New to the P.L. Thomas staff are Jennifer Thomas (East Coast Territory Manager for Nutraceuticals Sales) and Frank Gutjahr (Key Account Manager for Food Sales). The firm is based in Morristown, NJ.

La Farge, WI-based Organic Valley named Lewis Goldstein as its new executive marketing director.

Sabinsa Corp. of East Windsor, NJ has a new vice president of scientific affairs: Anurag Pande, Ph.D. Pande began working as a researcher with Sabinsa’s parent company, Sami Labs, in 2004 in a research capacity, and has been the senior technical manager of Sabinsa Japan’s Tokyo office since 2008.

Westchester, IL-based Corn Products International announced that Santiago Vega joined the company as senior manager of nutrition marketing.

Michael McGuffin, president of the American Herbal Products Association of Silver Spring, MD, will receive the Nutrition Business Journal (NBJ) 2011 Efforts on Behalf of the Industry Award at the 2012 NBJ Summit in July.

After 28 years at Stonyfield Farm, former president and CEO Gary Hirshberg has left the company. He will continue as the company’s chairman. Assuming this position is Walt Freese, former CEO of Ben & Jerry’s and former president of Celestial Seasonings.

Lisa J. Clark is the new vice president of business development for Captek Softgel International, Inc., based in Cerritos, CA.

Sara Waldman joined Integrated Marketing Group of Salt Lake City, UT, as a senior PR counsel.

The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. of Melville, NY appointed Scott M. O’Neil to its board of directors. He is the president of Madison Square Garden Sports.

Paul Dijkstra, president of Benicia, CA-based InterHealth, was appointed interim director of the Council for Responsible Nutrition Board of Directors.

In Memoriam
Industry has said a sad goodbye to Nebraska Cultures’ director of marketing, Don McKenzie. He was 73. Stated the company, “He was a real champion of the probiotics industry, and even during his final days in the hospital, he continued to encourage us to focus on ‘high-quality probiotics, progress on research, integrity and consistency.’” McKenzie joined the company in 2003 and his contributions included introducing the Dr. Shahani’s brand and managing the release of Cultivate Health From Within: Dr. Shahani's Guide to Probiotics.

Published in WholeFoods Magazine, March 2012