Our People

Mike Hayes is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer.

After graduation from Washington and Lee University in 1967 and active service with the U.S. Air Force National Guard, he began full time employment with the company in 1969. He was elected President and Chief Operating Officer in 1982. In 1986 he became Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer.

His primary area of responsibility was the operation and direction of the company’s wholesale grocery business, which was one of the 50 largest in the country and one of the top 10 privately held companies in Middle Tennessee. The wholesale grocery business was sold in 2002 to focus on real estate management and development.

He was also involved in the development of several retail grocery stores and lease negotiations/guarantees for retail grocery operators. Over the past eleven years the company has redeveloped its downtown Nashville property for several tenants including XO Communications and MCI.

He has served as a Director of Food Distributors International, President of the Tennessee Wholesale Grocers Association, Director of the Tennessee Retail Grocer’s Association, Director of the National American Wholesale Grocer’s Association, Director of Southern Food Dealers and is currently Secretary of Food Marketing Educational Council. He also serves on the Board of the Nashville Opera Association.

Michael Hayes, Vice President, re-joined the company in mid 2008 as Director of Development. Before returning to C. B. Ragland, he opened Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse’s (SBER) Nashville office in 2005 and served as its Development Director until early 2008. In this capacity, he worked to transform a 20 block area in downtown Nashville. This innovative conceptual master plan envisioned a total investment of $500 million, including entertainment, a waterfront public greenway, multiple hotels, riverfront condominiums, commercial office space, retail shops and street front boutiques.

Prior to joining SBER, he served as Asset Manager for C. B. Ragland. In this capacity, he was responsible for the company-wide asset/portfolio management function and long term strategic planning. He helped transform the company from the 10th largest privately held wholesale grocery operation in the US to one of the largest privately held real estate firms in middle Tennessee.

From 2001-2002, he served as a Financial Analyst with L.J. Melody and Company in Atlanta, Georgia. While with L.J. Melody, he underwrote approximately $1.5B of real estate assets, participated in the origination and closing of approximately $400MM dollars of debt and $11MM of equity. He was exposed to all real estate asset types and advised local and national investors as to the best strategies to maximize the value of their portfolios through the use of outside debt and equity.

Before joining L.J. Melody, Mr. Hayes was Director of Development for F.O.G. Development in Atlanta, GA. In this position, he was responsible for identifying and acquiring sites for new Walgreens drug stores. He also participated in the development of a Publix anchored shopping center, two strip centers and a Wendy’s restaurant.

After graduating from Rhodes College, he worked for AutoZone, Inc. in Memphis, TN as a Real Estate Manager. He was responsible for identifying and acquiring or leasing sites for new stores in Utah, Wyoming, California, Maryland and Puerto Rico. He gained M&A experience while participating in three chain acquisitions which added approximately 630 stores in two years. Before leaving AutoZone, Mr. Hayes created the business plan for AutoZone de Puerto Rico. He spent a year working on the island and was responsible for all aspects of creating the business unit, from logistics to distribution to site selection.

His educational background includes a B.A. in Political Science with a concentration in Business from Rhodes College in Memphis, TN and an M.S. in Real Estate from Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA. In the community he serves as a Board Member of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, the Belle Meade Plantation, THE DISTRICT, is a Founding Board Member of KIPP Academy Nashville, and is a member of the Nashville Civic Design Center, Rotary Club of Nashville, the Chamber of Commerce’s Education Report Card Committee, the Urban Land Institute, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, and has been awarded Entrepreneur Organization’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2006 (Nashville Chapter), and was named as one of Tennessee’s 100 most influential Real Estate Professionals 2006 & 2007 (Nashville Business Journal).

Jim Ragland, Vice President, has been a Director of the Company since 1976. In 1995, he became a full time employee as the Director of Store Development and then in 1999 he assumed the additional responsibility of Director of Human Resources. Following the company's decision to sell the wholesale grocery business, he became the Managing Broker for the company's real estate brokerage business.

He began his working career with Nashville Surgical Supply Company, Inc., a regional medical supply distributor and operator of retail drug stores until its acquisition by Durr Fillauer Medical in 1984.

