ASSOCIATIONS/ORGANIZATIONS:
American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI), McLean, Va.
On the heels of the 2016 AFFI Frozen Food Convention (AFFI-CON), the board of directors elected new officers—Larry Cope, president and CEO of Clear Springs Foods, as chair; Stan Firestone, president and owner of Firestone Pacific Foods, as vice chair; and Paul Bakus, president of corporate affairs for Nestlé USA, as immediate past chair. The six board members elected to 3-year terms are Mark Dunn of J.R. Simplot Co.; Angelo Fallucca of Palermo Villa; Brad Hiranaga of General Mills; Andrew Loucks of Kellogg’s; Rob McCutcheon of ConAgra Foods; and Dave Yanda of Lakeside Foods.

Midwest Dairy Association, St. Paul, Minn.
Lucas Lentsch named chief executive officer, taking over for Mike Kruger, who will retire, effective July 1. Lentsch currently serves as South Dakota's secretary of agriculture. He also spent more than 10 years in business and community development in northeast South Dakota. On his retirement date, Kruger will have completed 35 years of service to dairy farmers through their checkoff program. He assumed leadership of a Midwest Dairy Association predecessor organization, American Dairy Association of Minnesota, in 1985 after serving as assistant manager for five years. He guided the organization as it evolved to become American Dairy Association/Dairy Council of the Upper Midwest and later Midwest Dairy Association.

PROCESSORS/RETAILERS/DISTRIBUTORS:
Kroger Co., Cincinnati
Jay Cummins, president of Smith’s Food and Drug, Salt Lake City, Utah, announced plans to retire April 29 after 44 years with the company. Cummins began his Kroger career as a clerk in 1972. In the following years, he served in positions of increasing responsibility in store and district management and in grocery merchandising for the company's Food 4 Less division. In 2002, Cummins was named vice president and general manager of the Food 4 Less Midwest division, where he led the expansion of the Food 4 Less price impact warehouse store format in the Chicago area. In 2004, he was named president of the Food 4 Less division, then named president of the Mid-Atlantic division in 2007 before assuming his current role in 2014.

Bevolution Group, Chicago
The manufacturer of frozen beverage products appointed Jay Erskin as senior vice president supply chain, responsible for manufacturing, procurement, logistics and customer service and overseeing quality and food safety programs. Erskin maintains over 17 years of leadership experience in various food and beverage companies. He most recently served as chief operating officer for SK Food Group, Inc.  Prior to that, he was vice president operations for Chobani and also worked for MARS Petcare, Dannon Co. and Kraft Foods. Meanwhile, Rosaleen Doherty was named vice president research and development, quality and regulatory. Doherty brings over 25 years of leadership experience in various food and beverage companies where she managed the company's R&D portfolio, providing strategic insights and operational excellence across R&D. Most recently, Doherty was the vice president of research and development and regulatory for Lyons Magnus. Prior to that, she was director of applications and commercial development for Innophos, Inc. and also worked for Sweet Ovations. 

LiDestri Food & Beverage, Fairport, N.Y.
President and CEO Giovanni LiDestri will be transferring day-to-day responsibilities to his siblings, Stefani LiDestri and John LiDestri, who will serve as co-presidents, effective July 23. Giovanni will continue serving as CEO for the foreseeable future. Following the transition, Stefani will assume responsibility for marketing, human resources, information technology and research and development; John will oversee supply chain and sales; and Giovanni will continue to lead operations and finance.

AdvancePierre Foods, Cincinnati
Celeste Clark was elected to the company’s board of directors. The recently retired senior vice president of global public policy and external relations for Kellogg Co. brings expertise in global communications, nutrition science, regulatory affairs, corporate social responsibility and board governance across the public, private and non-profit sectors. In addition to functioning as Kellogg’s worldwide liaison for professional associations, government agencies and trade associations on nutrition, health policy and advertising practices, Clark oversaw the global nutrition team’s work and served as the company’s chief sustainability officer and president of the Kellogg Corporate Citizen Fund.

California Dairies, Inc. (CDI), Visalia, Calif.
Olga Longan joined as senior vice president and CFO, responsible for the financial, accounting, treasury, information technology and risk management functions. Longan joins CDI with 25 years of finance experience as CFO and controller with expertise in the areas of acquisitions, negotiations, business development and information systems strategy. Longan was most recently global chief financial officer with HM.Clause. Her previous experience includes CFO at NutraCea, partner at Tatum Partners, vice president and controller at Wal-Mart and CFO of Ford Motor Co. of Brazil.

