ASSOCIATIONS/ORGANIZATIONS:

Idaho Potato Commission, Eagle, Idaho
Randy Hardy, owner of Hardy Farms, and Nick Blanksma, a fourth-generation potato farmer, will serve as commissioners for a 3-year term. Meanwhile, Mike Christensen, who has already served one term, will be sworn in for another one. Hardy has held positions with several other industry organizations. He is currently the president of the National Potato Council and has served on the United States Potato Board in many capacities, including chairman in 2006-2007. Blanksma is the youngest person to ever serve as a commissioner.

Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners, Long Beach, Calif.
Environmental attorney Tracy Egoscue joined as the first commissioner appointed by newly elected Mayor Robert Garcia. Egoscue heads a private law practice, and in the past, was executive officer of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board – Los Angeles Region. Prior to that, she served as executive director of Santa Monica Baykeeper, and practiced environmental litigation as a deputy attorney general for the California Department of Justice, working on issues encompassing the Air Resources Board, the California Environmental Quality Act and the Federal Clean Water Act. Egoscue fills a seat vacated by Susan Anderson Wise, whose term ended in July.

Organic Trade Association (OTA), Baltimore, Md.
Melissa Hughes, general counsel and director of government affairs for Organic Valley/CROPP Cooperative, was tapped as the new president. Elected as an OTA director in 2013, Hughes has been with Organic Valley/CROPP Cooperative since 2003, managing all of the co-ops legal affairs and overseeing relationships with various governmental groups, including legislators, agencies and other regulatory entities. Other officers announced include Sarah Bird, vice president, USA; Dag Falck, vice president of Canada; Melody Meyer as secretary; and Tony Bedard as treasurer. Completing the board are Samantha Cabaluna (Earthbound Farm), Perry Clutts (Pleasantview Farm), Nicole Dawes (Late July Organic Snacks), Chris Ely (Applegate Farms), Kelly Shea (WhiteWave Foods), Marci Zaroff (Under the Canopy/Portico Brands and MetaWear) and Leslie Zuck (Pennsylvania Certified Organic). In addition, Ryan Benn of Alive Publishing Group Inc. was appointed for another year to represent Canadian interests for a 1-year term. Retiring from the board are Matt McLean from Uncle Matt's Organic Inc., who completed the maximum nine years, and Scott Nash of MOM's Organic Market, who completed a 3-year term.

PROCESSORS/RETAILERS:

Quaker Maid Meats, Reading, Pa.
Larry McFadden was appointed vice president of marketing, a new position created to help keep the image of the 44-year-old brand fresh for younger consumers. For the past decade, he has held a range of marketing, sales and brand management positions for Sara Lee (now Hillshire Brands), including marketing director for the Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage business and BU general manager for Sara Lee Frozen Desserts. He previously spent 19 years at Nestlé USA in various marketing and food technologist positions.

JBS S.A., Sao Paulo, Brazil
Wilson Mello was named government relations director and external communication. Mello has more than 20 years’ experience in the legal sector, working in large corporations such as Wal-Mart Brazil, where for four years he was responsible for corporate affairs. He also acted as vice president of corporate affairs for BRF from 2010-2013. Additionally, Maxim Medvedovsky was appointed chief financial officer. Medvedovsky has extensive experience in corporate finance, and spent 14 years at Oi Group of telecommunications, where he held several leadership positions such as chief administrative officer, chief customer officer and head of retail. He started his career in investment banking, where he worked for five years and recently acted as global CFO of Magnesita.

Sargento Foods Inc., Plymouth, Wis.
Tracy Wronski was named new customer merchandising manager, responsible for the execution of retail and group wholesale plans for company products, development of markets and customers relationships and broker management within an assigned market base. Prior to joining Sargento, Wronski served as communications manager at Target – Advantage Sales and Marketing, and was national business manager and business development manager at Acosta Sales and Marketing.

