Leadership

Barry Bradford grew up on a beef seedstock operation in southwest Iowa. As an undergraduate at Iowa State University, he had an opportunity to learn about dairy nutrition in the laboratory of Don Beitz, and he was hooked. After completing BS degrees in animal science and agricultural biochemistry (2002), he went on to earn a PhD in dairy nutrition at Michigan State University under the guidance of Michael Allen. Bradford joined the faculty at Kansas State University in 2006 with a 40% teaching 60% research appointment and has subsequently been promoted through the ranks to full professor.

Bradford’s research focuses on dairy cattle nutrition and metabolic physiology, with a particular emphasis on attempting to translate novel findings in fundamental metabolic physiology to practical applications in animal agriculture. Contributions by Bradford’s group have largely focused on dietary utilization of by products in lactation diets, the physiological effects of systemic postpartum inflammation, and the roles of nutrients as signals. Working closely with 14 graduate students and dozens of collaborators, Bradford has contributed to more than 60 refereed publications and shared those findings in more than 65 invited presentations in 10 countries. The work by his research team has been recognized with several research awards from the American Dairy Science Association, and Bradford was awarded a 2014–2015 Fulbright Senior Scholar Award for his sabbatical research at the Australian Animal Health Laboratory.

Bradford teaches more than 170 students annually in courses that include Fundamentals of Nutrition, Physiology of Lactation, and Dairy Cattle Nutrition. His innovative approaches to teaching have been recognized with a Kansas State University Presidential Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 2014 and the 2016 Midwest Section ADSA/ASAS Outstanding Teaching Award. He also contributes by advising the KSU Dairy Science Club and by providing mentoring for undergraduate research projects. Bradford has served ADSA in a number of capacities, including service on the Midwest Section Ruminant Nutrition Program Committee (2007–2010), the JAM Teaching Program Committee (2012–2014), the Production Division Council (2012 2015), and the JAM Overall Program Committee (2013–2016). He is currently serving a second three year term on the editorial board of the Journal of Dairy Science and is on the advisory board for the Discover Conferences. Bradford looks forward to serving as a director for ADSA and hopes to receive honest and frank input from many members, with the goal of investigating new ways for ADSA to add value for its membership while maintaining its position as the home of the strongest dairy research globally.

Jim Quigley is manager of Calf Research and Technical Support at Cargill Inc. He received his BS and MS degrees from the University of New Hampshire in 1979 and 1983, respectively, and his PhD from Virginia Tech in 1985. His current responsibilities are to develop and support calf and heifer nutrition and management programs for Cargill customers globally. In this position, Quigley travels extensively to train calf specialists, veterinarians and nutritionists to implement feeding, management and health programs for young calves and growing heifers. He has developed, in conjunction with Cargill colleagues, growth simulation models to accurately predict growth of calves from birth to calving. These models are being implemented globally to help farmers improve on farm management and improve profitability of the heifer enterprise.

Prior to joining Cargill Animal Nutrition, Quigley held research (1998–2004) and management positions (2008–2012) with APC Inc., in Ankeny, Iowa. He was also vice president for Worldwide Research with Diamond V Mills (2004–2007) and served as assistant and associate professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, from 1988 to 1998.

Quigley’s research centers on nutrition and management of young calves and heifers. He has authored 88 refereed journal articles, 115 abstracts, 3 book chapters, and numerous proceedings articles for conferences worldwide. Quigley is coauthor on two patents. While at the University of Tennessee, he advised 13 graduate students, and he served on several graduate committees while serving as an adjunct faculty member at Iowa State University from 1999 to 2012. Quigley is also a popular speaker and has presented seminars at conferences and symposia worldwide.

Quigley received the T. J. Whatley Distinguished Young Scientist Award from the University of Tennessee in 1994, the Gamma Sigma Delta Research Award of Merit at the University of Tennessee in 1996, and the 1999 ADSA Merial Dairy Management Award and was selected as a Diplomate, American College of Animal Nutrition, American Registry of Animal Sciences in 2011.

Quigley’s research has focused on the growth, development, and health of young calves and heifers. He has contributed extensively to the development and availability of safe and efficacious alternatives to maternal colostrum, the understanding of rumen and digestive development in young dairy calves, and feeding programs for calves and heifers to optimize growth and body composition. Throughout his career, Quigley has focused on solving practical problems faced by dairy producers and on the idea that healthy calves that are fed and managed properly will become productive cows and ensure the future of the dairy industry.

