The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) announced on Tuesday that former U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will join the organization as president and CEO, effective February 1, 2017.
As president and CEO, Vilsack will provide strategic leadership and oversight of USDEC’s global promotional and research activities, regulatory affairs, and trade policy initiatives. This includes working with industry leaders to develop a long-term vision for building sales and consumer trust in U.S. dairy, USDEC said in a press release. Together with the USDEC board, he will create strategies to successfully achieve the shared vision. He will serve as the organization’s primary spokesperson and ambassador to a host of global and domestic stakeholders.
“Secretary Vilsack is a proven leader on global issues ranging from child nutrition and food security to biotechnology and sustainable agriculture,” said Paul Rovey, USDEC chairman and dairy farmer. Vilsack will succeed Tom Suber, who served as president of USDEC since its founding in 1995 and retired at the end of 2016.
Last Friday, Vilsack abruptly left his position at USDA, sending an email to his employees that it was his last day at USDA, and boarded a flight home to Iowa, where he once served as governor. Vilsack’s tenure was officially to end on January 20th, when Donald Trump is sworn in. USDA’s Office of Communication said that Vilsack’s departure date was planned in advance and known to some senior staffers at USDA, although he had not announced his departure publicly.
Vilsack has served as Secretary of Agriculture since the President Obama was first elected in 2008, making him the only member of the U.S. Cabinet to have served throughout Obama’s two terms.
Donald Trump has yet to declare his choice for Secretary of Agriculture, making it the very last Cabinet post to still be unknown.
