Rick brings over 35 years of food manufacturing leadership in plant and corporate settings to the Commercial Food Sanitation team. His extensive experience has been focused in food safety and quality management systems working within a full spectrum of dairy production facilities as well as confections and prepared food segments.
Key areas of emphasis have included environmental monitoring and remediation efforts, hygienic design, sanitation programs and quality/food safety management (SQF/FSMA) system development, auditing, execution, and training.
Over the course of his career with Schreiber Foods, Land O’Lakes, Dorman Cheese, UDSA, and the Wrigley companies, Rick has worked on multiple plant startups, renovations, acquisition, and commercialization projects necessitating customer, multi-functional, and international interface. He is passionate about working with customers and plants to assess challenges and develop lasting solutions or improvements regarding food safety and quality.
Rick holds a Bachelor’s degree in Dairy Manufacturing from the University of Vermont and a Master's degree in Food Science from the Ohio State University. He is a Certified Quality Auditor (CQA), Engineer (CQE), Manager (CQM), Green Belt, and a PCQI Lead Instructor. He has served as a subject matter expert for industry food safety training sessions and was recognized for these contributions by the Innovation Center for the US Dairy Industry.