2009 Speakers
N.C. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler
N.C. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler was raised in the Guilford County community of Browns Summit, and has spent his entire career in agriculture as founder, owner and operator of Troxler Farms. Over the years, the family-owned farming operation has produced tobacco, wheat, vegetables and soybeans.
Since taking office in 2005, Troxler has focused on developing new markets for N.C. farm products, preserving working farms and protecting the state’s food supply.
Troxler has held leadership positions in numerous agricultural and community organizations. His service includes the Board of Directors of North Central Farm Credit Association; the Board of Supervisors of the Guilford County Soil and Water Conservation District; board member and vice president of the Guilford County Farmers Organization; the Guilford County Extension Advisory Board; the State Extension Advisory Council at N.C. State University and N.C. A&T State University; and the boards of the North Carolina Tobacco Settlement Phase II Entity and the Guilford County Farm Bureau.
In addition, he was a century member, director and secretary of the Tobacco Growers Association of North Carolina. He also was a spokesman for the group on local, national and international television.
Troxler is active in the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, serving as chair of the Tobacco Task Force and vice chair of the Food Regulation and Nutrition Committee.
He also serves on the boards of the N.C. Foundation for Soil and Water Conservation, the Rural Economic Development Center and the N.C. Biotechnology Center. He is a member of numerous organizations, including the N.C. Tobacco Research Commission and the Southern United States Trade Association.
In the community, Troxler was founder and president of the Browns Summit-Monticello Youth Association, a youth sports organization. He established the BSM Community Center and raised funds to improve facilities. He also served as a volunteer host for the Greensboro Visitors Bureau, working with international visitors, journalists and various school groups and summer programs.
During his career, Troxler has been recognized with the Conservation Guardian Award of the Guilford County Soil Conservation Service; the Phillip Morris Outstanding Young Tobacco Farmer Award; the Outstanding Young Farmer Award from the North Carolina Jaycees; the N.C. Agricultural Extension Service’s Outstanding Service Award; the Certificate of Merit from the NCSU chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta agricultural honor society; and an Honorary State FFA Degree. His family was named “Tobacco Farm Family of the Year” by the Tobacco Growers Association of North Carolina.
Troxler graduated from N.C. State University in 1974 with a Bachelor of Science degree in conservation, with a concentration in environmental studies. He and his wife, Sharon, have two grown sons, a daughter-in-law and a granddaughter. In his spare time, Troxler enjoys restoring antique farm equipment and playing with his dog, Kate, a Labrador/golden retriever mix.
Michael R. Taylor, J.D.
Senior Advisor to FDA Commissioner
Mike Taylor is a research professor at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, and has most recently been named Advisor to the FDA Commissioner. His public health research agenda focuses on policy, resource, and institutional issues that affect the success of public health agencies in carrying out their prevention missions. He co-founded and chairs the Steering Committee of the Food Safety Research Consortium, a multi-disciplinary collaborative effort among seven research institutions to improve food safety priority setting and decisionmaking.
Mr. Taylor is also a senior fellow with The Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa and conducts research on policies of the United States and developments in Africa that affect agriculture-led economic growth and poverty reduction. Prior to joining the GW faculty, Mr. Taylor was a professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine and before that a senior fellow at Resources for the Future, a non-profit public policy research organization.
Mr. Taylor has served in government as Administrator of USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (1994-1996), Deputy Commissioner for Policy at the Food and Drug Administration (1991-1994), and FDA staff lawyer and Executive Assistant to the FDA Commissioner (1976-1981). In the private sector, he established and led the food and drug law practice at King & Spalding and was Vice President for Public Policy at Monsanto Company.
Mr. Taylor is currently a member of an NAS committee that is studying decisionmaking under uncertainty for the Environmental Protection Agency and recently co-chaired an NAS committee that conducted an EPA-sponsored study on human testing of pesticides and other EPA-regulated substances. He is a board member of Resolve, Inc. and the Alliance to End Hunger.
Mr. Taylor received his law degree from the University of Virginia and his B.A. in political science from Davidson College. Email at mike.taylor@gwumc.edu.
Donald L. Zink Ph.D.
Senior Science Advisor for the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition
Dr. Zink received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Abilene Christian University, a Master of Science in Microbiology from Texas A&M University, and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biophysics from Texas A&M University.
After graduate school, Dr. Zink was a member of the faculty of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Texas A&M. In 1980, he moved to the University of Arizona where he was an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Microbiology and Immunology and Food Science and Nutrition. In 1983, Dr. Zink began his food industry career with Campbell Soup Company research and development organization.
In 1990, Dr. Zink moved to the Carnation Company (a Division of Nestlé) as Manager of Food Safety for the company’s refrigerated foods division and a year later became Director of Food Safety for Nestlè USA. Dr. Zink left Nestlé in 2000 to become the Vice-President of Food Safety and Research and Development for Future Beef Operations.
