The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) hired Allison Thomas as its new chief operating officer (COO), effective Aug. 25. Thomas will report directly to USDEC President/CEO Krysta Harden.
Thomas joins USDEC following a 25-year career at USDA, where she most recently was deputy administrator for trade policy and geographic affairs at the Foreign Agricultural Service. In that role, she led a team of 120 staff members, including 10 senior leaders, in working to create a trade-enabling environment for U.S. agricultural exports.
She also worked closely with the National Security Council, U.S. Trade Representative, State Department and other government agencies, as well as foreign counterparts; she also worked at the U.S. embassies in Canada, Kenya and Afghanistan representing U.S. agricultural interests.
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.