Poultry Leadership Roundtable participants

Nine executives participated in a wide-ranging discussion on food safety and the poultry industry. The roundtable, held in Atlanta Jan. 25, was sponsored by Pfizer Poultry Health and WATT.

Carl Blackham, managing director in Harris Bank’s Food & Consumer Group
Carl Blackham, managing director in Harris Bank’s Food & Consumer Group

The entire roundtable discussion, sponsored by Pfizer Animal Health and WATT, is available as a series of podcasts.

Carl Blackham  is managing director of Harris Bank’s Food & Consumer Group in Chicago, where he oversees corporate client relationships within the meat protein sector. He also serves as the bank's representative to key industry trade associations. Prior to joining Harris Bank, Blackham spent 13 years with Bank of America where he maintained relationships with clients in the food and commodity sectors, as well as the textiles and electric utilities industry. Blackham earned a Master of Business Administration from Brigham Young University and a Bachelor of Arts in finance from Utah State University.

Mike Blair  is senior director of nutritional services at Pilgrim’s. Dr. Blair has been with Pilgrim's since March 2008. Previously, he was with Adisseo for nine years, Degussa for eight years and Central Soya for four years. Blair received his Bachelor of Science in animal sciences from Purdue University and his Master of Science and doctorate in poultry nutrition from Virginia Tech.

Brian Coan  is purchasing manager, supply chain, Chick-fil-A Inc., based in Atlanta. In his role he leads Chick-fil-A’s food purchasing team responsible for purchasing all the food products for the chain’s 1,500 restaurants. Coan joined Chick-fil-A in 2006. Prior to joining Chick-fil-A, he spent 12 years in the poultry industry holding management positions in distribution and sales with Cagle’s, Columbia Farms and Gold Kist. Coan received undergraduate degrees from Young Harris College and the University of South Carolina and a master’s degree from the University of Georgia. 

William Lovette  joined Pilgrim’s as president and CEO Jan. 3. He previously served two years as president and chief operating officer of Case Foods Inc. Before joining Case, Lovette spent 25 years with Tyson Foods in various roles in senior management, including president of its international business unit, president of its foodservice business unit and senior group vice president of poultry and prepared foods. Lovette earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A&M University. In addition, he is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.

Todd McAloon  is vice president of technical services, global poultry, at Cargill Inc. He joined Cargill in 1987 in the beef processing industry and held various roles related to establishing and managing testing laboratories in the U.S. meat processing system. He has held a variety of food safety roles at Cargill and in 2008 took his present position where he oversees efforts in multiple businesses and processing plants around the world. McAloon has a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degree in food microbiology from South Dakota State University.

Scott M. Russell, Ph.D., is professor, Poultry Science Department, University of Georgia. Dr. Russell's research activities have been primarily directed toward intervention strategies for reducing pathogenic and spoilage bacteria from poultry processing operations and developing rapid microbiological methods for identifying and enumerating spoilage, indicator and pathogenic bacteria from fresh and cooked poultry products. Dr. Russell works closely with the poultry industry throughout the U.S. and Canada, and with countries in Central and South America, Europe and China.

Jon Schaeffer, director of veterinary services for Pfizer Animal Health in the U.S. and Canada, leads a multi-faceted veterinary support team in providing flock health and management solutions to broiler, layer and turkey customers. He is also responsible for Phase IV field trials, technical support for Pfizer portfolio, identifying new product candidates and developing marketing strategies. He holds a Bachelor of Science in zoology from North Carolina State University, a D.V.M. from Auburn University and a doctorate in toxicology from Auburn University.

Bruce Stewart-Brown, DVM, DACPV, is senior vice president for food safety and quality for Perdue Farms. Dr. Stewart-Brown worked for several animal health products companies after receiving his veterinary degree from the University of Iowa in 1985. He joined Perdue Farms in 1998 as director of health services. In 2002, he was promoted to the position of vice president of food safety and quality. Dr. Stewart-Brown is a past president of American Association of Avian Pathologists.

Chris Williams  serves as director of technical services for Pfizer Animal Health. He was employed with Embrex Inc. from 1988 to 2007 and has continued with the company through its transformation to Pfizer Poultry Health. In his role, Dr. Williams provides technical support for the U.S. and Canada. He received Master of Science and doctorate degrees in avian physiology from North Carolina State University, as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in poultry science.

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