As Pat Mohan discusses his career path of the past 30-plus years, most of which has been spent with A.E. Staley/Tate & Lyle, he highlights more than jobs and geographic locations, impressive though they are. And though he might have the right, he doesn't expound upon his accomplishments in great detail.

Instead, with a refreshing economy of words, he talks about a philosophy of working hard-harder than anyone else-and about taking risks and embracing change. He speaks of his wife, Lee, with respect and fondness, and how she and he worked together to instill in their five sons that same philosophy. At no time does he mention fear or regret or dwell on the value of hindsight.

"I don't look backwards very well," he said. "I look back to the extent of looking at what I learned, but I don't look back with regret. What's then is then, and what's now is now. You do have to make choices, but once you've made the choice, you go forward. You don't look back and worry about it."

As he tells his story, Mohan weaves into the tale how each life experience, good and bad, shaped him for the better. He grew up in Middletown, Ohio, a small manufacturing community he feels is much like Decatur. There his father worked as an executive in the steel industry. Later in life, Mohan would consider the conversations he had with his father about the business world.

"There's not too much new in the world," he said. "Similar situations present themselves again and again. As a kid, sometimes you don't pay attention to them, until you realize years later that those situations were something you heard about and needed to pay attention to more."

During his high school years, Mohan went to Campion Jesuit High School, a boarding school for boys (now closed) in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. From the tough discipline he faced to the friends he made, Mohan's time there shaped his growing-up years.

"My family was fairly close and supportive, and they did the same thing we've tried to do with our kids," he said. "Parents want their kids to have both wings and roots, and my parents did a good job with that."

Mohan reflects that he and his wife chose to give their sons wings in a different way.

"When it came time for our boys to go to high school, they went to Eisenhower," he said. "It takes a lot for a parent to give up those times with a kid."

Despite Mohan's vicarious familiarity with the business world through his father's experiences, he didn't always know what he wanted to be when he grew up. After graduating Campion Jesuit High School, he attended The Ohio State University and took a smattering of everything, as he says, and was a true liberal arts student.

"I went to law school at the University of San Francisco more as a continuation of a liberal arts education, and then once I got into law school, I found I liked the business side of things," said Mohan.

Chevron hired him right out of school, but Mohan came to realize that the job was too narrow in scope. He left Chevron to work for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C., as an attorney in the division of corporation finance. At the same time, he earned his masters of law in tax at Georgetown University. Then, he returned to his home state of Ohio to work at a private law firm in Columbus.

"When I went with Chevron, I realized I was getting too narrow too early, so I went to the SEC to broaden my experience," he said. "Then I went into private practice, and I knew I was building a background that fit well with working for a corporation."

Mohan says he was enjoying private practice, but as fate would have it, a co-worker showed him an ad from A.E. Staley in the Wall Street Journal.

"He said, 'This is you,' but I didn't give it too much serious thought at the time," said Mohan. "But then a few weeks later, a search firm got in touch with me, and the offer was tempting enough."

At that time, Staley was obtaining approval for using high fructose corn syrup as a replacement for sugar in soft drinks, an incredible coup for the company. Mohan and his wife, Lee, had been married since his final year in law school, and he credits her with being hugely supportive of his decision to join Staley, despite the unknowns that faced them each time he made a job change.

"The biggest chance you take can be moving forward or not moving forward," he said. "Every time you make a move and change jobs, you are taking a chance. I think a lot of life is about risk management. Life in a corporation is all risk-reward related."

Though the couple didn't know it at the time, they were nearly done with moving when they came to Decatur in 1979. Mohan worked for Staley first as an attorney and in just six years became Assistant General Counsel, when Staley acquired CFS Continental and Staley Continental was formed. During that time, the young family moved to Chicago for a brief three years before returning to Decatur when Tate & Lyle purchased Staley in 1988, and Mohan was named Executive Vice President, Administration and General Counsel.

"A great thing about being inside counsel is that you get involved in almost everything the business is doing," he said. "You get involved with and know very intimately the client, which is the corporation."

Ten years later, Mohan was appointed President, Support Services of Tate & Lyle North America, a position with not only regional but global responsibility. That was 1998. Suddenly, it's 2009, and Mohan finds he has spent an amazing three decades with the company.

"There was only one moment in my career that I thought I was going to get bored working here, but in the grand scheme of 30 years, it was a fleeting moment," he said. "For the most part, it has been fun, the variety of the work and the changes that have taken place over the years."

Mohan not only accepted but welcomed the twists and turns on his career path as his company adapted to a changing world, and he encouraged his sons to learn to flourish amidst changes in their own lives.

"Taking advantage of those change opportunities makes a difference," he said. "It can be scary, but it keeps the juices flowing."

On July 1, Mohan will retire. But as one might expect, he will not stop working. He plans to spend about 40 percent of his time consulting for Tate & Lyle. In his off time, he is looking forward to traveling, expanding his fountain pen collection, getting himself back in shape physically with time in the pool, and keeping in shape mentally, by reading and honing his writing skills.

"I plan to continue my liberal arts education into retirement," he said. "I will always try to be learning something."