North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge® (NAIDC) recently elected new leadership, including one new board member and several new board officer appointments. As described in the NAIDC mission statement, the board focus is to “Develop tomorrow’s dairy leaders and enhance the progress of the dairy industry, by providing education, communication and networking among students, producers, and agribusiness and university personnel.”
Newly elected to the 15-person volunteer NAIDC Board of Directors is Dr. Alex White, faculty of Virginia Tech’s Dairy Science department, and lecturer in the Ag Economics department. Dr. White has become an enthusiastic supporter of Dairy Challenge since he started coaching the Virginia Tech team several years ago. His expertise in ag economics and finance, coupled with his passion for helping students learn and grow, will be a great addition to the National Dairy Challenge board team.
The NAIDC Executive Committee for 2018-19 includes:
- Chair: Maurice Eastridge, Ph.D., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
- Vice Chair: Mark McCullouch, Phibro Animal Health Corporation, Millport, N.Y.
- Associate Vice Chair: Wanda Emerich, William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute, Chazy, N.Y.
- Finance Chair: David Whitlock, Select Sire Power, Floyd, Va.
- Publicity Chair: Renee Smith, Virtus Nutrition, Bakersfield, Calif.
- Program Chair: Cathy Myers, Amelicor, Fresno, Calif.
- Alumni Programs Chair: Kristi Fielder, Genex Cooperative, Shawno, WI
Continuing NAIDC board members include:
- David Combs, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisc.
- Ashley Mohn, Holstein Association USA, Brattleboro, VT
- Claudio Ribeiro, Western Milling LLC, Goshen, Calif.
- Mike Westphal, Cargill Animal Nutrition, Owatonna, Minn.
- Chad Wright, DVM, Bidart Dairy, Bakersfield, Calif.
- Raechel Sattazahn, AgChoice Farm Credit, Mechanicsburg, Pa.
- Glen Staebner, Dairy One, Jonesville, N.C.
- Dr. Alex White, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
About Dairy Challenge:
NAIDC is an innovative event for students in dairy programs at North American post-secondary institutions. Its mission is to develop tomorrow’s dairy leaders and enhance progress of the dairy industry by providing education, communication and networking among students, producers, and agribusiness and university personnel. Over its 17-year national history, Dairy Challenge has helped prepare more than 6,000 students for careers as farm owners and managers, consultants, researchers, veterinarians or other dairy professionals. In addition to the national competition and Dairy Challenge Academy held in March/April, four regional contests are held in late fall and winter; details are at www.dairychallenge.org.
