Seven new positions were announced today at Provision X as part of a company-wide
expansion. The online marketplace for the meat and poultry industry expanded its
expertise in the areas of sales, customer service, technology and product development.
“We are extremely fortunate to have found such qualified and motivated people
to fill these crucial positions,” said Kevin Nemetz, chief executive officer of
Provision X. “With the addition of these people, our entire team now truly reflects
a wealth of experience in our two critical areas – the meat and poultry industry
as well as technology and e-commerce.”
Tom Windish has been appointed director of product development and is applying
his eight years of meat industry experience to all aspects of building the online
marketplace. As an original team member of Commerce Ventures – the company founded
in April 2000 to build the Provision X marketplace – Windish’s responsibilities
stretched across various areas such as process flow, technology, sales, marketing
and business development. Previously, Windish was employed by Excel Corp., a
wholly owned subsidiary of Cargill Inc. and a leading processor of fresh beef,
pork and fully prepared meats. Windish’s most recent role was as an account
and inventory manager with Excel Food Distribution in Woodridge, Ill. In this
position, he procured and managed inventory valued at over $70 million in distribution
operations. Additionally, he was responsible for sales objectives and profit
and margin responsibility.
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Prior to moving to Illinois, Windish served as national sales manager for Excel
Corp. in Wichita, Kan. While there, he was responsible for all beef product
sales to key national accounts such as Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and Topco Associates
Inc. Windish began his career as a sales trainee and regional account manager
for Excel Corp.
Windish received his bachelor of science degree in agricultural economics
from University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.
Chad Jensen has been appointed to product development and is responsible for
beef content management. Jensen comes to Provision X after spending six years
with IBP Inc., the world’s largest beef company, located in Dakota Dunes, S.D.
As a boxed beef and pork sales representative at IBP, Jensen was accountable
for the sales or product to both new and existing customers. Additionally, his
responsibilities included claims handling, inventory sales, management and training
of staff, coordinating with field sales consultants and learning and teaching
new computer techniques.
Jensen gained extensive research, teaching and speaking experience as a graduate
research assistant at Oregon State University in Corvallis, where he examined
the genetic and environmental relationships between mature size and other production
traits in Limousin cattle. For this project, Jensen also manipulated large data
sets using the UNIX operating system, developing statistical and computational
skills.
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By GlobalDataJensen received his bachelor’s in animal science from Texas A&M in College Station.
Miles Nyland has been named a director of customer development and works in
both the customer development and product development fields. In this position,
Nyland will be incorporating customer needs into future releases of the marketplace.
Nyland brings nearly 27 years of meat experience to Provision X and most recently
served as director of pork trading at FoodUSA.com, an online meat exchange previously
based in Madison, Wis.
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Before joining FoodUSA.com, Nyland spent over fifteen years as a senior product
manager at Topco Associates Inc. in Skokie, Ill., a privately held cooperative
providing procurement, quality assurance, packaging and other services. While
there, he was part of a three-man team that managed a $1.1 billion meat operation
and also served as head of the fresh pork, lamb, veal and seafood departments.
Nyland’s career began at Red Owl Stores Inc. in Hopkins, Minn., where he provided
fresh meat distribution to 600 corporate and franchise stores as a distribution
manager for six years. At Red Owl, he focused on adding efficiencies to selection
case production, order accuracy and loading operations as well as implementing
a computer generated order receiving and shipping system. Nyland then became
a plant manager at Chatham Supermarkets in Warren, Mich., where he managed a
case-ready central meat processing plant for 40 supermarkets in the Detroit
market. After five years at Chatham, Nyland also served as a plant manager at
American Fruit and Produce in St. Paul, Minn., and later as a plant manager
and general manager at DeKalb County Farm Bureau in DeKalb, Ill.
Nyland is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in organization and management from the
Graduate School of America in Minneapolis, Minn. He obtained his master’s degree
in industrial management from Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant,
Mich., and his bachelor’s degree from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter,
Minn.
Lon Gerondale has also joined Provision X as a director of customer development
and focuses on assuring that the Provision X marketplace meets the needs of
its customers and continues to add value to the meat and poultry industry. Prior
to joining Provision X, Gerondale was a trade facilitator at FoodUSA.com. In
his time there, his sales transactions represented over 15 percent of the total
company sales. Previously, Gerondale spent seven years at Shurfine International
Inc., an international private food label cooperative in Northlake, Ill., where
he earned promotions from product manager of bakery, dairy, frozen foods and
processed meats to assistant director of processed meats, poultry, turkey, seafood,
deli, and beef and pork procurement.
