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Johnsonville Sausage, the nation’s No. 1 producer of brats, Italian sausage, smoked-cooked links, and fresh breakfast sausage links, is a leader in the food manufacturing industry. Jared oversees Johnsonville’s sanitation programs along with developing and implementing their sanitary design principles, and his duties consist of proactively leading the identification of best practices in cleaning and sanitation methods which will help Johnsonville move closer to its vision of "Best Company in the World". Jared is responsible for leading research and implementation of emerging facility and equipment sanitary design and cleaning, to include sanitizing technologies and methods that improve food safety and extend shelf-life. Jared administers all sanitation programs, actively supporting GMP, HACCP, and Food Defense Programs, and provides training to plant members on plant sanitation, cleaning requirements, and chemical utilization. Jared has more than 14 years of experience in food manufacturing and is a graduate of South Dakota State University.
Robert Garcia serves as the Vice President of Manufacturing for Palermo’s Pizza, a role he’s held for over two years. In his role Robert is responsible for the tactical and strategic execution of all aspects of manufacturing at Palermo's. Robert has 30 years of manufacturing experience in both technical and operations management with 25+ years in the food and beverage industry. Prior to Palermo’s, Robert worked in similar roles at MillerCoors, Leprino Foods, and Gehl Foods. He holds a BS in Engineering from Texas A&M. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with family and traveling.
Aleisha Jaeger is a North American Director of Project Engineering for the Global Taste and Nutrition Company, Kerry Inc. responsible for the implementation of strategic capital projects as well as the growth and development of the North America engineering team bringing knowledge of design, construction and project management best practices to the business and assisting in standardizing contracting means, methods and strategies for an agile yet consistent global delivery approach to projects large and small.
Over her 20 year career, Ms. Jaeger has amassed extensive experience planning, implementing, and overseeing all phases of complex construction projects. She has been involved in over $1 billion in construction projects, consisting of well over six million SF of projects across three countries. In her leadership role at Kerry she has been instrumental in driving organizational and technical excellence within the Engineering function including the successful management of design and construction teams in nearly all product types with a focus in the complex food and beverage industry.
Jaeger is a graduate of Marquette University with a B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering. She is actively involved in community organizations and is strong supporter of the advancement of women in non-traditional careers. For the last 13 years she has been an active member of Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW), a global organization supporting the advancement of women in all facets of commercial real estate. This year serving as co-lead for CREW Corporate Real Estate Council She is in her seventh year as a mentor in the Marquette University Mentor/Mentee program and is also serving her 3rd term as a Board Member for the Marquette University National Alumni Association. In 2020 Aleisha was also recognized by the Marquette University’s Opus College of Engineering Young Aluma of the year.
Jaime currently holds a position as Global Director of Sanitation for the KERRY Group, he is an experienced Mechanical engineer with more than 19 years in the Food Manufacturing Industry with a demonstrated history of success creating and institutionalizing transformational strategies for Hygienic Design and Sanitation Technical Standards.
Jaime is equipped with the necessary skills for international project management, team and idea leadership, breakthrough innovation, client collaboration and people development. During his career, Jaime has been exposed to a wide range of food technologies such as Meat, Poultry, Sea Food, Baked Goods, Spray Drying, Fermentation, Confectionary, Cereal, Snacks, and more. His professional experience includes Hygienic Design, Food Plants Engineering, Food Safety and Sanitation Programs, Training and Development. Prior to Kerry, Jaime has worked in many capacities for Siemens Water Technologies, Kraft Foods, Mission Foods, Kellogg’s, Commercial Food Sanitation LLC and the Hershey Company.
Throughout his career Jaime has acquired the necessary knowledge to help him tune-up his ability to share knowledge, building, and maintaining partnerships, leading cross functional teams, managing external collaborations and evaluating new technologies.
Michael Costa has many years of experience covering the food and beverage industry from a variety of angles. Before joining ProFood World in 2016, he has served as Editor-in-Chief for both Food Engineering and Refrigerated & Frozen Foods magazines. Before that, he was Editorial Director of Hotel F&B magazine for 12 years, covering the business of food and beverage in lodging, including restaurants, bars, catering and more. Before joining Hotel F&B in 2007, Michael attended culinary school at the Illinois Institute of Art while working in the kitchen and in F&B purchasing at the 1,218-room Sheraton Grand Chicago. A journalism graduate of Columbia College in Chicago, Michael also worked for six years in TV news as a reporter at network affiliates around the country.
