Nathan Neufeld
Baylor University, Hankamer School of Business – MBA in Dallas for Executives and Professionals
Age: 53
“Faith-driven husband, father, and purpose-driven leader developing people, businesses, and communities to enhance lives.”
Hometown: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Family Members: Married to Nadine Neufeld; proud father of Grace, who recently graduated from Grand Canyon University with a Business degree and now works with Chinook Chemical Corporation in Tyler, Texas; Madalyn, pursuing a Medical degree in Canada; and Leyton, studying Engineering at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix.
Fun fact about yourself: As an avid fan of the NHL’s Calgary Flames, my son and I set a goal to see our team play in every arena across the league. It has turned into some incredible father-son time along the way. While my Executive MBA at Baylor and his engineering studies at Grand Canyon University have slowed our progress, we are currently about 70% of the way there and hope to finish the journey in the years ahead.
Here’s one more fun fact for good measure. In the spirit of proving you can teach an old dog new tricks, I started playing the cello in my mid-40s, and it has become one of the most relaxing things I do.
Undergraduate School and Degree:
University of Calgary – B.A. Political Science and B.Comm. General Management
Where are you currently working? President & CEO, The 10FOLD Group Inc.
Extracurricular Activities, Community Work and Leadership Roles:
Community Work
As Founder and Chairman of the 10FOLD Foundation, I lead our company’s philanthropic efforts and engage our staff and stakeholders in strengthening local and global communities.
Internationally, we support sustainable community development through Communities For Life, working alongside local leaders to improve living conditions, expand access to education, and support long-term community growth. We also partner with Classrooms for Africa to help build and equip schools in underserved regions, creating greater access to education and opportunity. In addition, we support Christ-centered healthcare and surgical training at CEML Christian Hospital in Angola, and partner with Mission Aviation Fellowship to help reach and serve remote communities.
Closer to home, we are actively engaged in strengthening communities across Canada. We support Not In My City, a national movement focused on preventing and ending human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
A cornerstone of our regional impact is the 10FOLD Regional Field House in Southern Alberta, a large indoor sports and wellness facility that serves as a hub for community activity. Through our strategic partnership with TeamUp, we have expanded the facility’s community service mandate by using sport as a platform to engage underserved youth, helping build confidence, life skills, and leadership.
We also support families in our immediate community through the Okotoks Food Bank, and participate in local initiatives such as Adopt-a-Highway, along with other grassroots efforts aimed at strengthening the communities where we live and work.
Leadership Roles
I currently serve as President and CEO of the 10FOLD Group, its operating companies, and its charitable arm, the 10FOLD Foundation.
I have also served on the board of Communities For Life for the past 10 years, supporting its work in sustainable community development and long-term poverty alleviation in Peru.
In addition, I will be serving as Chairman of the Board of the Omora Impact Fund, a newly-established, faith-driven nonprofit preparing to launch a 2026-2031 pilot in Rwanda. The organization is led by a fellow Baylor EMBA graduate and supported by a board that includes members of the Baylor community, including faculty. Its focus is equipping underserved women and youth with impact capital, entrepreneurship training, financial literacy, and values-based leadership.
Over the past 30 years, I have also taken on numerous leadership roles within my organization and across the Canadian chemical industry, helping guide growth, build teams, and navigate complex operating environments.
Earlier in my journey, I served on the board of the Canadian Marriage & Family Network and in various church leadership roles, including small-group leader and campus ministry president.
Extracurricular Activities
Outside of work and service, I most value time with my wife Nadine and our three children. Over the years, much of our family time has been spent outdoors, with long days at the lake
camping, boating, swimming, and fishing. We have also shared in our children’s pursuits, including equestrian events supporting our daughter’s show jumping and countless hours in community rinks cheering on our son in hockey.
As our children have grown older, we now look forward to spending time together at our Florida home, where we enjoy the local beaches, time by the pool, boating, and fishing.
Personally, I am an avid outdoorsman and enjoy fly-fishing the rivers and streams along the eastern slopes of the Canadian Rockies, salmon fishing on Canada’s west coast, and hunting elk and moose in northern Alberta. I also stay active through golf, hockey, tennis, and squash, and have a strong appreciation for classical music, playing both piano and cello.
We are long-standing season ticket holders for the NHL’s Calgary Flames. Since attending Baylor, I have also become an avid fan of Baylor Bears football.
Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? The achievement I am most proud of during my Executive MBA at Baylor is the establishment of the 10FOLD Innovation Hub. Inspired directly by the Corporate Entrepreneurship: Initiating and Sustaining Innovation course and taught by Dr. Patsy Norman, I created this dedicated platform to align our R&D, technology, business development, operations, and finance teams around a unified innovation strategy. One year after launch, the Hub has already transformed how we develop clean chemical technologies, accelerating product development, strengthening cross-functional collaboration, and reinforcing the 10FOLD Group’s position as an industry leader in sustainable solutions.
