Sean Leighton of Cargill Becomes President of Institute of Food Technologists

Sept. 5, 2023

Cargill’s global vice president of food safety, quality and regulatory will succeed Christopher Downs.

Sean Leighton, Cargill’s global vice president of food safety, quality and regulatory, has become board president of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), succeeding Christopher Downs.

Leighton has been a member of IFT since 1999 where he was a participant in the IFT Student Assn. product development competition. Since then, he has served in several volunteer roles as a presenter, panelist, podcast thought leader, as well as an advisory council member of IFT’s Global Food Traceability Center.

He also has more than 20 years in the food and beverage community. Before joining Cargill in 2017, Leighton was vice president of quality assurance, people safety and environmental sustainability at Coca-Cola Co., where he spent 12 years in roles of increasing responsibility. Prior to that, he worked at Land O’Lakes.

About the Author

Dave Fusaro | Editor in Chief

Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.