Two marketing organization American Egg Board (AEB) senior executives were recognized at nonprofit organization Farm Foundation’s 90th Anniversary Gala in June 2023, just after the organization updated its senior leadership team in March 2023.
Emerging Leader Award Winner
AEB President and CEO Emily Metz won the Emerging Leader Award, which recognizes a leader in agriculture under age 40 who is on the trajectory to make transformational change within the agriculture and food sectors.
Since becoming CEO of the AEB in June of 2020 at age 32, Metz has restructured and modernized the national marketing checkoff and has created a strategic plan to set the egg industry up for long-term growth.
Innovator of the Year Award Finalist
AEB Vice President Innovation and Customer Engagement Nate Hedtke was a finalist among two other nominees for the Innovator of the Year Award, which recognizes individuals that are integral to solving challenges facing the agriculture and food industries today.
In 2022, Hedtke led the development and launch of AEB’s Eggcelerator Lab, an innovation center for the egg industry that is designed to bring new egg-based ideas to market.
AEB’s new leadership team
AEB hired and promoted multiple people to its leadership team in March 2023 to drive Metz’s strategic plan for the organization and support the egg industry’s priorities, explained AEB Vice President of Marketing and Communications Edward Hoffman.
“Sustainability and purpose-driven production are table stakes today, and pushing the boundaries of opportunities for eggs through innovation is crucial to our future. We’ve made new additions to our team in both areas, along with adding new project management and administrative support. We’re also repositioning some of our existing leadership and functions to ensure we are set up to achieve both near- and long-term strategic objectives for America’s egg farmers,” stated Metz.
Some of AEB’s newly created positions, and those who filled them, include Director of Sustainability Kristen Wharton, Director of Innovation Nelson Serrano-Bahri, Director of Project Management Francis Garvey and Executive Assistant Cassie Morren.
Wharton brings food system experience in regenerative agriculture, climate change resilience and water/nutrient management stewardship. She was most recently Handsome Brook Farms Vice President of Corporate Responsibility.
Serrano-Behri most recently held a position with Ingredion Inc. as the Culinary and Innovation Manager and has previously worked with Unilever, Kraft and Nestle.
Garvey has previous experience in driving enterprise-level initiatives for multiple organizations and holds Project Management Professional and Certified Scrum Master certifications.
Morren was previously working in executive administrative and meeting/event coordination and spent time with genetics business The Pig Improvement Company.