Baylor’s curriculum also inspired two additional initiatives. The first was the formalization of all our charitable and philanthropic work under the 10FOLD Foundation, influenced by Leading with Integrity, taught by Dr. Mitch Neubert. The second was the launch of the 10FOLD Elevate Academy, our corporate continuing education program, born out of my own experience in the program and a desire to extend that same opportunity for growth and development to our team.
Together, these initiatives have helped embed a culture of purpose-driven innovation and continuous learning across the organization.
What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? The achievement I am most proud of in my professional career is building the 10FOLD Group into a vibrant, values-driven enterprise that has remained true to its founding principles for nearly three decades.
As a young undergraduate, I wrestled with whether to pursue full-time ministry or a career in business. During that time, I engaged in prayer and followed the guidance of a seasoned, faith-driven entrepreneur who later became both a mentor and long-time business partner. I came to understand that it is not so much what you do, but how you do it and how you treat people. That conviction has shaped everything that followed.
I set out to build a company grounded in biblical principles, putting people ahead of profit and conducting business in a way that honors God. Today, I am most proud that the 10FOLD Group remains firmly anchored in our core values of Character, Relationship, and Performance, while fully living our vision: “We are a group of people united in purpose, generously living our values to enhance the lives of others.”
Seeing our organization, across four operating companies and the 10FOLD Foundation, grow profitably while staying true to that purpose has been the most rewarding part of my career.
Who was your favorite MBA professor? While I value each of my Executive MBA professors at Baylor and have developed meaningful relationships with many of them, two in particular had an exceptional impact.
Dr. Mitch Neubert, who taught Leading with Integrity, stands out the most. His course affirmed the faith-driven purpose I had wrestled with since my undergraduate years. He also challenged me to more fully integrate my Christian values into every aspect of leadership and decision-making at the 10FOLD Group.
Dr. Patsy Norman also had a profound influence. She taught our in-residence course Government, Business, and Societal Impact in Washington, D.C., which broadened my perspective on the intersection of business, government, and society. She also taught Corporate Entrepreneurship: Initiating and Sustaining Innovation. This course directly inspired the creation of the 10FOLD Innovation Hub, helping align our teams around a unified innovation strategy and accelerating product development across the organization.
Both professors reinforced that true leadership is grounded in character, integrity, and the courage to lead with conviction and purpose.
Why did you choose this school’s executive MBA program? I chose Baylor’s Executive MBA program for several compelling reasons. The most important was its mission: “We cultivate principled leaders and serve the global marketplace through transformational learning and impactful scholarship in a culture of innovation guided by Christian values.”
That mission resonated deeply with me. It was further affirmed when I audited an Executive MBA weekend class in Dallas and met with faculty, staff, and current students. Their authenticity and commitment to faith-integrated leadership confirmed everything I had read.
As an international student from Canada, I also valued Baylor’s in-person format. It fosters strong cohort relationships while remaining structured enough to accommodate the demands of leading a business, raising a family, and staying engaged in community service. The downtown Dallas location also made travel practical, with convenient direct flights from Calgary.
Ultimately, among the strong U.S. programs I considered, Baylor stood out as the best fit for my Christian worldview and the right environment to equip me to lead the 10FOLD Group into its next season of growth and impact.
What is the biggest lesson you gained during your MBA and how did you apply it at work? The biggest lesson I gained during my Executive MBA at Baylor is that sustained success requires both bold innovation and leadership grounded in integrity and purpose.
I applied this by establishing the 10FOLD Innovation Hub, a cross-functional platform that aligns our R&D, technology, business development, operations, and finance teams around a unified innovation strategy. One year after launch, the Hub has accelerated the development of next-generation clean chemical technologies and improved collaboration and speed to market across the organization.
At the same time, I was challenged to move beyond personal philanthropy and instead institutionalize generosity across the enterprise. This led to the formal creation of the 10FOLD Foundation, which now channels the collective efforts of our organization to serve others and live out our values.
In addition, principles from the Business Strategy course, taught by Dr. Gary Carini, led me to implement a more decentralized operating model at the 10FOLD Group, empowering our operating companies with greater ownership of strategy and execution. This shift has strengthened accountability, improved speed to market, and better aligned leadership with the unique dynamics of each business.
Give us a story during your time as an executive MBA on how you were able to juggle work, family and education? It was balancing the demands of leading the 10FOLD Group, being present for my wife Nadine and our three children, and completing Baylor’s Executive MBA. Each required a high level of coordination and, more importantly, a strong support system.
What stood out to me about the Baylor Executive MBA program was how aware the faculty and staff were of the competing pressures faced by executive students, and how consistently supportive they were in helping us navigate them.
One moment that captures this came in the summer of 2025. I was in Angola finalizing a new partnership between the 10FOLD Foundation and CEML (Centro Evangélico de Medicina do Lubango), a faith-based hospital serving some of the country’s most vulnerable communities.