Quigley has also provided technical information to government agencies, including the USDA Center for Veterinary Biologics and the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine, members of Congress and advisors to the president He has contributed technical information to agencies in the governments of Argentina, Brazil, Denmark and the United Kingdom on topics related to calf and heifer management and welfare.

He has been a member of ADSA since 1981 and has served the association in a number of capacities, including chair of the ADSA Microcomputer Subcommittee (1990) ADSA Management Committee (1991–1994) editorial board of the Journal of Dairy Science (1992–1996) vice chair (1993) and chair (1994) of the ADSA Informal Calf Conference; ADSA representative (1992–1996) and chair (1996) of the Bovine Alliance on Management and Nutrition director, Southern Branch, ADSA (1996–1997); secretary treasurer (1999), vice president (2000), president (2001) and past president (2002) of the Midwest Branch, ADSA and member of the ADSA Production Division Council (1999–2001).

In addition to his professional activities, Quigley is an accomplished athlete and has competed in 27 marathons and two half-ironman triathlons.

Marina (Nina) A. G. von Keyserlingk is a professor and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Chair in Animal Welfare in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems, at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada. After growing up on a beef cattle ranch in central British Columbia, she completed her BSc at UBC in 1987, her MSc in animal science at the University of Alberta in 1989, and her PhD in 1995 in animal sciences at UBC. She then left academia and worked in agribusiness for 7 years before returning to academia in 2002, when she was appointed as an assistant professor in the Animal Welfare Program at UBC. She was promoted to associate professor in 2006 and achieved the highest rank of professor in 2010.

Together with her graduate students and colleagues, Nina von Keyserlingk has published over 200 refereed scientific journal publications, more than 100 of these within the last 5 years. As an indicator of her reputation, she has published 8 invited reviews in the Journal of Dairy Science, of which 5 were published in the last 5 years. She is recognized as an outstanding teacher and received the prestigious Killam Teaching Award from UBC in 2008. Her undergraduate course offerings include the popular third year course Animals and Society.

Nina gives, on average, 25 invited presentations every year. She travels in excess of 100,000 miles every year, speaking at events attended by university academics and dairy industry professionals both nationally and internationally. Nina is a frequent invited speaker at meetings attended by farmers and the public in North, South, and Central America, Europe, and Asia. In addition to the accepted invitations, she is forced to decline 15 to 20 invitations per year due to time constraints.

The field of animal welfare has become a topic discussed in academic circles, at industry meetings, and in the public arena. This increased awareness has led to a strong interest by the media for information on animal welfare. von Keyserlingk is frequently interviewed, quoted, and consulted for information on the topic of animal welfare. The work completed in her lab has been summarized in print publications such as the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and The Economist, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) outlets, and in numerous online publications such as Psychology Today and Scientific American.

Other evidence of Nina’s recognition includes invitations to serve on the committees of a number of national and international organizations. She was a council member of the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) for eight years, including three years on the Board as vice chair, chair, and past chair, in 2010, 2011, and 2012, respectively. Beginning in 2009, Nina joined the Animal Care Committee of the Federation of Animal Science Societies (now FASS Inc.) and is currently one of the ADSA representatives on the technical writing committee revising the Ag Guide, which governs the use of agricultural animals in research. She also sits on the National Milk Producers Federation (Arlington, VA; 2011) technical writing committee as a scientific advisor to aid in review of the F.A.R.M. program, which was initially completed in 2013, reviewed again in 2015–2016, and published January 1, 2017; she has just been reappointed for the next revision. Since 2011, she has been on the Animal Welfare Advisory Council of Dean Foods Inc. (Dallas TX), the largest fluid milk processor in the United States, where she has played a key role in the development and writing of Dean Food’s Dairy Well Animal Welfare Audit, published in 2017.

In 2016, Nina was the co-recipient of the award for outstanding contributions to the field of ruminant well-being (given by the World Buiatrics Association, Dublin, Ireland). She also received the Award for Excellence in Dairy Science from ADSA in 2013 (award sponsored by Elanco Animal Health); the Metacam 20 Award (co-recipient) for outstanding contributions to the field of cattle welfare (award sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim, Canada); and the Canadian Animal Industries Award in Extension and Public Service in 2012, awarded by the Canadian Society of Animal Science.

