ASSOCIATIONS/ORGANIZATIONS:

Natural Products Association (NPA), Washington, D.C.
Daniel Fabricant, Ph.D., will be the new chief executive officer. Dr. Fabricant has worked as the director of the division of dietary supplement programs at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the past three years, and prior to that was vice president of global government and scientific affairs and served as active CEO for NPA.

National Institute for Animal Agriculture, Colorado Springs, Colo.
Glenn Fischer, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Allflex USA, was elected chairman. Also elected to serve 3-year terms are Dr. Mark Engle, independent consultant; Kevin Maher, founder and president of Global VetLINK; Dr. James McKean, veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine, Iowa State University; Dr. Rick Sibbel, director, U.S. cattle technical services, Merck Animal Health; and Victor Velez, animal health and food safety services, California Department of Food and Agriculture. Re-elected for a second term are Dr. Karen Jordan, Dairy Farmers of America and a veterinarian from North Carolina; Stan Mannschreck, National Livestock Producers Association; and John Saunders, IMI Global. Chairman Dr. Annette Jones, California Department of Food and Agriculture, will serve in an ex-officio capacity.

PROCESSORS/RETAILERS:

Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc., Canton, Mass.
The parent company of Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins promoted Lou Beccarelli to regional vice president of Dunkin' Donuts, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, DC; and Rick Woods, vice president, Baskin-Robbins operations, U.S. and Canada and Dunkin' Donuts & Baskin-Robbins China, Japan and Korea. Beccarelli will be responsible for providing support to Dunkin' Donuts franchisees and field teams throughout the region. He spent 23 years with Dunkin' Brands, and has served in a variety of roles within operations, development and operating systems. Meanwhile, Woods will be responsible for business development. Prior to this new role, Woods served as senior director of operations for Baskin-Robbins and as operations director for Dunkin' Donuts. Prior to joining Dunkin' Brands, he held senior operations positions at Mapco Express and Papa John's.

Ready Pac Foods Inc., Irwindale, Calif.
Peter Laport was hired as new senior vice president, chief supply chain officer, responsible for leading the company’s supply chain and operational activities. Prior to Ready Pac, he was with Dunkin Brands for over 5 years as their global vice president of supply chain and manufacturing. His strategic leadership supported 18,000 store locations within 60 countries. His previous leadership focused on innovation, commercialization, efficient manufacturing and supply chain optimization. Prior to Dunkin, Laport worked for Nestlé for 15 years, holding multiple supply chain leadership roles, and PepsiCo Co. for five years.

OSI Group, LLC, Aurora, Ill.
Sherry DeMeulenaere was promoted to senior vice president and CFO. DeMeulenaere joined OSI in March 2008 as vice president and treasurer, bringing with her a wealth of corporate finance experience from OfficeMax Inc., where she was assistant treasurer. Prior to this, DeMeulenaere worked at Baxter International as director of international treasury. She has also worked for Kraft Foods, where she was assistant controller, controller, profit improvement programs director, planning manager and strategy manager. Additionally, Donna Bunch Coaxum was promoted to senior vice president, general counsel and secretary, responsible for OSI’s global legal operations. Coaxum rejoined OSI in 2009 as vice president, general counsel and secretary, having previously served as senior counsel from 2001-2003. Prior to OSI, she worked as an attorney for Kraft Foods, Oscar Mayer, Sears Roebuck and Towers Watson, combining over 20 years of legal experience with a special focus on the food and consumer products industry.

SUPPLIERS:

Fristam Pumps USA, Middleton, Wis.
Samuel Gonzalez joined as a bilingual technical inside sales representative, responsible for providing technical support and customer assistance to Fristam’s Latin American customers. Gonzalez is bilingual and maintains more than four years of client relations experience.

Key Technology, Inc., Walla Walla, Wash.
Cedric Simmons was appointed area sales manager for the Southeast United States, responsible for bringing Key’s high-performance digital sorting, conveying and process automation systems to food processors and other manufacturers. Simmons brings 15 years of experience selling and supporting industrial equipment, including eight years in the food processing industry. Most recently, he was a senior account executive for DEHN Inc. Prior to that, he worked for FMC FoodTech (now JBT FoodTech), where he held various positions, including business development manager – aftermarket parts and services. Meanwhile, Peter Wood was named process systems product manager, responsible for planning and managing activities that support the development and sales of Key’s Smart Shaker suite of vibratory conveyors. He will also manage Key’s other processing systems products, including sizers and graders, food pumps, air cleaners and more. Wood brings almost 20 years of product and account management experience. He spent 10 years at Alcoa’s packaging equipment division as account manager and product manager. Most recently, he was market segment leader at Climax Portable Machining & Welding Systems.

Adept Technology, Inc., Pleasanton, Calif.
John Villadsen joined the company as vice president of global operations. Villadsen comes to Adept with more than 20 years of experience managing companies' operations, establishing global supply chains and implementing lean practices. Previously, he was general manager at Moquin Press. He has also been senior vice president of global operations for Global Equipment Services and Manufacturing (GES); vice president of global operations for Aviza Technology; and vice president of operations for VA Linux Systems.

Performance Packaging of Nevada, Las Vegas
Blair Vance was appointed vice president of sales and marketing. He joins the company following career successes at Cheer Pack North America, Bosch Pouch Systems LLC, Tetra Pak International and Coca-Cola Enterprises. His background includes operational and executive level experience for both domestic and international markets across retail and foodservice channels-to-market, primarily within the food and beverage industries. He has also been actively involved with the creation and execution of successful new product and packaging developments and innovation programs across varied disciplines.

IN MEMORIUM: BENJAMIN MILK, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REFRIGERATED WAREHOUSES
Benjamin Lechtman Milk passed away at Montgomery Hospice, Rockville, Md., April 4 after a valiant 6-month battle with brain cancer. Milk retired as executive vice president of the International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses, Alexandria, Va. He also served as executive director of the Securities and Exchange Commission and executive vice president of Youth for Understanding. Milk is survived by his wife, Leslie Berg Milk; his brother, Richard Milk; his children, Meredith Milk (Tony Zaslav) and Jeremy Milk (Christina Woo); and his grandchildren, Drew Zaslav, Trey Zaslav, Kaya Milk and Kaeden Milk.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Jewish Foundation for Group Homes or Montgomery Hospice.