Baking & Snack - June 2005 - 10

NEWS FRONT
New WFC president sets agenda
he Wheat Foods Council came under new leadership April 1 when
Marcia Scheideman, a registered dietician with long and distinctive
cooperative extension experience, officially became president. With
her nationwide network of contacts in both industry and government,
her media savvy, teaching and training skills, and trade association involvement, Ms. Scheideman was solicited for the post by WFC members and
outside affiliates. "It was a good match
of job skills to job needs," she said in
an exclusive interview with Baking &
Snack at WFC offices in Parker, CO.
With the recent release of the new
food guidance system, entitled MyPyramid, and the formation last year of the
Grain Foods Foundation, Ridgway, CO,
Ms. Scheideman will have her hands
full of challenges and opportunities.
"Following the recent release of MyPyramid and several meetings I have
had with WFC members, we developed a plan of action to address the
needs of the grain industry as it responds to the new US Department
of Agriculture MyPyramid image. A media kit will be released at the
end of June that will demonstrate how grains serve as the foundation
for healthy eating as well as easy ways for families to make food choices
based on the dietary guidelines. The kit will provide the consumer
media with tips and information highlighting the nutritional benefits
of all grain-based foods.
"In addition, I will be working on a project that will help millers and bakers communicate the MyPyramid message to their

customers," she said. "This will include updating existing material that millers and bakers use with the new MyPyramid image
and related grain messages, and developing additional materials
that better meet their needs."
As a framework for action, WFC focuses heavily on educating the
media to be sure they have the complete, correct story. "We help them interpret and understand the issues and
regulations, and we have our work cut
out for us with MyPyramid."
In contrast, GFF is focused more
heavily on advertising and pushing
grain-based foods to the consumer
market, Ms. Scheideman noted. "While
WFC is supported by growers and producers, GFF is supported mainly by
bakers. WFC has a long history, a broad
scope and, compared with GFF, a small
budget. We are membership funded,
and funding is voluntary. We are very excited about the prospects and
will collaborate with GFF whenever possible. We and the industry will
have the best of both worlds."
Other mandates of WFC include funding university research.
Ms. Scheideman's mission is to identify research-based opportunities and existing research that support healthy eating and grain
involvement. "This provides additional credentials to promote unbiased opinion," she stated. Collaboration with individual baking
companies, millers and producers on special projects, funding and
programs will continue.

Stacey Sharpless named B&CMA president
The Biscuit and Cracker Manufacturers' Association, Silver Springs,
MD, has appointed Stacey Sharpless as its next president. Ms. Sharpless pledged to refocus the association's attention to its primary
mission of industry education and networking among
its members.
She said that currently, the association needs to put a new
emphasis on customer service, bring in new faces and reconnect with the current baker and allied membership."From my
perspective there are so many new people in the industry who
do not come from a cookie cutter background. These people
do not know enough about our organization and would benefit a great deal from our technical training programs and the
networking systems we have in place," she said.
As part of an initiative to bring in new individuals, Ms. Sharpless
announced a steep cut in Technical Conference registration fees for

12 / BAKING & SNACK / June 2005

first-time attendees and current correspondence course student attendees. Course students and first-time attendees will pay a $200
Baker registration or a $225 Allied registration for the full conference, half off the regular early conference registration
rates. Ms. Sharpless served as the B&CMA director of
education for the past eight years. During that time, she
led the educational objectives of the association and was
responsible for developing the educational content and
trade show for the Annual Technical Conference. She
holds a B.A. in public communication from The American University, Washington, DC.
B&CMA's 2005 officers are Kevin Hunt, chairman,
Bremner, Inc., Stacey S. Sharpless, president, Kevin Boyle, first vice
chairman, Schulze & Burch Biscuit Co., Setphen H. Goulding, treasurer, Oak State Products, and M. Kathleen Kinter, secretary.

Baking & Snack - June 2005

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