Cobb-Vantress appoints new North America general manager

 

Poultry research and development company, Cobb-Vantress, Inc, has appointed Mike Pruitt as general manager for the North American market. 

Pruitt will direct regional sales, technical services and production.

 

A veteran in the US broiler industry for over 30 years, Pruitt began servicing broiler farms for Valmac which was later purchased by Tyson Foods in 1984.  He held the position for eight years before becoming president of OK Farms in 1990.

 

 In 1999, Pruitt was the executive vice president of live operations for ConAgra Poultry.  After the acquisition of ConAgra by Pilgrim's Pride, he became the senior vice president of technical services at the latter in 2004.  In 2007, Pruitt moved on to be the senior vice president of live operations for

 Foster Farms in 2007.

Pruitt takes over his new position last held by Aldo Rossi who has been made World Director of Quality Assurance and Veterinary Services. 

 

In his new role, Rossi will oversee Cobb's quality assurance programmes and testing for the company's products. Rossi holds responsibilities over all regional QA departments across the world, as well as animal welfare programmes and initiatives.

 

Since joining Cobb in 2000, Rossi has served in various capacities, initially as veterinarian for the world technical support team, and later took charge of the US sales group in 2003. He was previously the company's North American director of sales and technical service over the markets of the US, Canada, Mexico, Caribbean and Central America.  For the past six years as general manager over the North America region, his responsibilities included US hatcheries, grandparent and great grandparent production.

 

Rossi started his career at Cargill in 1992, where he worked in internal production for Sun Valley, UK, and later as staff veterinarian for North American poultry operations.  He was previously a poultry technical consultant in Elanco before joining Simmons Foods in 1997 as a company veterinarian, coordinating live production and plant operations. 

 

Rossi receives his doctorate degree in veterinary medicine from the University of California at Davis, US, with a focus on poultry medicine.