ASSOCIATIONS/ORGANIZATIONS:
The National Pork Board, Des Moines, Iowa
Norman Bessac was named new vice president of international marketing, effective April 1. Bessac is currently director of international sales for Tyson Fresh Meats, a position he has held since 2016. Prior to Tyson, he served as vice president of international pork sales and marketing at Cargill Meat Solutions. Bessac has spent his entire career in international sales and marketing, business development, customer communications and consumer insights roles in the fresh meat industry. Over the years, Bessac has held many strategic leadership roles in the food industry with brands such as Tyson, Cargill and Sara Lee.

Food Northwest, Portland, Ore.
Mark Fountain was appointed president, effective March 18, succeeding David McGiverin, immediate past president who stepped down to work in his family’s business. Fountain maintains 20 years’ experience in the food industry. He recently served as vice president of operations at Oregon Fruit Products LLC, began his career at Nestlé Potato (now J.R. Simplot), and worked for several other food companies, including J.R. Simplot, Welch’s and Tree Top.

The Women's Foodservice Forum (WFF), Dallas, Texas
Hattie Hill announced plans to retire as president and CEO, a position she’s held since 2013. Prior to joining WFF, Hill was founder and CEO of Hattie Hill Enterprises, and has been a professional speaker and author of several corporate books. Hill remains active in several industry organizations, including Federal Reserve, Emory University Goizueta Business School, National Restaurant Association, Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce and past chair of VisitDallas. She previously served on the boards of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, the Goizueta Business School at Emory University and the Society of International Business Fellows. 

PROCESSORS/RETAILERS/DISTRIBUTORS:
CTI Foods, Meridian, Ohio
Mike Buccheri was promoted to president and CEO, effective immediately. Buccheri maintains 25 years of experience in the foodservice industry, leading business development strategies and sales and operations program implementation. Buccheri joined CTI in 2018, serving as chief commercial officer, where he was responsible for building a robust innovation pipeline with existing and new customers, optimizing the company’s sales pipeline, commercialization and pricing with greater operational discipline, reorganizing the sales, R&D and culinary teams and revising the company’s go-to-market strategy. Prior to CTI, Buccheri served as vice president of business development at Simmons Feed Ingredients, where he led several projects to expand the company’s product portfolio and strategic position in the marketplace. Buccheri began his professional career at Tyson Foods, where he spent 20 years in various senior leadership roles in sales and operations, including vice president and general manager of the company’s ingredient meats business unit.

Niceland Seafood, Denver, Colo.
Meghan Russell was named U.S. director of strategy and sales; Arnie Dzelzkalns was appointed U.S. director of operations and production; Patrick Dunaway joined as U.S. director of sustainability and chief scientist; and William (Billy) Polo was named U.S. logistics, inventory management and quality assurance. All four appointments will collectively improve customer, retail partner and supplier experiences through leadership in education, technology and authentic storytelling.

Robinson Fresh, a division of C.H. Robinson, Eden Prairie, Minn.
Jim Lemke announced plans to retire as president, after three years of leadership with the company. During his tenure, Lemke expanding the division’s services globally. He has also been a strong advocate for change in the fresh produce industry, from food safety modernization to federal nutrition funding and numerous other regulatory and commercial initiatives. He played an active role in working to drive productivity and increase produce consumption through serving on the first USDA industry advisory committee and chairing both the United Fresh Produce Association Committee and the Food Marketing Institute’s Fresh Executive Committee. He also served on numerous other committees for the Produce Marketing Association and the Produce for Better Health Foundation. Lemke was the founding chairperson of the United Fresh Start Foundation, which was created to provide children with greater access to fresh fruits and vegetables. He currently serves on the board of directors for Second Harvest Heartland.  

Jennie-O Turkey Store, Wilmar, Minn.
Pat Solheid, vice president of human resources and administration, announced plans to retire, effective May 31. She began her career in 1986 as human resources manager at Jerome Foods’ Faribault, Minn., plant. In 1993, she transferred to Barron, Wis., and was promoted to director of human resources in 1995. With the merger of Jennie-O and The Turkey Store Co. in 2001, she became the director of employee relations and transferred to the Willmar corporate office in 2002. In 2005, she was promoted to her current position. As a result, Melanie Faust, vice president of operations, will be assuming the position of vice president of human resources and administration upon Solheid’s retirement. Faust came to Jennie-O in 2017 after serving as director of operations in China for Hormel Foods International Corp., a position she held since 2014. She began her career at Hormel Foods in 1995. During her tenure at Hormel, Faust held a variety of roles in production supervision as well as purchasing, both at the plant and corporate level. Matt Schrupp will be returning to his operations roots, replacing Faust as the vice president of operations. Schrupp has been the vice president of live production since 2015. He was hired in 1992, and has held a variety of positions in industrial engineering and operations management at several locations, including plant manager at the Benson Avenue Plant and director of (raw) further processing and plant manager at the Willmar Avenue Plant.

