Meat Industry hall of fame honours NAMI leaders

The Meat Industry Hall of Fame inducted the 2022 class of meat industry leaders and philanthropists which includes key leaders of the North American Meat Institute (Meat Institute)

“The Meat Institute and all of its members applaud the induction to the Meat Industry Hall of Fame of its past Chairman and Executive Board Member David McDonald of OSI Group, Board Member John Richardson of SugarCreek Packing Co. and Andy Milkowski of the University of Wisconsin-Madison,” said Julie Anna Potts, President and CEO of the Meat Institute.

McDonald, Richardson and Milkowski join fellow inductees Steve Campano of Hawkins Inc., Gordon Davis of CEV Media/Texas Tech University and Merlyn Eickman of Eickman’s Processing to round out the 2022 Hall of Fame class.

 “To qualify for nomination to the Hall of Fame, candidates must have contributed significant innovation, achieved notable business success or otherwise positively affected their organization” 

David McDonald
McDonald, president and chief operating officer of OSI Group, was first elected to the board of the Meat Institute in 2003. He served in other notable Executive Committee positions within the organization beginning in 2012. In 2019, he earned the E. Floyd Forbes Award from the Meat Institute for his service as the Meat Institute’s chairman during its organizational merger and the Meat Institute’s inaugural year of 2015. Today McDonald continues his service to the industry on the Meat Institute’s Executive Board and is an important member of its Strategic Vision and Protein PACT Committees. McDonald is a proud alum of Iowa State University where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in animal science.

John Richardson
Richardson, Chairman of the Board at SugarCreek Packing Co. is a member of the Meat Institute’s Board of Directors. Shortly after graduating from Illinois State University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, he became plant manager of the then newly acquired facility in Dayton, Ohio. Since taking over the company in 1990, when his father John S. Richardson retired, he transformed the family-owned business from a raw bacon manufacturer with $50 million in annual sales to a widely diversified company with over $1 billion in annual sales.

Dr. Andy Milkowski
Milkowski is an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He worked for the Oscar Mayer division for Kraft Foods where he led food safety research programs.  During his tenure there, Milkowski served on the then American Meat Institute’s (AMI) Scientific Affairs Committee.  As one of the nation’s leading experts on nitrite functionality and safety, Milkowksi was tapped to chair AMI’s Nitrite Task Force in the late 1990s. Milkowski and the task force helped advance scientific knowledge about nitrite’s safety and benefits, efforts that contributed to the National Toxicology Program’s (NTP) seminal conclusion that nitrite is not a carcinogen at the levels used.

Milkowski served on the Foundation for Meat and Poultry Research and Education’s Advisory Committee and was the Director of Health and Wellness at AMI for three years. In 2014 he earned the Foundation’s Scientific Achievement Award. He also helped lead efforts to prevent and ultimately eliminate Listeria monocytogenes on ready-to-eat meat and poultry products. Dr. Milkowski earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1976 from the University of Wisconsin and his BBS from the University of Illinois. 

To qualify for nomination to the Hall of Fame, candidates must have contributed significant innovation, achieved notable business success or otherwise positively affected their organization, institution or larger industry segment. In addition, the nominees chosen for induction must have undertaken noteworthy community service or philanthropy during their careers and upon retirement.