New officers, directors at Wisconsin dairy group

The Wisconsin Dairy Products Association elected the following officers at its meeting July 8 to 9 in Door County, Wis.:

• President: Jeff Giffin, Masters Gallery Foods
• Vice President: John Breene, Dairy Farmers of America
• Treasurer: Dan Williamson, Kemps
• Secretary: Louise Hemstead, Organic Valley

In additions, six members were approved for three-year terms:

• Dave Robbins, Dean Foods
• Jeff Giffin, Masters Gallery Foods
• Chuck Loehr, Stockton Cheese
• Dan Zastoupil, Marathon Cheese
• Louise Hemstead, Organic Valley
• Todd Arp, Kraft Foods
• Glenn Linzmeier, A&B Process Systems
• Allan VerVoort, Ecolab
• Gus Jacoby, T.C. Jacoby

Sargento promotes two executives

Sargento Foods Inc., Plymouth, Wis., promoted Kristi Jankowski to executive vice president of Innovation and Karri Neils to executive vice president of Human Resources.
Jankowski will continue to lead the conception and implementation of innovation strategies and initiatives for Sargento Corporate, Consumer Products Division, Food Service Division and Food Ingredients Division. She had been senior vice president of Innovation.
Neils will maintain responsibility for managing employment, organization development, employee safety, training, benefits and education needs.

Fonterra adds managing director role

New Zealand-based Fonterra Cooperative Group this week announced the appointments of Lukas Paravicini as Chief Financial Officer and Jacqueline Chow as Managing Director Global Brands & Nutrition. Paravicini takes over the CFO position from Jonathan Mason who retires at the end of September.

Chow joined Fonterra from Arnott’s, where she was General Manager of Australia and New Zealand and led the growth of its $1 billion business. The MD Global Brands & Nutrition is a new role on the Fonterra management team.

Master cheesemaker leads Foremost Farms plant

Brian Jackson, Foremost Farms USA plant superintendent at Marshfield, Wis., has been named the manager of the Marshfield plant. Jackson replaces Dave Schmidt, who retired in July. Jackson is a certified Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker, earning certifications this year in Brick and Colby. He earned certifications as a master in Monterey Jack and Cheddar in 2010.

Turkey Hill president Frey retires

Quintin Frey retired as president of Turkey Hill Dairy, a position he held for 22 years. During his tenure, the Pennsylvania-based dairy processor (a unit of grocery chain Kroger) tripled in size and profitability and now sells products in 49 states, a dozen countries and three continents. Frey began his career at Turkey Hill Dairy in 1980 as a management trainee. He served in a variety of leadership roles before being promoted to serve as president in 1991.