Impossible Foods, Redwood City, Calif.
Dennis Woodside joined in the newly created role of president, effective March 18, charged with overseeing operations, manufacturing, supply chain, sales, marketing, human resources and other functions. The tech industry veteran maintains nearly 25 years of professional experience at both startups and publicly traded multinationals. Woodside most recently served as chief operating officer of Dropbox, where he was responsible for all customer-facing functions and revenue generation. Before that, he was the chief executive officer of Motorola Mobility, after its acquisition by Google. He also worked at Google from 2003-2012, overseeing more than $10 billion in sales in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, among other leadership roles. Woodside currently serves on the boards of ServiceNow and the American Red Cross.

Sovos Brands, Berkeley, Calif.
Carol Tomé was appointed to the company's board of directors, where she will also chair the Audit Committee. Tomé is currently chief financial officer and executive vice president of corporate services at The Home Depot. In addition to her retail and financial services expertise, she is currently chair of the audit committee for the UPS board of directors, serves as chair of the Board of Trustees for the Atlanta Botanical Garden, is a Trustee of Grady Hospital and a member of The Committee of 200 and The Buckhead Coalition. From January 2008 through December 2013, she served as a board member for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, in both a board chair and board vice chair capacity. In 2012, she chaired the board of The Metropolitan Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

Peco Foods, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Amanda Adkins was named plant manager of the Brooksville, Miss., processing plant, responsible for the plant’s daily management, and overseeing all operations, including the safe and efficient management of processing and storage. Adkins maintains nearly 15 years of industry and management experience. She most recently served as the quality assurance manager for the company’s Pocahontas, Ark., facilities. Adkins joined Peco Foods in 2011 as a processing production superintendent at the Tuscaloosa processing plant, and was then promoted to night shift manager at the Sebastopol, Miss., plant. Prior to Peco, Adkins gained experience through various management roles at Foster Farms and Pilgrim’s Pride.

Lancaster Colony Corp., Westerville, Ohio
Douglas Fell, vice president, assistant secretary and CFO, announced plans to transition from his current position to lead the newly developed Transformation Program Office as the newly appointed transformation program officer, effective April 1. Fell maintains 25 years of service with Lancaster Colony, including the role of senior vice president of operations for T. Marzetti Co., and other leadership positions in finance, information technology and business development. As a result, Thomas Pigott was appointed vice president, assistant secretary and CFO, effective April 1. Pigott is a food industry veteran with over 30 years of professional experience in finance and accounting. He has served as vice president and CFO for MGP Ingredients for the past three years. His prior experience includes vice president finance roles for Kraft Foods Group's meal solutions division, Kraft's meals and desserts business unit and Nestlé USA's pizza division. 

Curion, Deerfield, Ill.
Joseph Jordan was named senior vice president of supply. Jordan maintains over 20 years of experience in custom market research, building and developing tools and technologies in a variety of industries for start-ups and Inc. 500 companies. Previously, he served as senior vice president of supply at Cint, where he was responsible for growth strategies of more than 300 partner relationships. Previous to this engagement, he was vice president of panel operations at Instantly, Inc., where he restructured and built a proprietary online and mobile audience of 12 million global consumers to align with strategic business goals defined by quality and performance requirements.

Just Desserts, San Francisco
Patricia Seymour was named corporate controller. Seymour maintains extensive experience in accounting, finance and tax in the food and beverage industry. She started her career as a senior accountant for Sensiba San Filippo, then served as corporate controller for several firms in the construction industry. She also served as vice president of finance for Cytosport, Inc. before it was acquired by Hormel. 

Organic Valley, La Farge, Wis.
Robert Kirchoff was named interim CEO, taking over for George Siemon, who announced plans to step down as chief executive officer. Siemon was one of the seven founders of Organic Valley in 1988, and has been a leader in the organic movement. Kirchoff joined Organic Valley in 2016 as chief business officer.

