New officers selected for refrigerated warehouse organization
David O’Brien (Doboy Cold Stores, Hemmant, Queensland, Australia) was elected as the 2017-2018 chairman of the International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses (IARW) Board of Directors on April 25.
As the new chairman and the first Australian to chair the board in decades, O’Brien plans to focus on the “Lead the Cold Chain” aspect of the organization’s strategic plan; specifically, how the cold chain can be developed and employed to maximize food rescue and help feed the less fortunate throughout the world.
“After learning that the world produces enough food to feed 10 billion people yet there are 800 million people chronically undernourished, I realized the tremendous impact that cold chain development can have on feeding the hungry,” O’Brien said. “Too often food is lost because of an underdeveloped cold chain and all of us at GCCA can change that. I look forward to driving food rescue efforts forward over my next year as chairman.”
IARW is the third-party temperature-controlled warehousing core partner of the Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA). It dedicates itself to promoting best practices in the temperature-controlled warehousing and logistics industry through research, industry benchmarking, networking, and education. IARW members work closely with members of the World Food Logistics Organization (WFLO), another GCCA core partner, to improve food systems, specifically in relation to the safe, efficient, and reliable movement of perishable products to the global community.
O’Brien will be joined on the board by new IARW officers Vice Chairman Doug Harrison (VersaCold Logistics Services, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) and Treasurer Andy Janson (Hanson Logistics, St. Joseph, Michigan).
Also elected to serve three-year terms on the IARW board are directors-at-large Harry Halpert (MTC Logistics, Baltimore, Maryland) and Neal Rider (AGRO Merchants Group, Dallas, Texas).
Rich Bauer (South East Cold Storage, Miramar, Florida) was elected to represent the Southeastern Chapter.
The new officers and board members were appointed to their board positions at the 126th annual IARW-WFLO Convention, held April 22-25 in California.
