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Ghingo Named Hormel President
Hormel Foods appointed John Ghingo as its new president. Former CEO Jeff Ettinger will serve as the interim chief executive until a new one is named in 2026.
AFIA Restructures
to Advance Industry
Leadership,
Grow Member
Engagement
The American Feed Industry Association is embarking on an organizational realignment that will enhance the impact, operational efficiency and stakeholder engagement of the association. Given the evolving needs of its 650 feed and pet food industry members, along with projected growth within the organization’s many educational programs, networking events and requests for expert analysis, the restructuring is aimed at enhancing how it serves members and stakeholders.
“One of AFIA’s greatest strengths over its century-long history is its ability to remain nimble and responsive as the feed and pet food industries’ needs evolve,” said Constance Cullman, AFIA president and CEO. “Today, we are embarking on an organizational realignment from a position of strength — firmly grounded in our ... promises to members and focused on where we see the greatest opportunities for growth in our services, products, events and policy impact.”
The realignment will create three AFIA departments for policy, member experience and operations, and strengthen the Institute for Feed Education and Research’s (IFEEDER) ability to advance animal food industry research and education needs. The AFIA policy department will focus staff expertise on proactively addressing regulatory, legislative and global policy issues and enhancing AFIA’s advocacy functions. The member experience department will enhance member value by ensuring
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brand and messaging consistency across all association events, communications and educational programming, creating a cohesive experience that connects directly to AFIA’s policy work and emerging issues impacting the industry.
The operations department will enhance the association’s internal processes and administrative tasks, align revenue generation with financial planning and create opportunities to support member growth, engagement and retention.
With these changes comes the promotion of two AFIA staff members, Leah Wilkinson and Victoria Broehm. Wilkinson, who has been with the association since 2010, will lead the policy department, assuming the title of chief policy officer. Broehm, who has been with the association since 2017, has been promoted to vice president of member experience and will head the member experience department. Sarah Novak, chief operating officer who has been with the association since 2007, will lead the operations department.
On May 22, the AFIA board of directors approved Andy Timmins, association treasurer and chief financial officer, along with Wilkinson, Broehm, Novak, and Cullman as AFIA staff officers. Lara Moody, IFEEDER’s executive director since 2021, will remain in this position and serve on the leadership team.
In the coming months, the association
will post three positions for an education manager, policy engagement manager and communications director. Given IFEEDER’s growing role as a content generator for reliable, trusted research and analysis on the animal food industry, the institute will add a second staff member — a senior manager of research.
More AFIA Staff Announcements
Gregory Conner has joined AFIA as senior manager of multilateral affairs and market access. In this position, he will play a key role in advancing the association’s global market access, trade policy and regulatory initiatives, along with communicating to policymakers about these initiatives, representing the AFIA in trade discussions and advocating for science-based regulations to reduce nontariff barriers.
Mallory Gaines has been promoted to director of global affairs and Ivy Torres to manager of global programs. Gaines has been with AFIA since 2019. In this new role, Gaines serves as the staff lead for AFIA’s global affairs committee and works to expand demand for U.S. animal food products both domestically and abroad. Torres has been with AFIA since 2023 as global programs specialist. R
People, Places and
Gregory Conner
Mallory Gaines
Ivy Torres
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