success served as a template that he later applied at Starbucks Coffee, where Mr. McNeil served as the Director of Global Supply Chain from 2007 to 2012. During his tenure at Starbucks headquarters in Seattle, he and his team were responsible for direct operational cost reductions of over $100MM dollars that had been annually recurring for the United States business every year since 2010. Mr. McNeil was also involved in a logistics turnaround for the 8000 U.S. stores with improvement in supply chain efficiency from 27% to over 90% in less than six months.
Mr. McNeil transitioned to the Food Safety industry at Neogen Corporation as a Senior Director of Sales and Operations after retiring from Starbucks Coffee and returning to his home state of Michigan. In a remarkable 7-year period he and the Neogen sales team helped to more than triple the US Food Safety Division sales. He and the operations team also dramatically improved the customer fulfillment rates and quality control programs, supporting this remarkable business growth. Additionally, Mr. McNeil and the R&D leadership team facilitated the launch of a real-time molecular pathogen assay to detect listeria monocytogenes, which was the first of its kind for the food industry.
Throughout his career, Mr. McNeil was blessed to have wonderful coworkers who helped with problem identification, process measurement, creative initiatives, and dedication to customer experience, which led to these different organizational successes.
Mr. McNeil’s academic credentials certainly contributed to his advancement as he has been a student his entire life. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Michigan State University in 1979, and in 1989, he completed a Master of Business Administration with honors from the Eli Broad College of Business at the same institution. Mr. McNeil’s achievements during his MBA program were recognized with Beta Gamma Sigma honors, reflecting his dedication to the discipline of academic excellence despite the fact that he was working full-time throughout his entire college education.
Beyond his professional endeavors, Mr. McNeil actively found opportunities for civic engagement and volunteerism. Mr. McNeil has been a volunteer licensed soccer coach for over 30 years with the Capital Area Soccer League. He also served as a volunteer Big Brother mentor for Big Brothers Big Sisters in Lansing and Seattle for 12 years with three different Little Brothers.
During his career, Mr. McNeil was also a Board Member for Capital Area Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Capital Area United Way, and Federal Employees Credit Union. He is a Board Member for Lansing Empowerment Network and Combined Research Foundation.
Mr. McNeil prioritizes an active lifestyle that includes daily fitness training and playing ice hockey and soccer twice weekly. He also cherishes spending quality time with his family, which includes his wife Nola, son, daughter, and their families.
Looking toward the future, Mr. McNeil aims to continue to expand the Equalizer Project’s revenue streams to support programs that facilitate community collaboration, personal development, educational success, and community reinvestment in Lansing. This vision includes supporting and expanding the Lansing Empowerment Network to include additional programs that address education, career development for youth, and economic investment in underserved community areas.
About Marquis Who’s Who®:
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who’s Who in America®, Marquis Who’s Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Who’s Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. The suite of Marquis® publications can be viewed at the official Marquis Who’s Who® website, www.marquiswhoswho.com.
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