GDP Bulletin January / February 2024

Bob Musinski Joins GDP as CCO, Dr. Beth Bradley as CSO

GDP is excited to welcome Bob Musinski as Chief Communications Officer, effective February 1, and Beth Bradley, Ph.D., as Chief Science Officer, effective February 5.

Bob Musinski joins GDP from Edelman, a global communications firm, where he served as a Senior Vice President in the Chicago office. The last two years he has been senior lead on Edelman’s public relations work for Dairy Management Inc, Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy and U.S. Dairy Export Council, as well as Nutrien, the world’s largest provider of crop inputs and services. Bob has an extensive track record of senior-level public relations counsel for clients in multiple industries. He also has a background in writing and editing at several daily newspapers and freelance writing for U.S. News and World Report, Forbes and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Dr. Beth Bradley advances dairy research and education through public-private partnerships that aim to protect and promote dairy in the global marketplace. Her breadth of experience ranges from the laboratory to health policy initiatives. She is also an adjunct lecturer at the University of Vermont where she teaches courses in nutrition and food sciences.

Beth joins GDP from Foodsense, LLC, a consulting firm, where over the past 9 years she has helped clients translate nutrition science for policy initiatives. Prior to founding Foodsense, Beth was Director of Scientific Affairs at National Dairy Council (Dairy Management, Inc.) where she led the scientific outreach strategy for translating dairy science for industry, academic, government, and health professional thought leaders, globally. Beth also spent a few years at Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings, Inc. in quality assurance. Beth earned her Ph.D. in Animal, Nutrition and Food Sciences from the University of Vermont by investigating the role of dairy fat in cardiometabolic health. Beth resides in Burlington, VT.

P2DNZ Webinar Introduced Animal Nutrition Workstream

Pathways to Dairy Net Zero (P2DNZ) launched a new global pre-competitive Animal Nutrition Workstream, sponsored and led by Trouw Nutrition, to help support and guide research and knowledge generation on innovative solutions to decarbonize the dairy sector in the animal feeding space. The pre-competitive and collaborative workstream was introduced as part of P2DNZ’s quarterly webinar on January 17, Animal Nutrition to Tackle GHG Emissions, where over 150 attendees were encouraged to join the workstream.

The task force will provide leadership in the animal nutrition space, focusing on opportunities to minimize the environmental impact of dairy production through innovative forage, feed and feeding developments and technologies.

The first in-person Animal Nutrition Workstream workshop is being planned for April 23-24 in the Netherlands. The venue will be determined in the coming weeks. If you would like to participate in this workshop and actively contribute to shaping the workstream program, please sign up by February 29.

View the Webinar Recordings

Dairy’s Presence Strong at COP28

GDP and Pathways to Dairy Net Zero (P2DNZ) were featured in 19 events throughout COP28, demonstrating how the global climate initiative is achieving positive results in many regions and accelerating action in others. Dairy’s sustainability story was told throughout the two-week meeting. GDP board members, including Miles Hurrell, Hanne Søndergaard, Brian Lindsay, and Jay Waldvogel were in attendance, as well ad GDP Executive Director Donald Moore, many of whom presented.

The dairy sector had more side events at COP28 than at any previous climate change conference. GDP’s side event in partnership with the beef industry — Farmer-led Adaptation and Mitigation Measures Through Improved Global Livestock Sustainability — featured panelists from the dairy and livestock sectors.

Read Our Top Takeaways from COP28

Dr. Mitch Kanter Retires

Dr. Mitch Kanter, GDP’s Chief Science Officer and Nutrition Security Sector Lead, retired effective December 31st. He will continue to serve GDP as a Senior Scientific Advisor through 2024 and is available to assist GDP members.

Mitch has worked in the fields of health and nutrition for over 30 years and has been with GDP since 2018. In that time, he has been instrumental in advancing dairy research to lead the global dairy sector’s nutritional security efforts. Most recently, he has overseen the completion of Project Proteos, a multi-year, multi-laboratory study designed to develop a better method for assessing the protein quality of foods. The study developed a method and database of more than 100 foods which it proposed to global health organizations and policymakers as the protein quality method of choice.

Mitch’s commitment to dairy science and nutrition has helped shape the global dairy sector’s narrative. He launched a monthly Perspective Series commenting on the latest dairy science news, orchestrated the Protein Symposium, and presented research at numerous industry conferences, among many other accomplishments.

GDP thanks Mitch for his commitment and the immense contributions to GDP and dairy science.