10/17/2026
For years, the Western Sugar Cooperative managed precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) as a byproduct of sugar beet processing. Daniels Executive MBA students saw a product, and a marketing opportunity.
In faculty member Jenny Dobmeier’s Marketing Strategy course, Chelsea Villalba, director of environmental at Western Sugar, brought a real business question to her team project with Cohort 85 classmates Bri Bradley, Danielle Addison and Jennifer Bargisen: Could PCC become something the co-op sells?
Their feasibility plan pointed to building materials as the lead market. As the cement and concrete industry shifts toward lower-carbon products like Type IL portland-limestone cement, sugar beet PCC offers a performance-tested alternative to virgin limestone.
Western Sugar has since launched a PCC marketing campaign and website built on the team’s plan, opening new revenue potential for its grower-owners.
“The Daniels EMBA gave our team the tools to look at something we’d always managed as a liability and ask, ‘What if this is a product with real commercial potential?’ Seeing our classroom plan become the catalyst for a real marketing campaign demonstrates how directly the Daniels experience connects to the work we do every day as professionals,” Villalba said.
Thank you to Western Sugar for the team hats, and congratulations to the EMBA Cohort 85 team on a project well done!