Brandon Nelson is the director of innovation and technical services at Daisy Brand in Dallas, Texas. In 1999 he received a BS in nutrition and food science from Utah State University. Later, he received MS and PhD degrees in food science from Cornell University (2002 and 2005). Nelson was a research scientist at Schreiber Foods in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for two years before joining Daisy Brand in 2007. While at Daisy, he has assembled a research team with expertise in microbiology, sensory science, rheology, analytical chemistry, and dairy processing to conduct sound research used to develop and improve fermented dairy products.

Nelson’s interests in agriculture and food processing originate from growing up on a small farm in rural Idaho and working in milk processing facilities at a young age. These experiences shaped his perspective on the role of agriculture in teaching science and technology to students and demonstrating greater potential to influence innovation more broadly. He had a unique opportunity to be a lecturer at Cornell University between his degrees and taught Dairy Foods Processing, assisted in extension activities, and taught short courses. As often as time permits, he teaches guest lectures in elementary, high schools, and university classes. He has seen the improvements in knowledge retention when using food, dairy foods in particular, to teach students about basic subjects of biology, chemistry, and physics.

Nelson has served on award and competition committees and as Dairy Foods Division member-at-large, reviewed manuscripts for the Journal of Dairy Science, and chaired and represented ADSA on the FASS Science Policy Committee. In his 16 years of membership, he has been the beneficiary of the Journal of Dairy Science and participating in annual meetings. Beyond these benefits Nelson sees the great opportunity for ADSA and the expert members represented to have greater influence in advocacy for dairy research and agriculture in general.

Trish Dawson is a senior scientist with Chr. Hansen Inc. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1981 she received her BS in microbiology (Honours Class 1) from The University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia. She received her MAppSci in food microbiology at UNSW in 1994 with a focus on microbial fermentation and food safety.

Dawson’s research interests have spanned the fields of marine biofilm formation, microbial nitrogen fixation, bio-fermentation processes, and methods development for the isolation and characterization of microorganisms. She has specifically worked with dairy starter cultures and their applications for more than 20 years in Australia and North America. Dawson currently works with applied microbiology and enzymology as it pertains to the production and development of cheese. Throughout her career she has developed and taught courses in microbiology for nursing, agriculture, science, medical, pharmaceutical, and dairy students. She is regularly a guest lecturer for extension courses and professional dairy meetings and strongly supports teaching and sharing of knowledge.

Dawson has served as a member of the Australian Society for Microbiology and on the committee for the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology. She has been a member of ADSA for four years and is currently the chair for the Dairy Foods Division. She sees ADSA as the leading professional organization to influence superior dairy research and application worldwide with a spectrum that bridges production and dairy foods. Dawson is strongly committed to supporting the domestic and global growth of ADSA.

Beth Panko Briczinski is vice president of dairy foods and nutrition at the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), a trade association that develops and carries out policies that advance the well-being of dairy producers and their member-owned cooperatives.

She received her BS (1998), MS (2001), and PhD (2007) degrees in food science from The Pennsylvania State University. Beth’s passion for the dairy industry began while conducting her graduate research in the laboratory of Dr. Bob Roberts, focusing on dairy microbiology, specifically the physiology and characterization of lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria. In addition to her formal research, Beth gained hands-on experience in dairy products processing and was involved in numerous dairy-related outreach education activities at Penn State. As a graduate student, she participated as a guest speaker at the Penn State Ice Cream Short Course, the Penn State Cultured Dairy Products Short Course, Introduction to Frozen Desserts, and the Pasteurizer Operators Workshop, instructing more than 1,500 students from various backgrounds in the food and dairy industries.

After graduating in 2007, Beth joined the Department of Food Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as an instructor, where she developed and taught courses in the undergraduate curricula for both food science and dietetics majors, with an emphasis in the areas of functionality of food components and food processing. While at UW-Madison, Beth also continued her postdoctoral research in the genomics of bifidobacteria.

Since joining NMPF in 2010, Beth has provided technical expertise and guidance on scientific issues related to dairy foods manufacture and dairy ingredients processing, food safety and public health, human nutrition, and dairy product standards and labeling. She routinely collaborates with dairy stakeholder groups—including other professional and trade associations, industry, academia, and state and federal agencies—to build consensus, identify solutions, and present a unified voice. Beth’s work has had a direct and positive impact on dairy producers and she has demonstrated herself to be a strong leader and advocate for the dairy industry.

