The Society of Dairy Technology announces three board level appointments at its AGM this month: Dr Ken Burgess becomes president, Sean Tuohy senior vice president and outgoing president Dr Liz Whitley takes the role of executive director.
04 Dec 2012 --- Dr Ken Burgess, former group technical director of Dairy Crest and technical director of Yoplait UK, outlined two clear priorities for the society: to help manufacturers improve productivity through working to best practice guidelines and to grow links with colleges to foster new skills within the dairy industry. Dr Burgess said: “We are committed to ensuring the UK and Republic of Ireland dairy industries remain competitive in the global marketplace by reducing manufacturing costs, maximising the value of every constituent of milk and advancing dairy education. We are working with industry through our programme of workshops, conferences and study tours to ensure that we contribute to these vital areas of dairy science and technology.”
Dr Liz Whitley, Fellow of the Institute of Food Science and Technology and independent food industry consultant said: “After two years as president, which saw membership levels grow to around 500, I am delighted to have achieved the society’s main objective of advancing dairy education. We have worked with colleges across the UK and Republic of Ireland to launch a series of educational events at Harper Adams University College, Shropshire, and University College Cork, hosted workshops and study tours throughout the UK and furthered links with the Project Eden Food Science Dairy Technology course at Reaseheath College, Cheshire.”
Dr Whitley thanked Maurice Walton, outgoing executive director, for his leading role in developing the society. During his eight years in office, Maurice has transformed the society for the digital age, re-introduced a programme of highly successful symposia and returned membership numbers to growth. He was a founding member of the project Eden steering group and was responsible for setting out the curriculum requirements of the Foundation Degree in Dairy Technology based on the knowledge and expertise he gained during a two year study of dairy education systems in Europe.
