ASSOCIATIONS/ORGANIZATIONS/UNIVERSITIES:
Ship & Shore Environmental, Inc., Long Beach, Calif.
Jim Stone was named vice president of sales. Stone maintains more than 25 years in product and business development in the air pollution control and hazardous materials industries. Past responsibilities include sales team leadership and growth, new market development, carbon market project abatement and pollution control strategy education. For the past 10 years, he’s helped develop three methane abatement systems. He’s also a regular panelist, speaker and presenter at the United Nations, the EPA and other industry conferences and tradeshows.

Auburn University, Auburn, Ala.
William Dozier, professor and poultry nutritionist, assumed the new role as head of Auburn’s Department of Poultry Science, effective Sept. 1. He also will serve as executive director of the 30-acre Charles C. Miller Jr. Poultry Research and Education Center, which is scheduled for completion in 2020. Dozier determined the dietary amino acid requirements for broiler chickens and evaluated co-products, such as crude glycerin from biodiesel plants and corn co-products from ethanol production, as alternative feed ingredients for broilers. He spent the first four years of his career as extension poultry scientist and assistant professor at the University of Georgia. Prior to joining the Auburn faculty, he was a research animal scientist with the USDA Poultry Research Unit. And, over the course of his career, he has received almost $3.5 million in research funding. During the search for a permanent department head, Sarge Bilgili, Auburn professor emeritus of poultry science, served as interim. Dozier takes over for Don Conner, former department head, who retired in April after 30 years as a faculty member.

CPA, The Association for Contract Packagers and Manufacturers, Reston, Va.
Mark O’Malley, president of Paket Corp., will assume the position of president, while Tim Koers will become immediate past president. Patty Dodson, director of Southwestern Fundraising Corp., joined as vice president, and Jon Hayward, vice president, Bonded Pac LLC, was elected treasurer. Other newly elected members to the board include Jerry Thompson, president, Combined Technologies Inc.; Nikki Johnson, executive vice president, Kala; and Tom Landry, president, Allegiance Staffing.

The Freshwater Fish Marketing Corp. (FFMC), Canada
Kevin Anderson will serve as the dedicated interlocutor to lead next steps in the transformation process. Acting as a liaison between fish harvesters, indigenous groups and other partners, the Anderson will work directly with harvester associations, cooperatives and other partners to assess the industry’s willingness and capacity to sustain and cooperate under a harvester-led model. He will also work to establish a committee of representatives from the fishing industry to improve communications and information sharing, and to promote industry-led solutions that support harvester ambitions for the future of the inland fishery. Anderson began his career in 1991 as a fishery officer at DFO, where he progressed into different executive roles over 28 years of service. Anderson was a former director of conservation and protection in 2008 before becoming the regional director of fisheries management in 2012, and later was appointed as regional director general in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2016. Through these positions, he led and demonstrated his extensive knowledge and experiences toward Canada’s marine and inland fisheries. Here, he was instrumental in the signing of the reconciliation agreement between the Government of Canada and British Columbia Coastal First Nations, as well as the Fraser Salmon Collaborative Management Agreement between DFO and the Fraser Salmon Management Council. He continues to support negotiations and reconciliations with other First Nations in British Columbia and Atlantic Canada.

Citrus Research Board, Visalia Calif.
Marcy Martin was elected new president, effective Oct. 1, succeeding Gary Schulz, who served as president from 2015-2018. Franco Bernardi has been interim president since mid-October. Martin maintains more than 25 years of experience at California commodity organizations. She’s spent the last 14 years as director of trade at the California Fresh Fruit Association. Before that, she spent 10 years as controller of the California Apple Commission. In 2015, Tom Vilsack, then U.S. Agriculture Secretary, appointed Martin to the Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee.

PROCESSORS/RETAILERS/DISTRIBUTORS/MARKET RESEARCH:
Premier Citrus Marketing, Vero Beach, Fla.
Kevin Swords was appointed director of North American sales. He most recently worked at Wonderful Citrus, and spent more than 25 years as citrus sales manager for DNE World Fruit Sales.

TreeHouse Foods, Inc., Oak Brook, Ill.
Amit Philip joined as senior vice president, chief strategy officer. Philip most recently served as vice president of analytics and insights at The Hershey Co., where he managed a global team responsible for business decision analytics, consumer and shopper insights and advanced analytics. From 2011-2018, Philip worked in corporate strategy and analytics functions at The Hershey Co. Prior to that, he was with A.T. Kearney, where he developed strategic plans, governance structures, change-management, communication plans and technology strategy for clients across a variety of industries, including consumer packaged goods, agribusiness and more. He began his career at Schlumberger Ltd.

