Meat + Poultry - April 2006 - 67

Names in the News
ConAgra Foods, Omaha, announced
Al Bolles has joined the company as
executive vice president of research and
development and quality. In this role,
he will oversee the company's product
quality and development function, including the Centers of Excellence, enterprise quality and product development.
Bolles most recently was head of
worldwide research and development
for PepsiCo Beverages and Foods. His
accomplishments include expanding
technical lab capabilities, developing health and wellness and international expansion platforms for growth,
and enhancing PepsiCo brand equity
through technical innovation.

in 1991. John Gerber will be interim
head cattle buyer.
In another management move, Brent
Altwasser, head of Tyson's Lakeside
operation in Alberta, is leaving the
company in April to pursue other business interests.

Pilgrim's Pride Corp., Pittsburg,
Texas, has appointed Gary Rhodes as
vice president of corporate communications. Rhodes has more than 20
years of experience in corporate communications and financial journalism.
He most recently served as director of corporate communications for
The Kroger Co., Cincinnati. During
his seven years at Kroger, he was responsible for national media relations,
executive and financial communications, issues management, labor communications and much of Kroger's
employee communications.

Jim Falbo is the new director of production for Devault Foods, Devault,
Pa. He oversees all production aspects
including production output, downtime, product yield and budgets.

Ben Higgins, vice president of the
California Cattlemen's Association, has
been appointed California's director of
rural development for the U.S. Dept.
of Agriculture. He will supervise 130
employees in 25 offices across California. Last year, the agency made $344
million in rural development grants,
loans and technical assistance in California. Higgins was C.C.A.'s director
of public affairs before he began overseeing the association.
Bruce Bass, vice president of cattle
procurement at Tyson Foods, Inc.,
Springdale, Ark., retired after 35 years
with the company and its predecessor IBP. Bass joined IBP in 1970 and
eventually became a cattle buyer. He
became procurement vice president

Brad Patrick has been appointed as
the senior vice president of human resources for Sara Lee Food & Beverage, the North American retail food division of Sara Lee Corp., Chicago. He
oversees organizational and employee
development, compensation and benefits, labor relations, recruiting, and
food and beverage operation.

Ellen Gibson has been named the executive director of new products initiatives for the Cattlemen's Beef Board
and National Cattlemen's Beef Association. A consumer products marketing professional with 15 years of marketing experience, she will be based in
the association's Denver office. Gibson
will lead the charge to fine-tune the
new product development capabilities
of the N.C.B.A. and will start with instituting a stage-gate process approach
to new product development and creating a long-range plan for the team.
Most recently, Gibson served as director of corporate marketing and seasoned meats and then director of marketing, new product development with
Swift & Co.
Jeff Rumachik has
been named executive director of Food
Marketing
Institute's
Wholesaler
Division. He replaces Jack Block, who
Rumachik
retired from F.M.I. at
the end of 2005. Rumachik provides
overall direction for F.M.I.'s whole-

saler member segment and manages
all aspects of the Wholesaler Advisory Board and its committees. His
responsibilities include developing
and implementing wholesaler member
retention and recruitment, facilitating
member-to-member networking opportunities, and identifying and communicating key issues and trends of
importance to wholesalers. Rumachik,
who has been with F.M.I. since 1991,
continues to serve as group director of
field services, which he has led since
March 2000.
Smithfield Foods, Inc., Smithfield,
Va., has been named to the FTSE
Group's FTSE4Good Global Index
Series, which is limited to companies
demonstrating globally recognized
corporate responsibility standards.
The FTSE Group, owned by The Financial Times and the London Stock
Exchange, is the award-winning global
index company that creates and manages international indexes and associated data services. In 2005, it launched
the FTSE4Good index series, which
provides responsible investors and asset managers with a socially responsible investment benchmark.
Wravenna Phipps
of Kearney, Neb., and
Zeb Gray of Toledo,
Iowa, were recently awarded Colvin
Scholarships from
Certified
Angus
Phipps
Beef LLC. Phipps is
a junior at Oklahoma
State Univ. majoring
in agricultural communications. She was
a trainee at the Tyson/
IBP processing plant
Gray
where she was involved in tagging carcasses and recording data for U.S.D.A. graders. Gray is
a junior at Iowa State Univ. majoring
in animal science and economics. Currently, Gray is 50 percent owner and
manager of 100 purebred Angus cows
for Gray's Angus in Toledo, Iowa.

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April 2006

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Meat + Poultry - April 2006

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