Sargento Foods, Plymouth, Wis., announced new leadership roles for Chris Regennitter and Joy Judski. Regennitter assumed the role of senior vice president of sales, Consumer Products Division, and Judski took on the position of vice president of sales. 

In his new role, Regennitter leads the sales organization, inclusive of category management, retail execution and sales planning, with a primary goal of driving long-term stakeholder value for the Sargento Family. He brings over 20 years of experience in sales and business leadership to his new position, most recently serving as vice president of sales for Sargento Foods, the company said.

In her new role, Judski leads the geographic retail sales force across the United States and customer partnerships for the club channel, c-store, drug and international businesses, the company said. She most recently served as senior director of sales for Sargento.

Danone North America, headquartered in White Plains, N.Y., and Broomfield, Colo., said it continues to show its commitment to furthering research, science and education in the field of the gut microbiome, yogurt and probiotics through its fellowship grant program. The 2021-2022 program marks 10 years and half a million dollars' worth of grants awarded to empower creative minds and nurture scientific advances. This year's esteemed honorees, selected by a committee of scientific experts, are Elena Kozlova at University of California, Riverside and Yannis Ntekas at Cornell University.

The Danone North America fellowship grant program was established in 2010 with the intention of providing funding for novel studies of yogurt, probiotics and the gut microbiome, the company said. As such, Ntekas's research will implement a novel RNA sequencing technology to study how probiotics colonize in the gut and how specific strains affect human health and well-being. Kozlova, meanwhile, will study how the maternal gut microbiome impacts the social behavior of offspring.

Winners were chosen based on the quality of their proposals, faculty recommendations and each of their studies' value to human health and wellness, Danone North America said.

Providence, R.I.-based United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI), the largest publicly traded grocery wholesaler and distributor in the United States, said it doubled the size of its American Artisan Cheese and Specialty Program. Launched in 2020 to give customers access to unique craft cheeses sourced from all over the nation, the program has been met with such enthusiasm that UNFI expanded it to a second warehouse to serve customers in the Pacific Northwest.

Milkadamia, the Chicago-based brand behind macadamia nut oil products, said it added to its executive roster. Brett Sardo is the new executive vice president, international and foodservice, while Alix Simmons is the new executive vice president, national sales.

With two decades of experience in the food and beverage space, Sardo brings a wealth of expertise in both the domestic and international retail and foodservice markets to the brand as Milkadamia ramps up its expansion into Canada, the U.K., the European Union and beyond, the brand said. Simmons, meanwhile, comes to the brand with significant experience in both the consumer packaged goods and retail buying space. She will lead Milkadamia’s North American retail sales efforts, where her focus will be on expanding the penetration of the company’s macadamia nut “milks,” creamers, buttery spreads, oils and sprays on retail shelves across the country.

The American Dairy Products Institute (ADPI), which represents the dairy ingredients industry, announced the launch of a new and improved website at www.adpi.org. The site features a streamlined contemporary design compatible with all mobile devices. The refreshed look and feel is accompanied by changes to the navigation structure and page layout, giving visitors the opportunity to search for dairy ingredient information and standards while also viewing the organization’s full scope of services and benefits to ADPI’s member companies.

The website will continue to evolve with unique member-only content and features in the coming months, Elmhurst, Ill.-based ADPI said.

Cincinnati-headquartered ProAmpac, a specialist in flexible packaging and material science, said the Paper Shipping Sack Manufacturers’ Association recognized the company for the second consecutive year for safety excellence. Two ProAmpac facilities were recognized with the Best Annual Safety Experience award, which recognizes facilities with the lowest total recordable incidence rate in each annual manhour category. Those facilities include ProAmpac’s White House, Tenn., facility (zero incidents for plants in the 150,000 to 230,000 manhours category) and ProAmpac’s Rosemount, Minn., facility (zero incidents for plants with less than 150,000 manhours category.

Aligned with its ambition to shape the future of food, Givaudan, Vernier, Switzerland, announced the development of Customer Foresight aimed to help customers co-create winning food solutions. This platform will leverage big data, artificial intelligence technology and Givaudan’s expertise to co-create food experiences with customers and meet the ever-changing needs of consumers. Givaudan said the Customer Foresight platform is currently being piloted in two test markets ahead of its launch in 2023.

Slate River Systems Inc. (SRSI) and Dematic said they signed an integrator relationship agreement. Irving Texas-headquartered SRSI will now be a certified integrator of all Dematic equipment. Dematic, based in Atlanta, designs, builds and supports intelligent automated solutions “empowering and sustaining the future of commerce” for its customers in manufacturing, warehousing and distribution.

Spartech, a manufacturer of engineered thermoplastics and custom packaging solutions, announced that Marshall Scott has joined Spartech as chief financial officer. Scott originally joined Spartech in 2011 as senior financial analyst for the Color and Specialty Compounds Division. After PolyOne acquired Spartech in 2012, he served as senior finance manager before joining Paric Corp. as director of financial planning and analysis. He took on increasing responsibilities at that company over the past five years and most recently served as chief financial officer, overseeing all accounting, financial and compliance functions, St. Louis-based Spartech said.

SKF, Lansdale, Pa., and Seattle-based Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com Inc. company, announced a collaboration to enhance the field of industrial machine reliability and predictive maintenance with a joint solution. The engagement will deliver an easy-to-use and easy-to-scale condition-monitoring and analysis solution, making the ability to collect and analyze data using machine learning technologies available to a broader range of applications and customers.

SKF said it will combine its knowledge of rotating machinery and predictive maintenance with AWS's industrial artificial intelligence (AI) services that bring industrial expertise, AI and machine learning technologies together. The product uses sensors, gateways and a machine-learning service that is easy to install, commission and scale. SKF and AWS will also collaborate on the next generation of SKF's data analysis platform.

Ciranda, a Hudson, Wis.-based supplier of certified organic, non‐GMO and fair‐trade food ingredients, welcomed Don Trouba as director, go-to-market — a newly created role for the organization connected to its long-term strategy. Trouba will oversee Ciranda’s marketing, product innovation and sustainability teams, the company said.

Trouba brings considerable experience to Ciranda. In his most recent role at Ardent Mills, he led go-to-market efforts for the company’s specialty products division, with responsibility for marketing and sales of its ancient grains, heirloom wheats and product innovations, Ciranda said.