Patrick Criteser is named the 8th CEO of Tillamook co-op
Tillamook County Creamery Association, Tillamook, Ore., named Patrick Criteser as the Association’s new president and CEO. Criteser, who will be the 103-year-old dairy cooperative’s eighth chief executive, will officially assume the role of CEO on August 20, 2012. He succeeds Harold Strunk, who retired in June. Mark Wustenberg, the co-op's VP of Quality & Membership Services, had been serving as the acting CEO.
Criteser is a native Oregonian with a passion for and understanding of what it takes to run a manufacturing company with Northwest roots and a strong local heritage, according to the company's press release. He has spent the past eight years in the coffee industry, most recently as president and CEO at Coffee Bean International, a Portland, Ore.-based coffee roaster with a 40-year-old local heritage. While at Coffee Bean International, he grew sales more than 300%, establishing the company as one of the leading specialty coffee roasters in the U.S.