Brian Hammons

President/CEO, Hammons Products Co.

Biography

Brian Hammons is the President/CEO of Hammons Products Company in Stockton, Missouri. The company is the world’s largest commercial processor of American Black Walnuts, and Brian is the third-generation leader of the family company. Hammons Products buys wild Black Walnuts in the Midwestern U.S., shells them, and sells the nutmeats as food ingredients for ice cream, baked goods, and candies. Consumers find them in grocery stores under the “Hammons Black Walnuts” brand and also other national or regional brands. The ground nutshell is sold for abrasives, filtration, and oil drilling.

Brian is a 1980 graduate of the MSU College of Business with a degree in Marketing, with honors including the Joseph Daniel Delp Award. He also earned a JD degree from the Southern Methodist University Law School in Dallas, TX in 1985 and practiced law briefly in Kansas City.

In addition to being active in the ownership / management of the Black Walnut business, Brian has served in leadership roles on a variety of local and state boards, foundations, and as a lay leader in the United Methodist Church. He currently serves as Chairman-elect of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce for 2023.

He served as a member of the MSU Board of Governors from 2006 through 2011, including one year as Chair. He was recognized as one of the “50 Missourians You Need to Know” by Ingram’s in Kansas City in 2011, one of the “Men of the Year” by Springfield Business Journal in 2013, and received the “Leadership Missouri Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2015.

Brian and his wife Kim have three grown children, (two of them MSU graduates) and four grandchildren. One of his hobbies is running, having completed 43 marathons including 13 in Boston.