Prairie Farms Dairy Promotes Senior VP to COO

March 30, 2023

Dairy industry veteran Chris Hackman takes the reins from longtime COO Gary Aggus effective April 1.

Effective April 1, Chris Hackman, senior vice president of operations for Prairie Farms Dairy, will be promoted to chief operating officer, Prairie Farms Dairy said in a release this week. Hackman will succeed Gary Aggus, who has served as COO since 2006, and announced in February that he would step down from the position.

Hackman joined Prairie Farms 16 years ago, after nearly the same amount of experience on his family-owned and operated dairy processing facility. He currently serves on the Missouri State Milk Board Advisory Committee, Missouri Dairy Products Association Board of Directors (Board President from 2008-2010), and the All Star Association Board of Directors (Board President in 2016). In 2017, he was inducted into the Missouri Dairy Hall of Honors and received the Missouri Dairy Hall of Honors Leadership Award for his outstanding service to the Missouri dairy industry.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.