Les Serres Sagami Inc., Canada
Peggie Clermont was named president of the board of directors, making the company what is said to be the 100% female-led Quebec, Canada, company. Previously, she worked at Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, and worked as a financial adviser with Les Serres Sagami for several years.

JV Smith Cos., Soledad, Calif.
Israel Morales was promoted to executive director of sustainable operations, where he will oversee all sustainability practices and act as spokesperson. Morales previously served as general manager of JV Farms Organic, and has been a farmer for more than 45 years, with more than 30 of those years in organic farming.

ZoomEssence, Inc., Hebron, Ky.
Stephen DeCorte joined as senior vice president of sales and marketing, tasked with leading the company’s commercialization efforts in ready-to-drink beverages as well as all-natural, clean label and health and wellness brands. DeCorte maintains over 25 years of sales and marketing roles with Unilever, Nabisco and Land O'Lakes. He most recently served as senior vice president of sales and marketing for Arcadia Beverage, where he was responsible for all global sales and marketing efforts to clients in the retail, foodservice, industrial/ingredient and private label segments. Meanwhile, Dr. Kiyul Cho joined as principal emulsion scientist, focusing on delivering novel formulation strategies to further expand the company's clean label initiative. Cho maintains expertise in hydrocolloids, protein emulsifiers, extrusion technology, interface chemistry, polymer rheology and material characterization. Previously, he served as senior food scientist at the Pulmuone Co., where he was responsible for commercializing new product concepts for the Korean market. Most recently, Cho worked for more than a decade as an expert of ingredient functionality at The Kellogg Co.

Maytag Dairy Farms, Newton, Iowa
Donald Boelens was named chief executive officer. Boelens previously served as chief financial officer from 2001-2003; chief executive officer of Swiss Valley Farms Cooperative from 2003-2016 and chief financial officer of the Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative. He most recently served as general manager of Wellshire Farms.

Ahold Delhaize, The Netherlands
Jeff Carr announced plans to resign as chief financial officer, effective April 2020. Carr has been chief financial officer 2011.

The Oppenheimer Group (Oppy), Canada
James Milne was promoted to senior vice president of categories and marketing, tasked with leading the strategic direction of Oppy’s major product groups, including apples, pears, avocados, berries, citrus, field and greenhouse vegetables and grapes. He’s been with Oppy for 26 years in leadership roles for nearly all categories, most recently as vice president of marketing, categories and business development. Karin Gardner was named executive director of marketing, succeeding Milne. Gardner, who joined the company in 1992, now leads the execution of Oppy’s overall marketing strategy, including communications, branding and marketing campaigns. Most recently, she was director of corporate communications. Brett Libke was promoted to senior vice president of sales, North America, responsible for leading Oppy’s sales strategy and market development initiatives. He joined the company in 2011, and has been vice president of sales and general manager - East Coast. And, Garland Perkins was appointed senior manager of insights and innovation. Perkins joined Oppy in mid-2012 in sales, and most recently was a U.S. retail solutions specialist. She’ll draw from her experience in marketing and business development for an innovation strategy.

California Giant Berry Farms, Watsonville, Calif.
Tom Smith is taking on a new role as director of foodservice and organics, responsible for the future direction of the foodservice and organic sales team. Smith has served as director of foodservice for the past 3 years, and served as the sales liaison with the company’s organic growers for several months. Thomas Taggart joined as senior director of operations, effective Sept. 9. Taggart will play a vital role in the company’s operations and growth throughout North America, South America, and Mexico, and is responsible for quality systems, food safety and innovation. Taggart will also work with the operations team, partnering with the sales, field operations, vendors and grower partners. Taggart has been in the produce industry for over 25 years with extensive experience developing and implementing quality systems, food safety programs and new technologies both domestically and internationally. Juana Ramirez was hired as new director of supply chain management.

Albertsons Cos., Boise, Idaho
Geoff White was promoted to executive vice president and chief merchandising officer. White has served as president of Own Brands since 2017, where he grew the brand from 23% in FY2017 to 25.3% in the company's most recently reported quarter. White began his career with the company as a general clerk at Safeway in 1981. He eventually became director of Canadian produce operations for 210 stores. He’s also held leadership roles in produce, dairy, frozen, deli/foodservice, produce, floral and branded concepts at the Safeway corporate office from 2004-2015. In 2015, he was named senior vice president of marketing and merchandising for the Northern California division.