FOODSERVICE:
Papa John's International, Inc., Louisville, Ky.
The pizza chain promoted Sean Muldoon to chief ingredient officer, responsible for leading R&D, quality assurance and supply chain globally, including the expansion of Papa John's Gold Standard ingredient specifications and its Clean Label Initiative. Muldoon has been integral in improving ingredient quality, including developing and implementing the BIBP (Better Ingredients. Better Pizza) Clean Label initiative, eliminating all artificial flavors and synthetic colors from the entire food menu, introducing "Papa's Lighter Choices" menu offerings and an online nutrition calculator, leading efforts to reduce unwanted ingredients and instituting that grilled chicken pizza toppings and chicken poppers consist of poultry that is raised without human and animal antibiotics. Muldoon joined Papa John's in 1999. From 2001-2005, he was vice president, strategic supply chain management. For the next two years, he served as vice president of partnership marketing for Papa John's, then from 2007-2009, served as vice president, general manager of Preferred Marketing Solutions, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Papa John's International.

Healthy & Tasty Brands Corp., Miami, Fla.
The controlling interest of the company was transferred to Opus Properties Group, Minnetonka, Minn., upon the resignation of Henry Klein as chief executive officer. Klein was appointed CEO in August 2015, after taking over for previous CEO Ghazi Hajj. C. Keith Wilkerson II, chief executive officer of Opus, is now the chairman, CEO and corporate secretary of Healthy & Tasty Brands, owner of the GRILLiT franchise. Opus merged its first Mexican brand restaurant, the Full Moon Cafe in Broken Arrow, Okla., into the company.

SUPPLIERS:
Dynamic Conveyor Corp., Muskegon, Mich.
Jeremy Loyselle was hired as a sales territory manager to develop and maintain relationships with food processing companies who find value in the DynaClean sanitary conveyors. Loyselle brings many years of experience in sales and customer service. 

Neogen Corp., Lansing, Mich.
Dr. Robert Donofrio joined as the director of microbiology, research and development, responsible for leading a team of 15 research scientists in the development of tests to detect pathogenic bacteria and spoilage organisms. Donofrio comes to Neogen after a 16-year tenure as the director of the Applied Research Center at NSF International.

Bluff Manufacturing, Fort Worth, Texas
Jay Bodnar was appointed new Northeast regional sales manager, overseeing sales efforts in Maryland, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maine, Delaware and Virginia. He brings a proven track record identifying opportunities and bringing parties together to create solutions, and maintains more than 20 years of experience in sales management for manufacturing companies throughout the United States. Bodnar began his career as a regional sales manager with Magline Inc., developing contacts and mentoring sales teams.

National DCP, Atlanta
The supply chain management company serving Dunkin' Donuts franchisees announced new 2016 board officers—Manoj Reddy as chairman; Barkat Gillani as vice chairman; Sanjay Jain as secretary; and Dharmisth Patel as treasurer.

International Business Systems (IBS), Roseville, Calif.
Michael Wohlwend was appointed general manager of Americas. Wohlwend brings 25 years of supply chain industry experience with a record of leading teams to build competitive advantage and developing customer and partner relationships. Most recently, he was head of global cloud services for Infor. Prior to that, he served in senior leadership positions at SAP America for six years, including head of Americas cloud unification and vice president of services for SAP's Midwest region. Wohlwend also spent seven years at Manhattan Associates, holding down senior sales roles. Wohlwend also provided supply chain solutions for more than 30 consulting and software firms.

PaperWorks Industries, Inc., Bala Cynwyd, Pa.
Karl Broderick was named vice president of sales and Peter Jesus will now be vice president of packaging development and support services. Previously, both Broderick and Jesus held positions with Boehmer Box Co., which was acquired by PaperWorks. They will be responsible for the company’s entire North American footprint, in their respective areas. Previously, Broderick was vice president of sales and marketing for Boehmer’s Canadian facility and Jesus was vice president of digital services for the same operation.  Both bring several decades of experience to their expanded roles.

enVista, Indianapolis, Ind.
Tom Drivas joined the design solutions practice as director of client engagement, responsible for leading sales and business development efforts to help manufacturing, wholesale, e-commerce and omni-channel retail clients determine optimal facility designs. With nearly 15 years of supply chain experience, Drivas has implemented automated conveyor, goods-to-person, storage and software solutions for dozens of companies.Prior to joining enVista, Drivas held positions in engineering, business development, marketing and sales. Most recently, he served as material handling solutions manager at Dematic, and has served in multiple leadership positions at Wynright.

Core-Mark Holding Co., Inc., South San Francisco, Calif.
The marketer of fresh and broad-line supply solutions to the convenience retail industry announced that Stacy Loretz-Congdon, senior vice president and CFO, will retire from the company at the end of 2016. Christopher Miller, who currently serves as vice president and chief accounting officer, will assume the chief financial officer position, effective May 1. Loretz-Congdon maintains 26 years of service at Core-Mark, holding roles in various accounting and finance functions, including her current role for the last nine years.

Schaefer Systems International, Inc., Charlotte, N.C.
Terry Shaw joined as manager of integrator partners – automated systems division (ASD) in North America. Shaw maintains over 25 years of material handling experience specifically with conveyors, cranes and hybrid automation solutions.