March 9, 2015

Contact Rick Kyte at 608-796-3704 or rlkyte@viterbo.edu

VITERBO LEADERSHIP AT NOON SERIES TO FEATURE ORGANIC VALLEY CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER LOUISE HEMSTEAD MARCH 17

LA CROSSE, Wis. – Organic Valley Chief Operating Officer Louise Hemstead will conclude the popular Viterbo University Leadership at Noon series for the academic year with her presentation Tuesday, March 17 in Reinhart Center 107.

A Wisconsin native who earned a degree in agriculture from the University of Wisconsin, Hemstead has enjoyed a successful 30-year career in the dairy industry. She began her career with the CROPP Cooperative, of which Organic Valley is a subsidiary, in 1993 as a dairy program manager. Today, she oversees all operational aspects of the CROPP Cooperative, including product research, quality assurance, organic certification, production scheduling and logistics. She is also the president of another subsidiary, Organic Logistics, the Cooperative’s distribution arm. Hemstead developed a sustainable supply chain for the cooperative that utilizes existing dairy infrastructure instead of the conventional thinking that would have led to building new infrastructure at great cost.

CROPP is the largest organic dairy cooperative in the U.S., with more than 1,800 member-owners in 34 states, Canada, and Australia. The co-op employs over 700 people across the country, with most located in and around rural La Farge.

Hemstead and her husband David reside on a fourth generation organic family farm in rural La Farge, which is home to CROPP Cooperative’s headquarters. She is also pursuing the Master of Arts in Servant Leadership degree at Viterbo University.

The Viterbo Leadership at Noon series features business leaders discussing the key values that contribute to successful business practices.

All Leadership at Noon series events are held from noon–1 p.m. in the Reinhart Center and are free and open to the public. Audience members are welcome to bring their own lunch or purchase a boxed lunch for $5. The Leadership at Noon series is sponsored by the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership and the Dahl School of Business at Viterbo University.

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