Alex B. Franco
Year Inducted: 2019
Maui Cattle Company | Maui
Born in 1957 to Augustine and Bernadette Franco of Haikū, Maui, Alex developed an early love for cattle. He loved the stories his Dad often shared about how Dwight Baldwin and his grandfather developed a hardy herd of purebred Hereford cattle in Haikū which supplied bulls and heifers to Kaupo Ranch.
While in high school, Alex gained a lot of experience working for his Uncle Anthony DeCoite who was very knowledgeable about evaluating beef carcasses in his slaughter and processing business. While attending Junior College on Maui, Alex worked for James Sakugawa and Sons. At this third-generation livestock operation, he learned a lot from Ron, Jerry, and Eric who were all graduates of Fresno State and knew their livestock. This led him to an Animal Science degree from Fresno State in 1980.
Charles Ota, a successful Maui Business man, hired Alex to run Landmark Ranch, a purebred Brangus operation. Brangus bulls were in high demand to cover Hereford herds on ranches eager to introduce crossbreeding to their operations. Later, Kipukai Ranch asked Alex to help them transition from purebred Hereford cattle to Brangus and Beefmaster cattle. This led to a long-term friendship with Kipukai managers Lindy & Cherry Ann Sutherland who mentored a number of young cattlemen at Kipukai Ranch.
In 1986, Alex was hired by Gene Aguiar, the Industrial Relations Manager of Hamakua Sugar. Aguiar led Hamakua Sugar’s efforts to build a cattle feeding and packing operation to utilize some of the by products from the sugar company. Alex bought the cattle for the operation and over saw their stocker operations. Unfortunately, the economics of raising Sugar and feeding cattle on the Hamakua Coast forced the company into foreclosure. The State of Hawaiʻi took control of the slaughter facility and leased it to Donald Lau of Palma Meat Company who asked Alex to run the facility. Donald Lau was a great man to work for but Alex missed the live cattle end of the business.
Alex met his wife, Tisia, on Maui right after the Christmas of 1986 while visiting family and buying cattle for Big Island Meat. They got married in 1988 and lived on the Hamakua coast. Big Island Meat/Hamakua Sugar and the Big Island in general gave them great family memories and friends. Alex and Tisia have two sons, Lindy and Lyman.
In 1997, Lindy Sutherland who consulted for Kaupo Ranch hired Alex to run Kaupo Ranch. This move brought both Alex and Tisia back home to Maui to their aging parents and allowed Alex to work once again with Lindy and the Owners of Kaupo Ranch. About this time, there was a growing desire with the ownership and management of Haleakala, Ulupalakua, Hana, Olumau, Makoa, Nobriga’s and Kaupo to begin to market a portion of their cattle locally. This eventually gave birth to Maui Cattle Company, LLC. in 2002. Alex is currently the President of the operation and believes that we need to do all we can to create opportunity for the next generation.