Names in the News
New hires, promotions, retirements
Sanz Rituerto joins Chore-Time Europe
Daniel Sanz Rituerto has joined Chore-Time Europe as the regional sales manager for South Europe. Sanz Rituerto brings extensive poultry systems knowledge and experience to his new position to help ensure the further development and positioning of Chore-Time and its products in southern European markets. He will be responsible for continuing to expand the sales of Chore-Time products. Prior to joining Chore-Time Europe, Sanz Rituerto gained more than 10 years of experience as an agri-food and rural environment engineer in the poultry industry working with the distribution, sales and service of Chore-Time products.
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Foremost Farms USA announces new CFO Brenda Dehart
Foremost Farms USA recently announced Brenda Dehart as its new senior vice president, chief financial officer and member of its executive leadership team. Dehart is responsible for developing and managing the cooperative’s financial strategy, planning analysis, and reporting of short-and long-term financial objectives with additional oversight of legal.
"Brenda Dehart’s strategic financial acumen and experience are an excellent fit for Foremost Farms,” said Greg Schlafer, president and chief executive officer of Foremost Farms.Read more
Jeremy McCarn promoted at Lemar Industries
Jeremy McCarn has been promoted to senior structural designer for LeMar Industries, a subsidiary of Brock Grain Systems, according to Alex Carnahan, engineering manager for the CTB, Inc. business unit. In his new position, McCarn will lead and create the designs, layouts, drawings, production prints, and/or edits for new and existing products and jobs for customers.
McCarn has been a CTB employee since 2015, previously holding the positions of designer I, II, and III and IT liaison/specialist.Read more
Ramirez named interim director of Egg Industry Center
Brett Ramirez has been appointed interim director of the Egg Industry Center at Iowa State University. Ramirez has served as the center’s assistant director since April 2023, leading alongside former EIC Director Richard Gates, who passed away in November 2023.
Ramirez, who joined Iowa State’s faculty in 2018, is also an associate professor with research and Extension appointments in Iowa State’s Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering.
Smithfield Foods names new chief officers
Smithfield Foods has named Brendan Smith as its chief marketing officer and Allyson Bouldon as its chief ethics and compliance officer.
Bouldon, a senior leader with extensive experience in global regulatory and legal compliance in the agricultural, consumer products, food manufacturing, packaging and retail sectors, will serve as Smithfield's chief ethics and compliance officer. In this role, she will lead and manage Smithfield's ethics and compliance program, sustaining a culture of integrity and ethical decision-making across the company. She reports to Michael Flemming, Smithfield's chief legal officer.
Smith, a senior marketing executive with global and domestic expertise in sales, top consumer brand management, strategic development and planning, brand strategy and digital marketing, will serve as Smithfield's chief marketing officer. In this role, he will lead Smithfield's marketing team to deliver the planning, development and execution of the company's marketing, advertising, innovation and strategic planning initiatives, with responsibilities for its brands throughout the retail, deli and food service channels. He reports to Steve France, Smithfield's president of packaged meats.Read more
Officials at Butterball LLC recently announced that Walter “Gator” Pelletier, vice president of live operations, retired at the end of 2023. Vernon Felts, who most recently held the role of senior director of live operations, immediately assumed Pelletier’s vacancy. Pelletier will remain a member of Butterball’s board of directors as a Goldsboro Milling Company representative.
Pelletier joined Butterball in October 2006 when Maxwell Farms LLC acquired Butterball. He was responsible for all of North Carolina’s turkey growing operations until 2015, when we became head of Butterball’s live operations nationwide.
The California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB), the marketing order representing California dairy producers, recently added Travis Cano as manager of processor partnerships.
Cano joins the CMAB with 16 years of experience at the Safeway/Albertsons Companies where he held a wide range of leadership positions including grocery procurement manager, business ventures manager, supply chain strategies manager, and director of ecommerce merchandising, procurement & labor planning.Read more
Rock River Laboratory, an international agriculture analysis network, has announced the promotion of Zachery Meyer to chief executive officer. Prior to the promotion, Meyer served as vice president, overseeing operations and customer service.Meyer gained experience at two Fortune 500 companies while earning his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In 2007, he returned to the family business, beginning his official tenure with Rock River Laboratory as a soil sampler. Read more