During the trip, I was staying at a remote lodge on the Zambezi River with a small group of partners.
One evening, I stepped away to complete a Business Law exam with a firm deadline. Halfway through, the entire lodge lost power and my connection dropped and I was unable to complete the exam before the deadline. Once power was restored, I reached out to my professor. The response from Baylor was immediate and supportive. My access was reset, I was given the time I needed, and I was able to complete the exam without penalty.
Experiences like this highlighted how each part of my life had to work together. My wife carried more than her share at home, my executive team stepped up when I was traveling or in class, and Baylor demonstrated a clear understanding of the realities facing executive students.
That combination of trust, flexibility, and support made it possible to stay fully engaged in my responsibilities at work, at home, and in the program.
What advice would you give to a student looking to enter an executive MBA program? If you are considering an Executive MBA, you are likely wrestling with the same doubts I had. You may wonder whether you truly have the time, the financial resources, or the capacity to succeed while managing a demanding career and family responsibilities.
My advice is simple: if this is on your heart, go for it. You will find a way to make the time. The return on your investment will likely come faster and more meaningfully than you expect. And you are more than capable of meeting the academic challenge, even while balancing everything else on your plate.
One of the most important steps is to sit down with your key stakeholders—your spouse, children, boss, and colleagues—and clearly share why you want to pursue this. When they understand your “why,” you will be amazed at how strongly they support you.
The journey is demanding, but it is incredibly rewarding and well worth it.
What was your biggest regret in business school? While I feel I fully embraced the Baylor Executive MBA experience to the fullest, if I had to do it over again, I would approach the final semesters a bit differently. Over time, my focus shifted slightly toward the mechanics of the academics and away from the transformational learning that defined the first half of the program.
That is not to say I did not gain valuable insights in the final stretch. I absolutely did. However, I became somewhat more comfortable and proficient with the academic process, and in doing so, I missed some opportunities to more intentionally integrate those insights into my leadership and business.
In hindsight, I would have placed greater emphasis on applying, internalizing, and allowing those lessons to shape how I lead, rather than simply focusing on performance and outcomes. Since completing the program, I have been intentionally revisiting those learnings, taking the time to reflect, re-engage, and more fully integrate them into how I lead and operate.
What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What insights did you gain from using AI? When I started the program in the fall of 2024, I remember classmates mentioning ChatGPT. I had never heard of it and had very little understanding of what AI was or how it could be applied in a business context.
Since those early days, the program intentionally wove AI into multiple areas of the curriculum, not just as a tool, but as something to be understood, tested, and applied. Through that exposure, I developed a much clearer view of where AI can create real value within an enterprise, how to implement it responsibly, and what pitfalls to avoid.
One of the most important insights I gained is that AI is not a replacement for leadership, judgment, or critical thinking. It is a powerful accelerator. Used well, it can improve decision-making, increase efficiency, and open up new ways to approach problems. Used poorly, it can amplify errors, create false confidence, and lead to shallow thinking.
For me, the real shift was moving from seeing AI as a novelty to recognizing it as a practical, strategic tool. Today, I am encouraging my executive and management teams to explore where it can be thoughtfully applied across our business, with a focus on discipline, accountability, and measurable impact.
What was the main reason you chose an executive MBA program over part-time or online alternatives? The primary reason I chose Baylor’s Executive MBA over part-time or online programs was my belief in the value of learning alongside a cohort of experienced business leaders in a fully in-person environment.
That conviction proved to be well-founded. The relationships I developed with my classmates have become some of the most valuable professional and personal connections in my life. The ability to engage in real-time dialogue, work through complex business challenges, and learn directly from one another’s experiences created a depth of learning that would be difficult to replicate in an evening or online format.
How did you finance your EMBA and what did you do to make tuition and associated costs more affordable? I financed my Executive MBA through my business and took advantage of the tax deductions available for executive education in Canada.
What is your ultimate long-term professional goal? My ultimate long-term professional goal is to build the 10FOLD Group into a strong, reputable, and respected leader in North America’s specialty chemical industry while remaining firmly anchored in our core values of Character, Relationship, and Performance.
I am committed to demonstrating that a company can achieve substantial scale while maintaining and even strengthening a vibrant, values-driven culture. Too often, leaders believe they must choose between aggressive growth and preserving the heart and character of the organization. I believe the opposite is true. With the right leadership and discipline, culture can actually become stronger and more impactful as the business grows.
The knowledge, tools, and clarity I gained through Baylor’s Executive MBA program have strengthened both my conviction and my strategic ability to lead in this way.
At the core of this ambition is a deeper calling. My desire is to lead faithfully, to operate with integrity, and to use the platform of business to serve others well, ultimately seeking first the Kingdom of God and honoring Him through the work I have been entrusted with.
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