Responsible for the food safe, quality production and packaging of Yoplait yogurt products. Manage and direct the Food Safety and Quality team which consists of 5 direct reports and 10 indirect reports. Responsible for upholding all Federal and State Regulations along with the Interstate Milk Shippers to guarantee adherence to the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance. Maintain the standard of identity of products produced at the Reed City Plant. Ensured successful passing of customer audits, including FSSC 22000 and Kosher.Selected accomplishments:Reduced plant risk grid score from 142 to 112 in 2 years.Received a silver spoon award and a golden spoon award for work done on the Oui product.Currently leading domestic paper free traceability project to comply with upcoming Federal Regulatory changes and to improve the quality, speed and efficiency of mock traces.Drove problem solving regarding unsealed Oui jars.

Responsible for all aspects of quality for co-manufacturing and suppliers. Manage and direct Research and Development activities to ensure a full pipeline of products to align with the corporate branding strategy. Develop and implement all food safety, regulatory and industry compliance standards for food, dietary supplements and skin care. Responsible for guaranteeing food safety through the use of audits and site visits with co-manufacturers and suppliers. Author of all specifications for raw materials, finished goods, packaging and work in progress. Assist with the procurement and supplier scorecard. Identified and implemented legal and regulatory status for ingredient use in dietary supplements and novel foods for US, Canada, EU and Australia. Development of food and dietary supplement labels and ensuring regulatory compliance in all of the aforementioned countries..Selected accomplishments:-Authored specifications for all raw materials, finished goods, packaging and work in progress.-Coordinated and designed system to monitor all suppliers, developed risk-based ranking system for ingredients and suppliers. -Designed processes to monitor suppliers, ingredients and compliance in all areas of the product development life cycle.-Successful mitigation of Form 483 for FDA on Foreign Supplier Verification by designing and maintain program to demonstrate compliance.-Audited all domestic co-manufacturers, one Chinese co-manufacturer, one Chinese supplier and two domestic warehouses.-Managed Research and Development Manager to create three new products and re-formulate for brand proposition seven existing products.-Developed a roadmap to regulatory compliance for Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS), and New Dietary Ingredients (NDI), Canadian Natural Health Products and Novel Foods, European Union Novel Foods and Food Supplements and Australia’s Therapeutic Goods.

Manage and direct two salaried and twenty-one hourly employees in food safety, regulatory and industry compliance for SQF as a Quality Management System according to the Global Food Safety Initiative. Responsible for Plant Sanitation, Product Development and Product Quality. Responsible for driving quality through the organization by creating and enforcing policy standards. Make difficult decisions to balance corporate demands through upholding regulatory and industry standards for food manufacturing. Administrate supplier quality through the use of staff to determine acceptance/rejection criteria. Drive performance and motivation of personnel through teamwork, effective delegation of responsibilities, and relationship management. Food Safety Plan and Quality Plan developer and administrator.Selected accomplishments:-Successfully passed SQF (Safe Quality Food) Level 2 Audit with a 94% (Excellent Rating).-Successfully passed all customer audits, MDA (Michigan Department of Agriculture), USDA Organic regulatory certification/inspection, USDA and Kosher certification.-Developed Sanitation Program through the use of risk assessment to optimize the key points of sanitation throughout the plant. -Designed a risk-based approach to decision making to assist in making fact based decisions and help to prioritize work.-Managed $910K departmental budget, not including a capital expenditure budget of nearly $900K for quality improvements.-Improved yield on select products by 44-63% through process controls and reformulations.-Successfully developed and launched not from concentrate, aseptic bag in box 100% cherry juice.