Maple Leaf Foods, Inc., Canada
Casey Richards was name senior vice president of marketing and innovation, assuming overall marketing leadership for Maple Leaf's family of brands, and leading the company's innovation efforts, while continuing to oversee the pastry business. Richards most recently served as the company's vice president and general manager – pastry, a role he assumed in 2017 following two decades of marketing and general management experience with leading U.S. food companies. Richards maintains experience in strategy, brand building, innovation and general management. Prior to joining Maple Leaf Foods, Richards led ConAgra Foods’ Marie Callender's brand to become $1 billion in retail sales. He has also held key management roles at General Mills and Nestlé, working on Cheerios, Totino's and Green Giant brands. 

Tyson Foods, Springdale, Ark.
John Tyson was appointed chief sustainability officer, effectively immediately. Whitmore has been serving as Tyson Foods’ chief sustainability officer since 2017, but will now lead the company’s efforts to support a more sustainable food system. This includes implementing the company’s sustainability strategy and commitments as well as managing the sustainability, animal welfare, environmental and social responsibility teams. Tyson is a fourth generation Tyson family member who recently joined the company, and over the past 5 years, has been an observer at the company’s board of directors’ meetings. He is also a lecturer at the Sam M. Walton School of Business at the University of Arkansas. He previously worked in investment banking for J.P. Morgan and as a private equity and venture capital investor.

Tyson Fresh Meats, subsidiary of Tyson Foods, Dakota Dunes, S.D.
Nate Hodne was appointed senior vice president of the newly formed Portioned Protein Innovations (PPI) team. Ryan Vessell will lead the innovation and growth business; Mark Gordon will lead operations; Kevin Younger will lead value added; Jason Robertson will lead case ready; and John McKeone, Jeff Lickfelt and Mark King will lead shared services support.

Sovos Brands, Berkeley, Calif.
Dan Poland was appointed to the company's board of directors. Poland’s diverse background spans supply chain leadership, financial management and research and development. He is currently chief operating officer of KIND Snacks. Prior to KIND Snacks, Poland was chief supply chain officer of Pinnacle Foods, where he was responsible for end-to-end supply chain, including transforming the Pinnacle supply chain in preparation for acquisitions or outright sale. Previous to that, Poland served as chief supply chain officer for DanoneWave’s North American operations, previously WhiteWave, where he was responsible for end-to-end supply chain, and assisted in due diligence activities, including acquisitions and integrations of Danone and WhiteWave, Wallaby, So Delicious Dairy Free, Vega (Canada), Innovation Process and Packaging (Mexico). Prior to DanoneWave, Poland spent 15 years with the H.J. Heinz Co., most recently as North American chief supply chain officer. Poland began his career with Gerber and Nestlé in various roles, including R&D, engineering and operations management. 

Frostkrone Food Group, Germany
Matthias Bross was appointed chief operating officer, effective immediately, responsible for the management, control and organization of the entire supply chain management system. Bross has held senior executive positions in the foodstuffs sector for over 20 years. He began his career as a food technologist at Weihenstephan, before moving to the Nestlé Group, where he worked mainly in the ice cream division as a product developer and internal adviser on the subject of increasing productivity. Most recently, he served as plant manager, where he was responsible for the Nestlé/Thomy production facility in Basel, Switzerland.

Rich Products, Buffalo, N.Y.
Yexi Liu was named chief information officer, replacing Paul Klein, who will retire at the end of this year. Liu has served in numerous global IT leadership roles based in markets across Asia, Latin America and Europe for both SPX Corp. and Ingersoll Rand. Most recently, he was global CIO for Westinghouse Electric Co., where he helped develop the company’s long-term technology strategy and governance model in support of its commercial effectiveness, supply chain priorities and overall business transformation. He focused the IT team’s efforts around the delivery of new digital workplace technology to boost workforce engagement and global collaboration.

California Dairies, Inc. (CDI), Visalia, Calif.
Phil Girard was promoted to senior vice president and CFO, effective immediately, where he will oversee the cooperatives’ financial, accounting, treasury, information technology and risk management functions. Girard maintains more than 25 years of financial and accounting experience in dairy cooperatives and food industry companies. Girard has served as vice president of finance for CDI since 2013. Prior to coming to CDI, Girard was corporate controller for Sun-Maid Growers of California, and spent more than 20 years in the dairy industry, holding multiple accounting positions with Land O’ Lakes, Inc. and Leprino Foods Co.