FOODSERVICE:
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Newport Beach, Calif.
Patricia Fili-Krushel and Scott Maw were appointed to the board of directors. Fili-Krushel has been chief executive officer of the Center for Talent Innovation since January. From 2011-2016, she served as an executive at Comcast Corp.; as division chairman for NBCUniversal News Group; and as executive vice president, NBCUniversal. In addition, she served as executive vice president and chief administrative officer of Time Warner Inc. from 2001-2011; president and CEO, WebMD Health Division, of WebMD Health Corp., from 2000-2001; president, ABC Television Network; president, ABC Daytime, Disney ABC Television Group, of The Walt Disney Co.; and as senior vice president, programming of Lifetime Entertainment Services from 1988-1992. She also serves as a director of Dollar General Corp. She maintains extensive experience in managing global businesses, developing business strategy, talent management and creating organizational cultures. Maw served as executive vice president and CFO at Starbucks Corp. from 2014 before retiring in late 2018. He also served as senior vice president, corporate finance at Starbucks from 2012-2013; and senior vice president and global controller from 2011-2012. From 2010-2011, Maw served as senior vice president and CFO of SeaBright Holdings, Inc., and from 2008-2010, was senior vice president and CFO of the Consumer Bank at JP Morgan Chase & Co. Prior to this, Maw held financial leadership positions at Washington Mutual, Inc. from 2003-2008, and GE Capital from 1994-2003. He also worked at KPMG's audit practice from 1990-1994. Since 2016, he has been a member of the board of directors of Avista Corp. Maw maintains expert knowledge in finance, accounting, risk management, public corporate governance and leading global teams. In addition, current director Kimbal Musk announced his plans to not stand for re-election. Musk has served on the board of directors since 2013.

SUPPLIERS:
Shipt, Birmingham, Ala.
Kelly Caruso was named chief executive officer, succeeding founder Bill Smith, who will continue to serve as an advisor to the company. Caruso maintains more than 25 years of retail experience, from the stores to supply chain and merchandising. Most recently, Caruso was senior vice president hard lines at Target, which acquired Shipt in 2017, responsible for developing the merchandising and guest experience strategies for toys, electronics and entertainment. Prior to that, she was president of Target’s independent global sourcing business, supporting the company’s owned-brand growth. Earlier in her career, she held a number of merchandising and inventory planning businesses at Target, May Merchandising and Abercrombie & Fitch.

Pelican Products, Inc., Torrance, Calif.
Scott Bossenbroek was promoted to director of case product development. Bossenbroek joined Pelican in 2008 as a senior mechanical engineer, and was integral in Pelican’s new product research and development initiatives. Over the past few years, he oversaw the team that develops all of Pelican’s injection molded cases, and helped launch the Pelican Air case line in 2016, and the Vault by Pelican rugged case line in 2018. Before joining Pelican, Bossenbroek worked for 12 years as an engineer in Detroit, Mich.

Wi-Tronix, LLC, Bolingbrook, Ill.
Dave Semple joined as director – Wi-Tronix Australia/New Zealand, effective March 4, tasked with leading the Wi-Tronix Australia/New Zealand market strategy and execution. Semple maintains over 40 years of experience with locomotives and passenger trains, including sales, engineering, manufacturing, testing, commissioning and through-life support of rolling stock. He started his professional career in Canada, and has led engineering development projects in Australia, Canada, China and the United States. Dave has worked in Australia for the past 10 years at Downer EDI Rail and Progress Rail, and most recently as manager of locomotive technologies at LTK Australia.

Kool Logistics, LLC, Nashville, Tenn.
Matt Christ was named director of business development for the company’s new Los Angeles office. Christ specializes in refrigerated produce transportation, specifically on the West Coast.

Cosential, Austin, Texas
Cathy Guthrie was appointed senior vice president of human resources. Guthrie maintains more than 20 years in progressively challenging HR leadership roles in privately held start-up technology companies and publicly traded mid-size organizations. Most recently, she served as chief people officer of AlienVault, helping small to mid-sized organizations achieve world-class security. Prior to that, she was vice president of people at SpareFoot, and before that, senior director of human resources at Handango.

Symphony RetailAI, Dallas, Texas
Kevin Sterneckert joined as chief marketing officer, tasked with driving strategic marketing activities that spotlight the company’s end-to-end solutions. Sterneckert most recently served as global vice president of innovation strategies and marketing for JDA. He has also held executive marketing positions with other retail technology providers, including executive vice president of marketing for Predictix; chief marketing officer for OrderDynamics; and research vice president and CIO for Gartner.

PTI, Holland, Ohio
Sumit Mukherjee was appointed chief technology officer, charged with leading all engineering functions, including predictive modeling, product design, engineering, process lab and tooling services. In addition to managing technical support for customer projects, Mukherjee will be instrumental in bringing new leading-edge technical solutions, and further developing engineering team members. Mukherjee has been with PTI for the past 25 years, having served as vice president, advanced engineering services and director, computer aided engineering and simulation.

tna, Coppell, Texas
Matthew Walters was named branch manager of the company’s Johannesburg, South Africa, office, responsible for supporting food manufacturers across the African continent with fryers, conveyors, seasoning equipment, vertical-form-fill-seal packaging systems and end-of-line solutions, and tasked with driving the sales of tna’s confectionery processing solutions. Walters started his career with one of South Africa’s leading fast-moving consumer goods companies, where he was responsible for the implementation of a number of high-profile projects. He maintains experience in managing projects from start to finish, strategy development and stakeholder engagement and installation and commissioning.