Manage and direct two salaried and seven hourly employees in food safety, regulatory and industry compliance for SQF as a Quality Management System according to the Global Food Safety Initiative. Responsible for driving quality through the organization by enforcing standards and making difficult decisions to balance corporate demands through upholding regulatory and industry standards for food manufacturing. Administrate supplier quality through the use of staff to determine acceptance/rejection criteria. Drive performance and motivation of personnel through teamwork, effective delegation of responsibilities, and relationship management. Chosen as key person to develop new employees in the Quality Manager Role. HACCP and Quality plan developer and administrator.Selected accomplishments:-Successfully passed SQF (Safe Quality Food) Level 3 Audit with a 98% (Excellent Rating) on the first attempt.-Successfully passed all customer audits, MDA (Michigan Department of Agriculture), USDA Organic regulatory certification/inspection, non-GMO project verified certification and Kosher certification.-Developed Sanitation Program through the use of risk assessment to optimize the key points of sanitation throughout the plant.-Designed risk-based approach to decision making to assist in making fact based decisions and help to prioritize work.-Managed $3.4 million departmental budget, not including a capital expenditure budget of nearly $1 million for quality improvements.-Initiated a local advertising campaign for GoGoSqueez branding presence in the community to include signage at Cherry Capital Airport, Traverse City Beach Bums, Northern Express (a 4 week full page advertisement targeting the Traverse City Cherry Festival) and the YMCA.

Manage and direct eight to nine hourly workers in quality assurance. Responsible for the department’s reporting of results from testing work in progress to meet internal and external customer specifications. Responsibilities include environmental testing development, microbiological testing, Certificate of Analysis development and GMP audits. Responsible for departmental budget, development of employees and enforcing key company initiatives including the development and implementation of the HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) program and BRC (British Retail Consortium).Selected accomplishments:-Key driver in the development and implementation of the company’s HACCP program. Became certified as a HACCP Manager through the National Science Foundation (NSF). Also obtained certification as an Internal Audit Manager through NSF.-Driver of change in sanitation program. Assisted with the modification of current SSOPs (Sanitation Standardized Operating Procedures) to adopt best practice within the facility to increase food safety through sanitation.-Responsible for all environmental swabbing, including coordination with third party laboratories and an internal microbiological laboratory. Expanded environmental program to comply with GFSI standards. -Reworked the master sanitation schedules with frequencies based on risk assessment and HACCP plans.-Created training materials and work instructions for department and assisted with the development of other departmental work instructions, policies and procedures.

Manage and direct 30 hourly employees in material handling. Responsible for the timely delivery of products throughout the supply chain. Responsible for making all material available just in time to minimize machine downtime and reduce costs associated with expedited materials. Maintain proper stock levels. Write requisitions and review invoices to control departmental budget.Selected accomplishments:-Reduced departmental expenses associated with logistics between the facility and a satellite warehouse by 50%.-Increased service level for receiving of materials by ensuring materials received into facility were processed within two hours rather than two days.-Wrote, edited and implemented standardized work to use for training new employees.-Improved flow of material through the department by moving stock closer to the area in which it is processed.-Restored material to first in first out order between both warehouse sites to a 98% capacity.

Manage and direct 35-75 hourly union employees in day to day production activities. Responsible for determining cost savings for the entire operation. Participate in all Safety, Quality, Delivery and Cost initiatives plant-wide. Responsible for meeting all department objectives and execution of rules and regulations according to local and national union contracts. Responsible for the transformation and transition of the plant into lean manufacturing principles.Selected accomplishments:-Directed all 5-S initiatives for area assigned and provided support as needed to other areas and area supervision.-Wrote, edited, and implemented all standardized work for area assigned and used to train new employees.-Reduced recordable injuries in area of supervision from 10 incidents in one year to zero.-Conducted problem solving and kaizen activities to increase Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) by nearly 10%, to bring levels to world class. -Consistently ranked accomplished on all performance reviews.

Responsible for up to 60 hourly UAW employees. Assured timely delivery of product while maintaining a schedule. Optimized line productivity by ensuring proper head count. Ensured quality and inventory accuracy

Administered warranty for DaimlerChrysler vehicles. Worked in a world class customer service call center to ensure that customers were satisfied above 90% of time with the handling of their issues. Acted as a liaison for the dealer network and the customer. Suggestive sell products, such as service and accessories.