On Board With The Chairman - May 2024
CDI’s board meeting was held this past Tuesday. This month, the structure of the meeting was a little different, as Patti Smith and Michael Burdeny, the functional leaders of DairyAmerica and Challenge Dairy Products, joined us for the entire meeting. Having Patti and Michael present the details of their pieces of our business at each board meeting will be the new normal, and we look forward to what insights they will bring.
Brad Anderson started the meeting by giving us some updates on what’s happening in the industry. We talked about the trends he’s seeing and management’s current strategies regarding managing CDI’s product inventories. Brad gave us an update on our new plant, Valley Natural Beverages (VNB), and the progress being made there. The contractor is doing a great job keeping things going with the timeline they were given and keeping things within the budget proposed. The team that’s tasked with running VNB has been hard at work adding talent to its staff, and that team is coming together nicely. Michael Johnson, CDI’s SVP of Corporate Services, came into the meeting with two of his team members and gave us an update on cost-cutting initiatives with respect to warehouse storage and outbound freight, which are helping keep costs down in an area that has seen costs rise over the years.
Phil Girard gave his presentation on the Co-Ops monthly financials. April was a profitable month for our Co-op, with core business showing a good improvement for the year. Phil gave us some information about some projections going forward into the next couple of
months, and what his team has planned as we move into the summer months.
Patti Smith provided an update on the powder side of our business, with details on initiatives to increase our presence and market access in Southeast Asia and Latin America. She also provided her team’s strategic goals in sales forecasts and inventory management between now and the end of the year.
Michael Burdeny was up next and gave us great insight into what he and his team at Challenge Dairy Products are doing. That team is tasked with handling all consumer-facing products CDI makes, including our retail/foodservice butter, the In Good Hands snack products, and the eventual products we will be making out of the new VNB plant when it is complete. Meanwhile, as members who attended our Annual Meeting will recall, Michael is also overseeing the integration of the Challenge Dairy Products activities into the CDI structure as our Consumer Products Division rather than a wholly owned subsidiary, unlocking efficiencies and better strategic opportunities.
Dennis Bettencourt gave us a snapshot of the plants and the scheduled maintenance his team has planned for the individual sites going through summer in preparation for the winter months ahead. Dennis informed the board of the product mix that the dryers are running currently and the progression some project improvements the board approved at the beginning of the year.
Rob Vandenheuvel talked about the DC Fly-In that some board members and staff participated in this past month. They had the opportunity to have more than a dozen meetings over a two-day period with members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as key allies at USDA, as they discussed key priorities of CDI and our member farms. These trips are a key part of our Co-Op’s strategy of being engaged with our State and Federal leaders who oversee policies that can have a significant impact – either negative or positive – on our businesses here at home.
As we head into the summer months and enjoy time with kids out of school, we pray for continued safety for all our employees in the heat that’s headed our way and any travels that we might be taking. As always, if you have any questions, please reach out to me or any board member.
