Kelly Veit - Never the Biggest, Always the Best

The Quest for Success · Nov 5, 2026 · 59m

In 1996, Kelly Veit applied to be a dispatcher at Veit and was told she didn't get the job. A week later they called back, and today she is the CEO of the nearly 100-year-old company. We loved this conversation about grit, care for people, and what it really takes to lead a family business into its next century.

Kelly is the CEO of Veit, a specialty contracting and waste management company founded in Minnesota in 1928, and its first female CEO. Her path was anything but a straight line: a lawn mowing business at 14, a horse ranch, Prince's Paisley Park Studios, bartending through college, and…