In 2002, Dr. Zink joined the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a Senior Food Scientist and in 2009 became the Senior Science Advisor for the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Dr. Zink is active in professional scientific organizations and has served on numerous advisory committees. He currently serves as a member of the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological criteria for foods.
Dr.Kenneth Falci
Senior Director: Scientific Regulatory Operations: Kellogg Company
Dr. Kenneth Falci is currently the senior director, scientific regulatory operations since September 2007. In this position Dr. Falci is responsible for external influence in the company for Grocery Manufacturers association (GMA), International Institute of life Sciences (ILSI), CODEX, FDA, USDA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Dr. Falci is involved in nutrition influence and outreach as well and he continues to provide expertise for crisis management, food safety, domestic and international ingredients and GRAS food determinations.
Previously Dr. Falci was the senior director, regulatory operations and materials management from September 2006 and before that from September 2005, Dr. Falci was the senior director, regulatory and scientific affairs at the Kellogg Company.
In these prior positions, Dr. Falci provided and still provides technical guidance on government compliance, interacting as the Senior Company representative to many different trade associations and the regulatory arms of government. In addition, he was a quality/procurement business partner for ingredients. In addition, Dr. Falci’s responsibility included overseeing food product labeling, food safety, nutrition claims and the nutrition science departments.
Before coming to Kellogg Company, Dr. Falci was the director of the Office of Scientific Analysis and Support at the Food and Drug Administration’s Center of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), College Park, Maryland. Dr. Falci’s department was responsible for CFSAN’s chemical instrumentation, epidemiology, mathematics, economics, consumer nutrition food labeling and claim research, pathology, medical doctors and the creation of the national food adverse event reporting system. He additionally has expertise in food contact packaging. Dr. Falci is a member of the Quality Executive Board and a member of the Board of the International Institute of Life Sciences (ILSI, North America). He serves on the Scientific and Regulatory Affairs Council of GMA. He is also a member of several associations to advance nutrition science, food safety and quality, including the Institute of Food Technology and the Strategic Issues Group of the International Life Sciences Institute. He additionally serves on the technical Committee on Food and Chemical safety, ILSI NA.
Dr. Falci received a Ph.D. degree in organic chemistry drug synthesis from Fordham University in New York City. He, and his wife, Barbara, reside in Battle Creek, Michigan. They have three children.
David Green, Ph.D.
Professor and Department Extension Leader
Dept. Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences. North Carolina State University
David Green is professor and extension leader in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences at North Carolina State University. He served as director for the NCSU Center of Marine Sciences and Technology from 1999 to 2006 and responsible for the applied research and extension education programs at the NCSU Seafood Laboratory at Morehead City since 1986. Green is a member of the National Seafood HACCP Alliance and is serving on the Alliance Editorial Committee charged with updating the training curriculum to meet FDA regulatory guidance.
His research program has lead to commercialization of numerous value added products and enhanced processes such as the Scallop Medallion™ product line developed by Wanchese Fish Co, Inc. and Authenti-kitTM, a DNA-based species identification assay by Applied Food Technology LLC. Green and Dan Baden, Professor and Director for the UNC Wilmington Center of Marine Science recently convened the 1st North Carolina Marine Biotechnology Symposium in October, 2008 in Wrightsville Beach, NC and will co-chair the 3rd Trans-Atlantic Fisheries Technology Conference in September 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Email at: dpg@ncsu.edu
Barry Nash
Seafood Technology and Marketing Specialist. NC Sea Grant
North Carolina State University
Mr. Barry Nash is a seafood technology and marketing specialist with North Carolina Sea Grant and the North Carolina State University Seafood Laboratory in Morehead City, N.C. He assists seafood businesses with commercializing new products, regulatory compliance, manufacturing and direct marketing.
His expertise was instrumental in the development of Carteret Catch, a joint venture between Carteret County fishermen and restaurants to generate commercial visibility for coastal seafood products. Barry received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in food science from North Carolina State University.
David Bergmire-Sweat,
NC Division of Public Health,
Foodborne Disease Epidemiologist
Mr. Bergmire-Sweat earned his Master of Public Health from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1993, and has worked in state public health agencies, academic centers, and non-profit health communications agencies during his career.
As a field epidemiologist with the Texas Department of Health and the North Carolina Division of Public Health he has investigated numerous infectious disease outbreaks associated with enteric disease pathogens such as Cyclospora, Cryptosporidium, Salmonella, Shiga-toxin producing E. coli, Noroviruses, and others.
He has been an author or contributing author on more than 20 published papers and conference poster presentations, and he represents the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials on the national Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response.