ASSOCIATIONS/ORGANIZATIONS:
American Association of Meat Processors (AAMP), Elizabethtown, Pa.
Chris Young was selected as new executive director, effective Nov. 30, succeeding Marty Manion, who has held the post since 2013 and is now the chief executive officer of the Naples Area Board of Realtors. Young has served as AAMP’s outreach specialist since 2013. In his new role, he will manage staff, budget, convention, member services, technology implementation, communications, strategic planning and overall operations for the association. He brings over 20 years of experience in the meat industry, having previously served as the operations manager for Wild Bill’s Foods and overseeing ham production for Berks Packing Co.

PROCESSORS/RETAILERS/DISTRIBUTORS:
Smithfield Foods, Inc., Smithfield, Va.
Dennis Treacy, executive vice president and chief sustainability officer, announced his intent to retire, effective Dec. 31, 2016. Until his retirement, Treacy will serve full time as president of the Smithfield Foundation, the non-profit organization that acts as the philanthropic wing of Smithfield. Keira Lombardo, currently senior vice president of corporate affairs, will assume all of Treacy's responsibilities in the areas of sustainability, government affairs, communications and "people" on Jan. 1, 2016. Stewart Leeth, currently vice president of regulatory affairs and sustainability, will assume the role of chief sustainability officer on Jan. 1, 2016. Leeth joined Smithfield Foods in 2008, and previously held the position of assistant vice president for environmental and corporate affairs and senior counsel.

Valley Fruit & Produce, Los Angeles
Jorge Alvarado was named international supply chain manager, responsible for building a global direct import program across the full line of fruits and vegetables. Most recently, Alvarado was supply chain/research and development manager at Global Fresh, where he was responsible for developing and executing the company’s import programs for tropical fruits, melons, root vegetables and other specialty commodities. Alvarado brings over a decade of experience in international supply chain management, especially in the Central and South America regions.

Nestlé USA, Glendale, Calif.
Joel Hubbard was appointed an associate on the Coffee-mate brand's holiday flavors team, charged with overseeing the launch of two new Nestlé Coffee-mate creamer seasonal flavors, and contributing to marketing efforts for year-round seasonal flavors. Hubbard comes from a leading social marketing agency, where he supported various food and beverage brands, including Coffee-mate.  

California Giant Berry Farms, Watsonville, Calif.
Nick Chappell was promoted to director of retail sales, providing strategic leadership for the future direction of the retail sales channel team in the development of the company’s strategic sales plan.  He will also provide leadership on the daily sales operations, developing new accounts and recommending training opportunities and visibility while maintaining focus on the company’s strategic goals. Chappell has been on the sales desk for several years working with some of the company’s largest accounts.

SUPPLIERS:

API Group, Brighton, Minn.
Experienced lean management professional George Donaldson took on the role of head of business improvement, responsible for facilitating and deploying continuous improvement, reliability engineering and change management across API Foils Europe. Previously, Donaldson led the Newsprinters Eurocentral Scotland team to being the first Shingo Prize winners in the United Kingdom and the first newspaper manufacturer in the world. Meanwhile, packaging professional Katarzyna Kozinska is now country manager – Poland, responsible for API Foils in Poland, leading a team of 10 sales and production members. Kozinska has worked in various sales and management roles across the printing, graphic arts and packaging industry, including as area sales manager CEE at Avery Dennison. 

PaperWorks, Inc., Bala Cynwyd, Pa.
Brandon Clairmont joined as senior vice president of packaging sales. Clairmont has more than two decades of experience with food manufacturing, foodservice and packaging companies. Most recently, he was vice president of sales for McCormick & Co., Inc., and has heldsales and account management leadership roles at Command Packaging, Huhtamaki, Sweetheart Cup and Gilbert Foods.

Cashco, Inc., Ellsworth, Kan.
Darrin Vanderbilt was promoted to vice president of operations. Vanderbilt most recently served as engineering services manager, assuming a number of responsibilities since joining Cashco in 2005 as engineering lab manager. 

Weber Packaging Solutions, Arlington Heights, Ill.
Michael Brown joined as executive vice president of North America, responsible for providing strategic team leadership, management and vision necessary to ensure that the company has proper operational controls, procedures and people in place to effectively grow the organization. In January, Brown was named vice president and general manager of Weber Marking Systems – Canada. He maintains over 20 years of executive leadership experience developing and managing high-performance teams within the industrial/printing category in North America and has held several key positions within Domino Printing Sciences, a UK-based company.