American Meat Institute Elects 6 Officers

CHICAGOThe American Meat Institute (AMI) has elected the six officers to guide the organization through 2014.

Elected to the chairmanship for 2013-14 is Greg Benedict, president and COO of American Foods Group LLC. David McDonald, president of OSI Group LLC, has been elected to serve as the vice-chair. Gary Jacobson, COO of Indiana Packers Corporation, will serve as treasurer. Mike Townsley, president of Bob Evans Farms Food products division, is a new incoming officer and will serve as secretary.

J. Patrick Boyle was re-elected by the AMI membership to serve as the Institutes president and CEO through January 2014. He announced his decision to step down earlier this year, after 24 years of service in the meat and poultry industry. Current AMI Executive Vice President James Hodges was elected to serve as interim president and CEO starting Feb. 1, 2014.

Four new directors were elected to the Board of Directors, each to serve a 3-year term:

Lilygren, Nogueira and Rovit will also join the Executive Committee along with Einar Einarsson, Marel, Inc.; Bill Morgan, Johnsonville Sausage, LLC; and Ed Sanchez, Lopez Foods, Inc.

AMI began discussing a possible merger with North American Meat Association earlier this year. The next steps will be discussed in the next several months and will explore to see how the possible new organization would best serve its members.