Shop24 Global, LLC, Westerville, Ohio
David Brotherton was appointed vice president of marketing and business development, responsible for further defining and activating the Shop24 brand, refining store location selection and selling processes, developing CRM capabilities, increasing same-store revenue and optimizing the category management function. Brotherton comes from Bob Evans Farms, where he was a senior brand manager responsible for marketing and managing the company’s consumer package goods product portfolio. He was also product and marketing management at Terex Corp., brand management at Kimberly-Clark and a management consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

FOODSERVICE:

McDonald’s Corp., Oak Brook, Ill.
Fred Ehle was tapped as the company’s first vice president, customer officer, focusing on customer insights engaging with customers in a more powerful and relevant manner. He’ll also be acting on opportunities to improve McDonald’s overall customer experience and driving segment-driven customer experiences under the McDonald’s brand. According to his LinkedIn account, Ehle was vice president of brand management for Pulte and is an agency veteran, having worked at VSA Partners, Leo Burnett and FCB, among others.

SUPPLIERS:

Point Five Packaging, Schiller Park, Ill.
Philip Skaff was named Midwest regional sales manager, responsible for Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas.  Prior to joining Point Five, he was involved in many facets of the food manufacturing, packaging and distribution industry. For example, he co-founded and acted as CEO of Skaff Foods, LLC, where he strategically planned all aspects of the company from site and personnel selection to marketing strategy, training and development.  Meanwhile, Robin Reinhold was appointed South Eastern regional sales manager, covering Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas. Reinhold has been instrumental in helping customers find ways to be more productive and save money by using a consultative problem solving approach and truly partnering with customers to enable them to achieve their goals. She has gone through several nationally respected training programs and managed, trained and hired staff for various industries, including working for an Exxon Mobil distributor, where she specialized in food grade lubricants. 

Cloverleaf Cold Storage, Sioux City, Iowa
David McCurrywas promoted to plant manager of the Sumter, S.C., facility. A 21-year veteran of the warehouse industry, McCurry has worked as an operations manager at the Sanford, N.C., complex since it purchased Imperial Cold Storage in 2010.

Tetra Pak, Denton, Texas
Company veteran Brian Kennell was appointed president and CEO for the U.S. and Canada. Prior to assuming this role, he served in a number of leadership positions, most recently as vice president of finance and business transformation for North America. Since joining Tetra Pak in 1991, Kennell has had a salient role in shaping the company's focus on improved efficiencies, quality, sustainability and customer service. As president and CEO, he will further these goals, as well as focus on supporting and continuing to drive Tetra Pak's culture of innovation and adaptation to customer needs.

Bunting Magnetics Co., Newton, Kan.
Alicia Wieder was named general manager of the magnet materials division in Elk Grove Village, Ill., responsible for distributing Bunting products across North America and internationally. Wieder brings a wealth of manufacturing, operations and industrial distribution experience, after being with Illinois Tool Works for more than 25 years. 

WeighPack Systems Inc., Las Vegas
Mark McGlogan joined as territory manager, responsible for account management and assisting customers in Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Western Ontario. McGlogan brings with him nearly 25 years of professional sales experience in the packaging industry, most recently at Domino Printing.

DuPont Packaging Materials & Solutions, Wilmington, Del.
Gregory Friedman was appointed vice president of investor relations, succeeding Carl Lukach, who was appointed vice president, treasury, tax and investor relations for the new performance chemicals company, which is expected to be separated from DuPont by mid-2015. Friedman has served in several business and financial leadership positions since joining DuPont in 2001. Previously, he was the general auditor and chief ethics and compliance leader, and served as the chief financial officer of the DuPont Pioneer business.

Liqui-Box Corp., Richmond, Va.
Dan Proper joined as national account manager, focusing specifically on new market development. Proper maintains 20-plus years in the packaging industry, both in flexibles and rigids, where he's held sales and marketing roles with major packaging companies, and has helped several organizations access new markets and product applications, including cleaning chemicals, the original Joe-to-Go coffee box, condiments and smoothie dispensers. Proper comes from HQC Inc.