Earlier in his career, Gerondale was a national account manager of perishables
for Marketing Management Inc. where he created and implemented marketing and
sales strategies for Shurfine International’s perishable brands. Gerondale also
held positions with Daymon Associates, a New York City-based international company
specializing in the sales and marketing of private label consumer products.
Gerondale grew up in the retail business, working and learning in all departments,
and eventually managed one of his family’s grocery stores in Wisconsin.
Gerondale graduated with honors from Chicago’s Keller School of Management with
his master’s in business administration. He obtained his bachelor’s in business
administration from University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, and his associate’s
of arts degree from the University of Wisconsin, Marinette.
Keith Bollman steps into the position of manager of economic planning will
use his six years of experience in commodity trading to map out operational
and technological landscapes of the business-to-business industry, investigate
value added services and offer his expertise in risk management. He comes to
Provision X from FoodUSA.com where he worked as a trade facilitator to assist
in successfully closing beef, pork and poultry transactions exceeding $35 million.
Bollman also oversaw all post-launch projects, managed the customer registration
process and assisted in writing various business plans.
Before joining FoodUSA.com, Bollman spent five years at Topco Associates Inc.
As an assistant commodities analyst, Bollman monitored and managed a daily livestock
and meat price database, managed the department’s information resources and
developed relationships with commodity brokers, meat packers and retail members.
Later promoted to commodities analyst for Topco, Bollman managed trading activities
for the company’s $3 million hedging account. Additionally, he analyzed and
projected future prices for beef, pork, poultry and processed meats for retail
and foodservice members, and reconstructed Topco’s foodservice pricing formulas.
Bollman received his master of science degree in agricultural, consumer and
environmental economics and his bachelor of science degree in agricultural economics
from University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.
Michael Michalski has been appointed to product development. In this position,
he is responsible for poultry content management. Michalski brings over 10 years
of food-industry purchasing experience to Provision X. Most recently, he was
a trade facilitator at FoodUSA.com where he was responsible for managing an
account list of over 70 customers from all channels of the meat and poultry
industry.
Previously, Michalski was a senior category manager of dairy at Alliant Foodservice
in Deerfield, Ill., the nation’s largest broadline food service distributor.
While there, he developed and executed key initiatives while providing analytical
support to reach business goals. He also coordinated purchasing and marketing
resources towards the achievement of category goals and developed pricing and
promotional strategies to achieve profitable sales growth within the dairy category.
Before joining Alliant Foodservice, Michalski spent nine years at Topco Associates
Inc. in varying positions of increasing responsibility from buyer to product
manager. As product manager of the poultry division, he forecasted market conditions
and developed buying strategies, allowing his customers to gain a competitive
advantage in the marketplace. Additionally, Michalski managed the poultry team
that was responsible for purchasing over $140 million worth of Retail and Foodservice
poultry products.
Michalski graduated cum laude from Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, with
a bachelor of arts degree in economics and business.
Diane Flynn brings 25 years of management and sales experience in the consumer
products industry to Provision X in her new role as a director of customer development.
Her responsibilities include establishing initial contact with potential customers,
presenting company capabilities, assessing customer needs and formalizing contracts.
Most recently, she served as regional sales director in the Chicago office of
Nuvisio Corporation, a developer of Internet-based technology solutions for
the promotion and advertising of consumer products and services.
Before joining Nuvisio Corp., Flynn was vice president of client solutions for
Canada’s S&MG (Sales and Marketing Group), specialists in developing and executing
a variety of consumer, retail and business-to-business programs.
While there, she sold project-based labor and in-store demonstration programs
to major consumer goods manufacturers. Previously, Flynn worked as vice president
of sales at Efficient Market Services, a provider of consumer demand information
for the retail and consumer packaged goods industries in Deerfield, Ill. She
was also a senior national account director at ACTMEDIA/ACTRADIO, an in-store
marketing company providing a full range of advertising, promotion and merchandising
services.
Earlier in her career, Flynn held several key management and sales positions
with Kraft Foods. As category planning manager for Parkay Margarine, she allocated
trade funding for the Western United States and designed programs to address
volume commitments in those marketing areas. She also served as a regional category
sales manager of the Great Lakes region focusing on volume plans for each district
in the region.
Flynn graduated magna cum laude from Millikin University in Decatur, Ill., with
a bachelor of arts degree in communications.