He then joined Fixturcraft, Inc., a commercial refrigeration contractor as Vice President of Sales of the food service division and eventually was appointed President of the Company. In 1991, the Company was acquired by Maynard Food Store Equipment and the name was changed to Maynard Fixturcraft, Inc. He continued as Manager of the food service division until 1995.

He is a member of St. George’s Episcopal Church and has participated in Habitat for Humanity projects and was also involved in the kitchen construction phase of the most recent remodeling.

He attended Southwestern at Memphis (Rhodes College) and Vanderbilt University.

He began his career working for Monsanto Company in 1963 as a computer systems analyst, engineer, and financial analyst in St. Louis and New Orleans.

In 1971, he joined Genesco, Inc. in New York City as Assistant to the Group Vice President of Women’s and Children’s Apparel. Following this, he was made President of the Danté, Inc. division based in New York City with manufacturing plants in Massachusetts, Connecticut and California before being transferred to corporate headquarters in Nashville to join the company’s internal consulting group.

In 1975, he joined the investment banking firm of J.C. Bradford & Co. (Nashville, TN), where he was a health care and restaurant investment analyst.

His health care and restaurant industry background led to management positions at National HealthCare Corporation (Director of Finance) and Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. (Executive VP and CFO). His work at these companies involved the development and financing of nursing home and restaurant properties in the Southeast.

Following this, he became President of JBH Financial Services, an investment advisory firm, where he held the professional designations of Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), and Certified Financial Planner (CFP).

He is a former member of the vestry of St. George's Church, where he has been active for many years in the youth and outreach ministries. His involvement in community service includes being a member of the Board and Treasurer of the West Nashville Community Development Partnership, a non-profit organization that does rehab work on homes in the neighborhood that surrounds St. Luke's Community House.

He earned a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from Columbia University.

Baker Walker is the former Secretary-Treasurer of the company and has been a Director since 1975. He has been involved in purchasing and selling businesses as the company's strategic plans dictated and in selling and purchasing retail grocery stores as customers and company credit needs required. Following his retirement in 2008, he continues to serve on the Board as the company's Secretary.

His prior business experience includes being Controller of Matlock Corp., a company that manufactured truck bodies and trailers primarily for the moving and storage industry and selling, distributing and leasing these items as well as power units to that industry.

Additionally, he was Internal Audit Manager for Georgia Kraft Company a containerboard manufacturer headquartered in Rome Georgia.

Prior to that he was a staff and senior accountant for Price Waterhouse performing opinion audits of clients in several different industries.

He holds the professional designation of CPA and graduated from David Lipscomb University with a degree in Accounting.

From 1986 until 2000 he was on the Board of Directors of Health Net HMO and Health Net Tenn Care HMO. From 1986 until 2003 he was on the Board of Directors of Health Net PPO. He served on the Finance and Audit Committees of the Board for all these companies for a number of years and from mid 1999 to mid 2000 and was Chairman of the Board of both Health Net HMO and Health Net PPO.

Lance Bloom and Tracy Crawford are affiliate brokers for C. B. Ragland Company.

Connie Austin came to work for C.B. Ragland Company in June of 1987 as a Secretary for the Sales Department and Executive Directors. During her employment, she organized company events such as Food Shows, Annual Retailer Trips, and the Jimmy Ragland Memorial Scholarship Golf Tournament. She also worked in all phases of Customer Service and Sales support.

In January of 2000, she was promoted to Customer Service Coordinator. In this new position, she worked primarily with the Sales Department and the Grocery Customers to assure the highest degree of Customer Satisfaction.

Since October 2002, with the closing of the Grocery Wholesale Operation, she has assumed other responsibilities to include Human Resources and Property Management.

Mildred Kiddy has worked for C. B. Ragland Company in a variety of capacities since her graduation from Clifton High School in her hometown of Clifton, Tennessee.

Her responsibilities have included accounts receivable, accounts payable and billing. In recent years, she has been responsible for the issuance of all the company’s financial statements. In addition to these duties, she has been the company’s point person in working with both external auditors and outside governmental auditors.

Ben Woodruff is Maintenance Manager of C.B. Ragland Company. He joined the company in 1999 after holding similar positions at Mike Rose Foods and American Bread Company in Nashville. He is RSES Refrigerant Certified.