ARLINGTON, VA. — During the Institute for Feed Education and Research’s (IFEEDER) annual Board of Trustees meeting on May 17, the institute announced the appointment of new leadership and trustees. According to IFEEDER, the appointments were made to help broaden awareness of its research and educational initiatives for the animal and pet food industries.

At its meeting, IFEEDER installed Mike Schuster, vice president of sales at Laidig Systems, Inc., to chair of the 2022-2023 fiscal year and to the institute’s Board of Trustees. John Metzger, senior director of global food industry engagement at Elanco Animal Health, will continue to serve as IFEEDER’s vice chair for the second consecutive year.

As well as Schuster, IFEEDER also installed three other new trustees: Gisele Santos-Bin, head of sales management animal nutrition at BASF; Scott Lovin, vice president of feed at AgState; and Paul Phillips, president of Maxi-Lift Inc. and Southwest Agri-Plastics, Inc.

IFEEDER recognized its previous Board Chair Scott Druker, Ph.D., and previous trustees Tim Belstra, president of Belstra Milling Company; and Mike Lueking, president of Cargill Protein Asia and Europe.

During the meeting, the institute also announced plans for its 2022-2023 fiscal year.

“As IFEEDER advances sustainability efforts to directly benefit the animal feed and pet food industry, it also serves the important purpose of being a trusted resource among stakeholders up and down the food supply chain who are making decisions that will impact the future of food production,” said Lara Moody, executive director of IFEEDER. “Increasing our presence and engagement with those throughout the food value chain will ensure we have a good pulse on what customers want, which informs our future research and education initiatives.”

Read more about personnel changes throughout the industry.