International Association for Food Protection Elects Wendy White to Executive Board

Monday, March 17, 2025

Des Moines, Iowa – Members of the International Association for Food Protection elected Ms. Wendy White to the Executive Board as Secretary. Ms. White will take office at the conclusion of IAFP 2025 in Cleveland, Ohio, and will fulfill a five-year commitment to the Association, serving as President beginning in July 2028.

Ms. White is the Industry Manager for Food and Beverage at the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) at Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute in Atlanta. As extension faculty, she serves as GaMEP’s food safety expert to Georgia food and beverage manufacturing companies. She engages in educational outreach, leads industry workshops, and shares her expertise via consulting services. These activities primarily involve improving food safety/HACCP plans and prerequisite programs as well as supporting regulatory compliance, supply chain management, and third-party audit preparation.

Ms. White joined IAFP as a Student Member in 2002, and throughout her membership has organized and/or convened 15 sessions, presented at seven, and has been asked twice to present the Student Professional Development Group (PDG) Luncheon Lecture at the IAFP Annual Meeting. She was instrumental in creating IAFP’s Developing Food Safety Professionals PDG and served as its Vice Chair and Chair from 2012–2016. She has been actively involved in the IAFP Student Mentor Program for the past eight years and informally mentors Georgia Tech students who show an interest in food safety. Ms. White joined the IAFP Foundation Committee in 2014 and has served as its Vice Chair the past five years. She also served as Vice Chair and Chair of the Meat and Poultry PDG from 2016–2020. She received the President’s Recognition Award in 2011. In 2020, she was elected as IAFP’s Affiliate Council Secretary and served on the IAFP Executive Board from 2021–2022 as Affiliate Council Chair. She is a Past President of IAFP’s Affiliate, the Georgia Association for Food Protection, serving on its Executive Board from 2012–2016. She currently serves as the Affiliate’s Delegate.

Ms. White earned both her B.S. in Biology and M.S. in Food Science and Technology at the University of Georgia. Prior to joining academia in 2019, she spent 17 years in industry, most recently as the Corporate Director of Food Safety for the global manufacturing company, Golden State Foods.