Watco Transportation Services, Pittsburg, Kan.
Andrew Cordischi, Jr. was named senior vice president and CIO, responsible for delivering a broad range of IT initiatives for the entire IT network, infrastructure and applications. Prior to joining Watco, Cordischi, Jr. worked for BNSF Logistics, LLC for 12 years as vice president of solutions and vice president of technology and engineering. He has also held management positions with Clicklogistics, Cardinal Logistics Management and J.B. Hunt Logistics. Meanwhile, Amy Parady, a Watco team member for more than 10 years, became vice president, business development and corporate liaison. Previously, she served as the marketing manager for Cardinal Logistics Management, where she supported the sales force over dedicated van and delivery divisions. While with Cardinal, she also served as operations coordinator for the Home Depot account, supporting 40-plus Home Depot stores and their delivery program. Intermodal expert Lynda Patterson was named vice president, growth strategies. Previously, she was with BNSF Railway and BNSF Logistics, leading strategic sourcing and supplier management initiatives and realizing over $15 million in sustainable savings and $20 million in free cash flow impact. Lastly, Judd Gilgen, formerly of BNSF Logistics, was named vice president, risk management. Gilgen maintains over 21 years in the supply chain industry, including risk management, compliance, operations and project management. Judd began his career by helping launch J. B. Hunt Logistics in the early 1990s and was instrumental in the implementation of several high-profile transportation outsourcing agreements. He helped design and implement some of the first proprietary web-based track, trace and reporting applications, and in 2000, was part of the executive team that worked to form and integrate Transplace, which was formed in July 2000 through the merger of six logistics business units. And, Tim Enayati accepted the position of marketing manager for the Gulf region, responsible for continuing the development of organic growth on the Austin Western, Timber Rock, Pecos Valley Southern and the San Antonio Central railroads. Enayati will also be working jointly with the business development team on due diligence projects for rail and switching locations. He joined the Watco team in 2012 as a transportation analyst.

Schneider Packaging Equipment Co., Inc., Brewerton, N.Y.
Kevin Keefe was appointed marketing manager, effective immediately. Keefe maintains over 12 years of marketing and product management experience. Most recently, he served as general manager of a broadcasting company, where he managed and supervised multiple departments, including sales and marketing and creative services. Prior to that, Keefe worked as a senior manager for Citadel Broadcasting.

IN MEMORIUM: MELVIN SALOMON, NORTH AMERICAN MEAT PROCESSORS ASSOCIATION

Melvin Salomon, former president of the North American Meat Processors Association (NAMP), Washington, D.C., from 1965-66, passed away Sept. 16 at the age of 100.

An icon in the meat business, Salomon bought the Allen Brothers meat company in 1938, and was the president and chairman for 61 years. He retired in 2001. He was also a founder of the National Association of Hotel and Restaurant Meat Purveyors, which later became NAMP.

In 2011, Salomon was inducted into the Meat Industry Hall of Fame, and just this past Saturday, Sept. 13, was introduced to this year’s inductees at the Hall of Fame dinner by videotape.

“Mel’s legacy is far-reaching. He was a friend and industry leader who joined with other like-minded leaders to establish one of the foundations of NAMA and its programs that still benefit the meat industry today. Our thoughts and prayers go to Mel’s family and his long-time friends," NAMP leaders Barry Carpenter (CEO), Phil Kimball (executive director) and Rosemary Mucklow (director emeritus) said in a statement.

Solomon’s funeral will be held Sept. 21 at 2 p.m. CDT at Oak Woods Cemetery, 1035 East 67th Street in Chicago. Shiva to follow immediately after the service at 879 Sumac Road in Highland Park, Ill.

The family has requested no flowers, and that any donations in Mel’s name be made to the charity of your choice.