Agri

Local farmer cooperative names Dan Serna Chief Financial Officer, Spencer McDonald Senior Vice President of Sales, and promotes Derek Zwegust to Vice President of Supply Chain & Logistics

Vermont Business Magazine Agri-Mark, Inc/Cabot Creamery Cooperative recently filled three key leadership positions. CEO David Lynn announced today that Dan Serna has joined the cooperative as Chief Financial Officer, Spencer McDonald has been hired as Senior Vice President of Sales, and Derek Zwegust has been promoted to Vice President of Supply Chain & Logistics.

CFO Dan Serna has returned to Agri-Mark where he first worked as a college intern in 2004, and upon graduation in 2008 from Yale University, he spent two years as a business analyst. During that time, Serna tackled projects across all functional areas of the cooperative, from operations, finance, sales, marketing, quality assurance, logistics, and membership, giving him a broad understanding of Agri-Mark.

Serna has since earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. He has worked for General Mills, MetLife Investment Management – Agricultural Finance, and Manulife Investment Management Timber and Agriculture (MIMTA). Most recently, Serna was the Director and Senior Portfolio Manager at MIMTA where he managed equity investments and investor commitments in North America and Australia.

“It feels as though Dan has come home, back to where he began his career nearly 20 years ago,” said David Lynn, Agri-Mark’s CEO of the leadership announcement. “Dan brings us a deep working knowledge of lending, value creation, and scaling, plus he has a strong appreciation and understanding of the cooperative business model.” Serna will lead the cooperative’s finance and treasury Functions including accounting, risk management, and producer payroll. He replaces Frank Mehm, who retired as CFO at the end of June with nearly 40 years of service to the cooperative.

Spencer McDonald joined Agri-Mark earlier this year as the Senior Vice President of Sales. McDonald has nearly 30 years of experience in consumer-packaged goods (CPG), sales, business strategy, and development. He has implemented successful growth strategies across multiple national brands, mainly in the food industry. McDonald is returning to the dairy business after spending two years leading the sales team at Mowi, the world’s largest salmon producer based out of Norway. Prior to that, McDonald worked for Turkey Hill Dairy where he led the sales team. McDonald also spent a dozen years with Schwan’s Consumer Brands in multiple sales disciplines including account management, category management, and trade spending.

“We are thrilled to have Spencer on board. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience leading teams and executing sales strategies,” commented Lynn. “As we grow and expand our brands, Spencer’s leadership and background in the CPG world, specifically in dairy, will be invaluable to us.”

Derek Zwegust has been promoted to Vice President of Supply Chain & Logistics. Most recently Zwegust served as Director of Corporate Strategy and led Agri-Mark’s strategic planning process, an area in which he will continue to be closely involved. He started with the cooperative as Financial Analyst nearly five years ago. In that role he focused on Agri-Mark’s long-term supply chain needs. He was an integral part and leader of the cooperative’s network optimization team and served as project manager for Agri-Mark’s new distribution facility in Enfield, Connecticut that opened in December 2022. Previously Zwegust worked for Keurig Dr. Pepper in strategy, supply chain planning, and logistics, and he has a degree in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech.

“Derek has made significant contributions since joining just five years ago,” said Lynn. “The knowledge he has gained through the network optimization project and establishing our new distribution facility has prepared him for this new leadership role. We are excited to see him grow and learn.” Zwegust will be responsible for cheese grading and inventory management, sourcing and procurement, logistics, supply chain planning and service. He took over the position from Val Adams, who was promoted to Senior Vice Present of Finance in January.

“We have a talented and dynamic leadership team,” said Lynn. “Dan, Spencer, and Derek’s unique skills, knowledge and capabilities will enhance and elevate our ability to grow our brands and cooperative, and to better support farmers who rely on our collective success.”

Agri-Mark is a dairy cooperative and certified B-Corp that’s owned by hundreds of farm families throughout New England and Upstate New York. Our farmer’s high-quality milk is proudly crafted into award-winning products like Cabot Creamery’s cheddar, butter, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, sour cream and New York’s finest cheese brand, McCadam. Agri-Mark also makes whey and milk protein products that are distributed globally. For more information about Agri-Mark, visit our web site at www.agrimark.coop. 

Source: Waitsfield, Vt. (August 3, 2023) – Agri-Mark, Inc/Cabot Creamery Cooperative