IRI, Chicago
Rick Kash and Dimitri Panayotopoulos joined the company’s board of directors, effective immediately. Kash is the founder and former chairman and CEO of Cambridge Consulting Group, which was acquired by Nielsen Holdings Plc in 2009. Kash joined Nielsen at the time of the acquisition, ultimately serving as vice chairman. Since leaving Nielsen in 2016, Kash, who currently serves as a director of Simply Good Foods, has served on a variety of corporate and non-profit boards. He is also currently affiliated with Vestar Capital Partners, an IRI portfolio company, as a director of Woodstream, another Vestar portfolio company. Panayotopoulos is former vice chairman of The Procter & Gamble Co., where he was responsible for the full portfolio of P&G’s brands and business units and more than $80 billion of global revenues. He maintains deep experience in driving growth, innovation and executional excellence. Following his 37-year career at P&G, he became a senior advisor at Boston Consulting Group.
 

SUPPLIERS:
Pelican Products, Inc., Torrance, Calif.
Bruce Gonzalez was named vice president – controller, effective Aug. 26, responsible for overseeing the company’s worldwide financial reporting, internal controls and accounting practices and policies; directing a wide range of financial functions, including internal and external financial reporting; and conveying economic results and assisting in the formulation of sound financial and operational decisions. Gonzalez maintains experience implementing financial information systems, as well as designing and executing internal fiscal controls at high-growth companies. He holds more than 20 years of experience in accounting, finance and operations management, including comprehensive background in consumer product manufacturing. He has also worked as a controller for Bird, Unified Grocers, Rentech and Loot Crate, as well as Ernst and Young.  
 
Marel, Iceland
Roger Claessens was named executive vice president of poultry, succeeding Anton de Weerd. Claessens has been with Marel for over 18 years, and most recently served as director of innovation poultry.

Interroll, Switzerland
Daniel Bättig, group CFO, announced plans to leave the company by the end of November. Bättig has been group CFO since he joined the Interroll Group in March 2013. He managed the group’s finances, and played a key role in preparing Interroll’s acquisitions.

Primus Builders, Woodstock, Ga.
KC Williams was named chief operating officer, where he will focus on daily business operations and efficiencies, aim to eliminate communication barriers and provide a collaborative work environment.  Williams is a former Navy pilot with over 15 years of construction experience in project management and executive leadership.

Smurfit Kappa North America (SKNA), Phoenix, Ariz.
Eduardo Rubio was appointed as new chief executive officer, effective Oct. 1, responsible for leading the 4,900-employee operation. Rubio is a chartered accountant. He joined the company in 2010, having previously served as vice president for the SKNA Mexican corrugated operations; was director of finance for the packaging group; general manager for the Tijuana box plant; and regional general manager of the Baja, Calif., location. He also managed the Mexicali sheet plant.

PGT Trucking, Inc., Aliquippa, Pa.
Barret Rea was appointed chief financial officer, responsible for accounting and finance, including settlements, billing, collections and administration, which includes IT, safety, training, compliance, risk and oversight of PGT Services. Rea has been a member of PGT's board of directors since 2016. He joined PGT in 2018 as vice president of strategic planning. Before that, he was managing director in investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he spent 12 years advising industrial companies on mergers and acquisitions and capital markets transactions. Chad Marsilio was appointed chief commercial officer, responsible for business development and driver-related recruiting. Marsilio joined PGT's business development department in 2010, focusing on the oil and gas industry. In 2013, he was promoted to vice president and general manager of Southern Pines Trucking, a PGT-affiliated company. In 2016, Marsilio was appointed vice president, commercial, where he oversaw the business development and load center departments to maximize business opportunities. Darren Coast was appointed chief operating officer, accountable for the company's assets, drivers, facilities and agents for operations and maintenance. Coast maintains over 25 years of multi-modal experience in the transportation industry. During this time, he’s served as vice president of operations and vice president of business development. He also oversaw administration. Before that, he worked as vice president of logistics engineering for Pittsburgh Logistics Systems, Inc., where he targeted new business focusing on key areas of cost reduction for customers with supply chain management, warehousing and value-added services. In 2012, Coast expanded his automotive experience with Universal Logistics Holdings, where he served as vice president of Mason & Dixon Lines Inc., and senior vice president and officer of Universal Dedicated and Truckload, responsible for various areas, including operations, recruiting, safety and sales. 

IN MEMORIUM: BRAD KIRK INTERNATIONAL FOODSERVICE MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION

Brad Kirk, former member of the board of directors for International Foodservice Manufacturers Association (IFMA), Chicago, passed away from a stroke Sept. 4, while on a mission trip in Naga, Philippines.

Kirk served on IFMA’s board of directors from 2017-2019. He also spent 34 years with Lyons Magnus, most recently as senior vice president, national accounts.