Eriez-USA, Erie, Pa.
Darrell Milton was promoted to director of heavy industry, responsible for developing key sales strategies, tactics and action plans to expand Eriez’ metalworking, heavy industry and recycling market sales. He will also oversee the performance of Eriez-USA’s metalworking representative network in the United States and Canada. Milton most recently served as metalworking filtration systems manager for Eriez. He joined Eriez in 1991 as part of the company’s Canadian sales staff, rising to the position of Canadian national sales manager in 1995. Milton relocated with his family in 2006 to Erie to serve from the company’s corporate headquarters. He was promoted to recycling market manager in 2011, before being promoted to his current position in 2013.

I.D. Systems, Inc., Woodcliff Lake, N.J.
Chris Wolfe, chief executive officer, and Ned Mavrommatis, chief financial officer, will lead the newly combined company of PowerFleet, Inc., following the acquisition of Pointer Telocation Ltd. David Mahlab, chief executive officer of Pointer, will serve as CEO international, while Yaniv Dorani, chief financial officer of Pointer, will serve as deputy to CEO international. Mahlab has served as president and CEO of Pointer since 2011. Under his leadership, Mahlab re-focused the company’s business and technology on Internet of Things and grew its topline by more than 50% organically. Prior to Pointer, he was the co-founder of Scopus Video Networks, serving as chief executive officer from 1995-2007 and chairman from 2007 through its acquisition by Harmonic in 2009. Also, John Hunt, managing partner, and Anders Bjork, principal, were appointed to the PowerFleet board of directors, replacing directors Ken Brakebill and Christopher Formant. Hunt joined Abry Partners, the private equity firm handling the acquisition, in 2004, and currently serves as managing partner and head of the firm’s senior equity funds, primarily focusing on the information services, software and telecommunications industries. Prior to joining Abry, Hunt was a general partner at Boston Ventures Management. Bjork joined Abry Partners in 2017, focusing on senior equity funds. During his tenure, he has sourced, supervised and sold numerous technology companies. Prior to joining Abry, Bjork served in senior roles at Fir Tree Partners, Guggenheim Partners and Veronis Suhler Stevenson, as well as at IHS Markit.

Fox Solutions, McAllen, Texas
Thomas Summers was hired as new California-based regional sales representative. Summers maintains nearly 30 years of industry experience in packaging equipment sales, service and support. Past experience entails roles with companies such as Durand Wayland Machinery, Compac Sorting, Aweta/Autoline Inc., MAF Industries, Fruit Patch Sales Inc. and Sinclair Systems International.

Crowley Maritime Corp., Jacksonville, Fla.
Ira Douglas was promoted to vice president, labor relations, to lead the company’s relationships, operating agreements and partnerships with unions representing seafarers, terminal stevedores and truck drivers. Douglas previously served as director of labor relations, and works with seven unions throughout the country that support safe and reliable working environments. Douglas joined Crowley in the company’s labor relations department as a marine recruiter in 2006, before becoming manager of marine recruiting and development in 2008. He was promoted to director, marine personnel in 2009 before becoming labor relations director in 2017. Douglas takes over for Rudy Leming Jr., who recently transitioned to vice president, operations integration for Crowley Logistics, overseeing the integrated liner-logistics business that includes the company’s supply chain services in international and U.S. markets.

Hanson Logistics, St. Joseph, Mich.
Jeff Frazier was promoted to the new position of senior vice president of warehouse operations, responsible for three Michigan warehouses, as well as two in Indiana. Frazier joined Hanson Logistics in 2003 as vice president and general manager of the Logansport, Ind., facility. He then assumed the day-to-day operations of the new Chicago Consolidation Center, including client migration to the new facility and the roll out of Hanson’s Velocities Multi-Vendor Consolidation program. He was also involved in three expansions at Hobart, Ind., over the course of 10 years. Also, Kris Craig was promoted to the newly created position of business development director. Craig previously served as manager of the company’s Hartford, Conn., and Benton Harbor, Mich., warehouses.  

IN MEMORIUM: JOSEPH BOARDMAN, AMTRAK & FEDERAL RAILROAD AMINISTRATION

Joseph Boardman, former president and CEO of Amtrak, and former administrator for the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), passed away March 7, following a stroke while vacationing with his family.

Boardman was the longest-serving commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation, from July 1997 until resigning to head the FRA in 2005. He was also the second-longest serving head of Amtrak, serving from 2008-2016.

In 1966, he volunteered for military service in the United States Air Force, serving in Vietnam from 1968-1969, before receiving an honorable discharge from the Air Force.

Boardman was in the transportation industry for more than 40 years, with experience in city, county and state government. In addition, he owned a transportation management company, was former chairman of the Executive Committee of the Transportation Research Board and chair of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Standing Committee on Rail Transportation (SCORT).

Boardman is survived by his wife Joanne, three children and five of his seven siblings.