Supported by six decades of excellence in business management, agriculture and mathematics, Joan Morthland Hutchins has concurrently excelled as the chairperson of Compotite Corporation since 1989 and of MBH Farms, Inc., since 2001. Founding MBH Farms in 1986, she served as chief executive officer and president until attaining her current role as chairperson. Likewise, she began serving Compotite Corporation as vice president of development in 1985 until becoming chief executive officer and president from 1987 until 2016. Notably, Compotite Corporation was formerly owned by her father and, upon taking over his roles, Ms. Hutchins has continued the corporation’s legacy as a trailblazer in American-made waterproof membranes and tile settings.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Hutchins served McKinsey & Company as a management consultant from 1965 to 1967, a mathematician at British Petroleum in London from 1964 to 1965 and a junior mathematician for Shell Development Company from 1961 to 1963. While in the formative stages of her career, she received a Bachelor of Arts from Radcliffe College at Harvard University in 1961 and, later, earned an Associate of Applied Science from Farmingdale State College, State University of New York, in 1985. She also received an honorary degree from the Royal College of Music in London in 1979.
Demonstrating versatility in her profession, Ms. Hutchins has authored and edited numerous works during her tenures with Shell Development Company and McKinsey & Company. In 1962 and 1963, respectively, she penned “Solution of Differential Equations with Random Input” and “Partition Programming: Primal Form for Linear Problems.” Subsequently, she served as the editor for the “Operations Research-Management Science Bulletin” at McKinsey & Company from 1965 to 1967.
Civically engaged as well, Ms. Hutchins is a past trustee of the Bowdoin International Music Festival from 1978 to 1988, which was held in Brunswick, Maine, and served as vice president of the Royal Music Foundation in New York and trustee of the Long Island Biological Association. Dedicating significant time to her alma mater, Harvard University, Ms. Hutchins was elected to their board of overseers in 1994, having then served as board president from 1999 to 2000. She is presently contributing to Harvard University’s Class of 1961 60th anniversary reunion. In light of her esteemed efforts, she was presented with the Harvard Medal in 2004.
