Hall of Fame honors for Sargento’s founder; DMI, Bai Brands make executive appointments

In recent dairy industry news, Barb O’Brien is named president of DMI; Marathon Cheese’s Zastoupil elected president of Wisconsin dairy group.

Dairy Management Inc. names O’Brien president

Dairy Management Inc., Rosemont, Ill., promoted Barb O’Brien to the newly created position of president. In this role, O’Brien will oversee the strategic planning and operations for DMI, which manages the national dairy checkoff.

O’Brien, a 15-year veteran of DMI, will remain as president of the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, an entity she helped design and build eight years ago that advances collaboration among more than 450 companies and 1,000 farmers and others from across the dairy community to help guide the industry’s future.

“Barb has a proven track record in developing strategy and building partnerships with and through the industry to position U.S. dairy farmers and the broader dairy community for success,” DMI CEO Tom Gallagher said.

Former Nestlé Executive Pengue is Chief Strategy Officer of Bai Brands

Beverage company Bai Brands, Hamilton, N.J., hired Michael J. Pengue to be its first Chief Strategy Officer. Bai’s brands are Bai, Bai Bubbles and Antiwater. Pengue had been president of Nestlé Waters business units.

Sargento Foods’ founder elected to NFRA hall of fame

The National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association, Harrisburg, Pa., elected the late Leonard Gentine, founder of Sargento Foods, to its Refrigerated Food Hall of Fame. Gentine opened the Plymouth Cheese Counter in 1949 as a deli and mail order gift cheese business. At a time when retail stores only sold cheese in bulk packages, Gentine’s store offered smaller-sized packages to consumers.

In 1953, Gentine partnered with Plymouth cheesemaker Joseph Sartori and the two launched Sargento Cheese Company. The name came from a clever combination of their surnames and the “o” was added to give the name an Italian sound, since the company focused on selling Italian-style cheese products. Marketing and merchandising innovations established by Sargento under Gentine’s leadership include the peg-bar display system that shows packaged cheese at eye-level and press-to-close packaging on re-sealable packages.

Gentine passed away in 1996. His sons continue to work for Sargento; Louis P. Gentine is chairman of the board of Sargento Foods Inc. and Lawrence J. Gentine and Lee M. Gentine serve on the board of directors. Grandson Louie Gentine is CEO.

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held Oct. 24 during the National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Convention in Washington, D.C.

Wisconsin Dairy Products Association elects officers for 2017

Members of the Wisconsin Dairy Products Association, Madison, elected Dan Zastoupil of Marathon Cheese president for 2017. Other officers are:

Bob Walker (Prairie Farms), Vice President
Trevor Wuethrich (Grassland Dairy Products), Treasurer
Dirk Tachick (Foremost Farms USA), Secretary

They were elected at the association’s 2016 Dairy Symposium held earlier this month in Door County, Wis.

In additions, the following members were approved for three-year terms: Dave Robbins (Dean Foods), Rachel Thompson (Kraft Foods), Jeff Giffin (Masters Gallery Foods), John Scott (Stockton Cheese), Greg Scheer (T.C. Jacoby), Dan Zastoupil (Marathon Cheese), Louise Hemstead (Organic Valley), Jerry Lippert (Nelson-Jameson) and Dan Saeger ( Ecolab).

Northeast Dairy Association awards $15k to college students

The Northeast Dairy Association, Inc., Syracuse, N.Y., award $15,000 in scholarships to 10 college students who are affiliated with members of the dairy products vendor and supplier group. The association selected students majoring in dairy subjects and other areas of study. Recipients are:

Students Majoring in Dairy Product Food Science and Related Category

Remy Babbush, Merrick, N.Y., Cornell University, Food Science Major
Xiaogiong Cao, Amherst, Mass., University of Massachusetts Amherst, Food Science Major
Jenna Fryer, North Syracuse, N.Y., Ohio State University, Food Science Major
Cansu Gumus, Amherst, N.Y., University of Massachusetts Amherst, Food Science Major
Christopher Sweeney, Appleton, N.Y., Cornell University, Food Science Major

Students Majoring in Other Areas of Study

August Arms, Shelburne, Vt., University of Colorado Boulder, Environmental Sciences
Brittany Morrissey, Brewster, N.Y., CUNY Lehman College, Speech Pathology
Lauren Orsillo, Woburn, Mass., Merrimack College, Sports Medicine
Myranda Anne Steingraeber, Howes Cave, N.Y., University of Rochester
Kelsey Young, Sayre, Pa., Lock Haven University