Elene Costan is the Chief Human Resources Officer at Berje, a global leader in flavor and fragrance manufacturing. With over 25 years of experience in human resources, Elene has a proven track record of fostering talent and driving organizational growth. Since joining Berger in 2020, she has been instrumental in shaping the company’s culture, ensuring that employees are valued and supported while aligning their passions with career growth opportunities. Known for her authentic leadership style, Elene emphasizes the importance of empathy, listening, and creating an environment where teams can thrive.
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Alka Bahal: That’s amazing. Very impressive. Now tell us a little bit about Berger. What do you do? Where are you?
Elene Costan: So Berje is located, our headquarters is in Carteret, New Jersey. We are actually a global firm, and we are a flavor and fragrance manufacturer and distributor. So when you think of everything you’re walking down a grocery aisle, Berger probably has some part of that. You’re just never going to see the name Berger. When you’re talking about scents, anything using scent, whether it be, you know, a cream or a candle, Berger supplies the manufacturers, and even at times will create the fragrance for them.
Alka Bahal: Wow. That’s impressive. So the primary source of your business is the raw materials, right? That go into?
Elene Costan: That’s absolutely right. Essential oils, organic chemicals, all of it.
Alka Bahal: And so your footprint is worldwide. Even though you’re headquartered here in New Jersey, you must have farms in, I don’t know, 8,500 countries?
Elene Costan: So we deal with farmers across globally. We have locations in Peru, Mexico, Bulgaria, Texas. So we, you know, we do deal across the world. We have consultants as well as employees globally. And our vendors and at source, we deal directly with the farmers in, you know, the countries around the world.
Alka Bahal: Wow, that’s an amazing reach you have. And you are still a family-owned company?
Elene Costan: We are a 75-year-old family-owned third-generation company. A lot of the flavor and fragrance, we call them houses, they have been acquired by private equity or venture capital, they’ve been taken up by the larger players in the space. Berger is committed to remaining that family-owned, family culture dynamic. And growth will come from either mergers, acquisitions, or partnerships. And not just with other companies, but with those farmers and the at source, making sure that those relationships are very strong.
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