Beth continues to teach as a guest speaker in undergraduate food science courses. She also serves on the executive board of the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments (NCIMS), which administers the Grade “A” Milk Safety Program, and she contributes as a member of the Laboratory and the Appendix N Modification Committees, and as the chair of the NCIMS Continuity Task Force. She is an active member of, and has held leadership positions in, the International Association of Food Protection and the Institute of Food Technologists. In 2015, Beth was honored as the Outstanding Recent Alumna of The Pennsylvania State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

Beth has been involved in ADSA since graduate school in 2001 and has served in a number of positions including as a judge for the Dairy Foods Graduate Poster Competition (2010), as a member of the Dairy Foods Division Nominating Committee (2010), a judge for the Dairy Foods Graduate Paper Competition (2011–2014; chair in 2013–2014), a member of the ADSA Strategic Goals Committee (2011), Dairy Foods Council Member at Large (2011–2014), representative to the Federation of Animal Science Societies Science Policy Committee (2011–2014), and representative to the Federation of Animal Science Societies Bioethics Committee (2011–2014).

Beth lives in Annandale, Virginia, with her husband, daughter, and son.

Louis Armentano is a Professor of Dairy Science and Nutrional Sciences and previous Chair of Dairy Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Louis Armentano was born and raised near the swampy shores of Jamaica Bay in southeastern Brooklyn, N.Y. Working in the man-made canyons of southern Manhattan during high school convinced him that a more natural setting was preferable. In 1971 with a slide-rule and a state scholarship to pay the $400 per semester tuition, he fled to the beautiful lakeside hills of central New York. The next four years were spent at Cornell University, graduating with Distinction in Animal Sciences in 1975. His influences there included Nate Smith, Robert McDowell, Glen Schmidt, and Wilson Pond. He completed his MS in Animal Sciences at North Carolina State University studying dairy nutrition. After a year of teaching chemistry at a community college near Camp Lejeune, he attended Iowa State University and completed a Ph.D. in Nutritional Physiology in dairy cattle. In the winter of 1981 he returned about half way back across the snowy Appalachians in the reverse direction and moved to a post-doctoral research position at Virginia Tech. His research and life mentors were Al Rakes, Jerry Young and Carl Polan, a trio of fine south-eastern gentleman who shared the virtues of intellect, integrity, forbearance, good humor, and a profound sense of duty. In 1982 he was privileged and lucky enough to be hired as an Assistant Professor by the Dairy Science Faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has served there since.

His responsibilities in Madison have included team teaching an introductory animal science course, undergraduate and graduate courses in nutrition, and senior research seminar for dairy production students. His research has spanned metabolism in liver mitochondria and isolated hepatocytes, whole animal digestion and metabolism studies and applied studies defining the limitations and opportunities present in feeding byproduct feeds to dairy cattle. Aspects of chemical and physical properties of carbohydrates, proteins and oils have all been subjected to study. It is the nature of a practical science to be able to dissect fundamental components for study and then reintegrate them into a functioning holistic understanding that can be used to guide feeding of dairy animals. This remains an intriguing and challenging task. Recent collaborations as part of a multi-university team in the area of genetics and management for improved feed efficiency present a new intellectual and logistical challenge. From 1996 through 2004 Louis served at the pleasure of his colleagues as Chair of the Dairy Science Department. It was during that time that UW underwent a rebuilding of their Dairy extension faculty. During and since that time he has been instrumental in developing and modernizing the dairy cattle housing and research facilities for the Department.

His first memories of a Dairy Science meeting were presenting an oral abstract on diurnal rhythms of glucose metabolism in meal fed vs. frequently fed Holstein steers at Virginia Tech in 1980. The majority of his research publications are in the Journal of Dairy Science and he has been a reviewer of articles for that publication for the last 25 years. His ability to contribute to the science of milk production and training of future scientists and technical professionals has depended on belonging to this premier organization and the service contributed by the volunteers who cooperate in making it work. He is pleased to be a long time member of a community that has the ideals of shared responsibility in the pursuit of excellence. He has served on and chaired committees for The AFIA feed award, Graduate Student Paper Competition and Member Resolutions and was the ADSA representative to CoFARM, a politically active committee that represents interests of the agriculture research community to the federal government. The main priories of the board should be to maintain a spirit of community involvement while doing everything possible to maintain and improve the society as the vital epicenter of new knowledge used in the production of dairy foods and training of future professionals. Our common discipline is a science that has very practical application. Our goal as an organization must be to both foster new science and new discovery as well as to ensure the communication required to guide its direction and apply its results. Graduate training provides an important synergy for conducting new investigations while training new scientists and new practitioners in the industry. These core functions must always take priority in our efforts.