Richard C. LeBlanc

Class of 2004

Rick was born in 1950 in Medford, OR. He attended Lane Community College and the University of Oregon and also served in the U.S. Marine Corps as an engineer explosives expert. Rick and his wife Sheryl, whom he married in 1971, have two children, Richard and Kara.

Right out of college, Rick began selling candy for broker Fewel-Comer Co. Following his promotion to candy department business manager, he moved to Portland where he represented suppliers including Jack Candies Ltd. and Hollywood Candy.

In the early 1980s, Rick joined Carter-Kahler Inc. as the brokerage’s sole Oregon candy rep, steadily building the business to include five business managers and five in-house staffers. In 1988, he became a co-owner of the company with his partner, Dick Kahler. After Dick’s retirement in late 1996, Rick merged the company with Lang-Senders to form Kahler-Senders Group, Inc. where he served as president at the time of his induction.

Among Rick’s accolades are Broker of the Year awards from Jelly Belly Candy Co., Callard & Bowser-Suchard, Inc. and Lindt & Spr¸ngli USA, Inc., for which he was the first broker to hit $1 million in sales, more than 20 years ago. In both 2000 and 2003, he was named rep of the year by Bi-Mart Corp.

Rick holds broker advisory board positions for an average of seven suppliers annually and chairs the Consolidated Sales Network brokerage group, which he co-founded.

In his spare time, Rick has a passion for steelhead fly-fishing, snow skiing, travel and golf.