Describe how your background and qualifications would help you be an effective leader of AMSA.

I have been with Tyson Foods for the last eighteen years in various roles within research and development and for the past five years, I have been part of the R&D optimization team. I have optimized products across the poultry and prepared businesses and production facilities and worked on the development of long-term innovation platforms. I have also helped manage and lead research and development efforts and have developed, organized and led several cost saving and continuous improvement initiatives across the organization. My problem-solving skills and the ability to be resilient that I have developed throughout my career in research and development will help me as a leader of AMSA to find solutions and suggest alternatives to each problem faced. I will also use the forward-thinking skills that I have gained in my years in the meat industry to not only recognize the current trends but also anticipate the future trends in the meat industry and understand how this will help shape the vision and strategies of the organization. My current position as a manager has given me a strong skill set in coaching, motivating and developing team members. I will also use this strong skill set as a leader of AMSA.

Having served on the first AMSA Student Board of Directors and leading the student organization as president the second year, I was able to be a part of the student organization from its infancy and it has been very exciting to see how the student membership and programs have grown and developed in the last twenty years. I plan to use that experience as well as the experience I have had with severing on several committees (chair of several Concurrent and Reciprocation sessions on the RMC Planning Committee, chair of the Abstract and Student Research Competition Committee, chair of the Quiz Bowl Committee, Achievement Award Selection Committee, and the Undergraduate Scholastic Achievement Award Committee) to help be an effective leader of AMSA.

What is your vision for AMSA in ten years?

My vision for AMSA in ten years is that the Meat the Future – Long Range Endowment Campaign had been fully funded for several years and the organization has been able to utilize and blossom from the benefits of this endowment campaign and serve both the professionals and students in the meat science community at a high level. I have been a leading contributor of the Tyson Foods Beyond Fresh Meats (BFM) short course sponsored by AMSA since its infancy in 2017. I was a primary designer of the BFM curriculum, have given lectures and labs and have also been part of the leadership team executing this event. In ten years, my vision is that AMSA will be able to develop and build even stronger programs in conjunction with their sustaining partners in order to provide education, outreach and professional development to both students and professionals similar to the vision of the Beyond Fresh Meats short course. I also see AMSA developing into becoming the one trusted scientific source for Meat Science information and looked to by other organizations and affiliations as the voice of technical knowledge. This will be more and more important as social media and influencers try to become even more of a voice of knowledge than what they are today. Lastly, AMSA has provided a sense of belonging to me in the meat industry ever since I joined as a student in 2000. I wasn’t introduced to the study of meat science until graduate school, and I soon became passionate about it. AMSA helped me meet and build a network of fellow meat scientists and those relationships have cultivated throughout my professional career as an AMSA member. I hope that AMSA will have the same impact on students and young professionals today as it did for me and that the networking and programs that AMSA will offer will help grow them in their careers in the meat industry the same way it has with mine.