One Team, One Family

Joan Daleo, President and CEO of Ole Tyme Produce, grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, in a family deeply rooted in the produce industry. While her parents were building and expanding Ole Tyme, Joan divided her time between learning the family trade and her formal business studies.

In 1985, she graduated from Reed College in Portland. She worked several years for the western U.S.’s largest grid operator before returning to St. Louis to pursue her master’s degree from Washington University. After acquiring her master’s in 1993, Joan returned to the family business full-time, helping her parents manage and grow the company into a new era.

In 2001, Joan was named president and CEO of Ole Tyme, continuing the family’s legacy and building upon the company’s integrity, excellence, and quality foundation. She began serving on the Food Advisory Board for Operation Food Search, a St. Louis-based non-profit providing hunger relief to over 200,000 individuals a month throughout the greater Missouri and Illinois bi-state area. Her commitment to the community was further exemplified in 2022 as Joan joined the Greater St. Louis Inc. Council; an organization dedicated to creating jobs and inclusive economic growth throughout the St. Louis area. In this same year, she also joined the International Fresh Produce Association's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee which seeks to create a diverse and thriving industry for all.

In June of 2021, the company was officially recognized with the National Women’s Business Enterprise Certification, making Ole Tyme Produce the largest, woman-owned, fresh food distributor in the region. Following in 2022, Joan was named to the St. Louis Titan 100; a recognition of the top 100 CEO's and C-level executives from across the region who exemplify leadership, vision, and passion in their industries. St. Louis Business Journal recognized her as one of the Top 25 Most Influential Women in Business. Joan believes that these recognitions come with a continued duty to positively impact the present community and industry, as well as building the next generation of leaders.