Making Our Visions a Reality

Now more than ever, IFT and our membership community are poised to translate our visions into reality. Warren Bennis, an American scholar and author said, “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” From packaging and processing, to food safety and feeding the world, IFT remains a valuable resource for our members—completely committed to our vision of advancing the science of food and our profession. When you think about our professional IFT community, who do you want in the forefront leading us, and continuing our important work?

Dynamic leadership and credibility are critical at this time. The profession and the food supply are at a critical juncture of providing safe food to the growing global population and developing products that may reduce the risk of chronic diseases. It is essential that IFT members, committed to the future of the profession and the organization with its goals, continue to exercise their responsibility and demonstrate their leadership by voting for the next leadership team.

On January 3, 2012, IFT announced the slate of candidates for the 2012 Leadership Election and opened the petition process. The 15 candidates are talented and hardworking professionals who offer a breadth of knowledge about the profession, a diverse volunteer history within IFT and beyond, and a steadfast commitment to each of you and IFT. IFT’s voting membership elects one member for President-Elect, four members for the Board of Directors, and three members for the Nominations & Elections Committee.

For President-Elect, the candidates are Janet Collins and Catherine Adams Hutt. Board Member candidates are John Coupland, Luis Fernandez, Bruce Ferree, Scott Lineback, Rebeca Lopez-Garcia, Robert McGorrin, Rakesh Singh, and Cindy Stewart. Candidates to serve as members of the Nominations & Elections Committee are Bob Brackett, Marianne Gillette, Indra Mehrotra, Lauren Shimek, and Lu Ann Williams. During our election from February 8 to March 8, 2012, IFT members can cast their ballots electronically from any Internet-accessible computer worldwide.

We know that our IFT leaders are committed to the ongoing success of IFT—and the accomplishments and qualifications of our 2012 slate of candidates exemplifies this. Let’s consider which of our candidates have the ability to be the best visionaries leading our organization into the future. Determine which candidates will shine as consensus builders and strategic thinkers.

Thanks to the expertise of the individuals on our Nominations & Elections Committee, our slate of candidates includes enthusiastic, engaging, and results-oriented leaders. Their hard work is producing a greater number of highly qualified candidates each year, making their job particularly difficult. A very special thank you to Suzanne Nielsen (Chair), Ellen Bradley (Past Chair), Moira McGrath (Chair Designate), Paul Cole, John Floros, Amanda Lathrop, Nancy Nagle, Jaime Reeves, John Rupnow, and Jenny Scott for a job well done.

Our professional IFT community succeeds in large part due to the leaders we have chosen to set the course for our organization. Our leaders enhance our member community and support our vision, while contributing to important advancements in food science. Help us to elect our future leaders, and continue to collaborate as one cohesive community of food science professionals dedicated to making our visions a reality.

Follow-up to January President’s Message
Last month, my message was entitled “Food Science and Sodium.” I would like to share some additional thoughts on the issue of sodium and the President’s Message. Through some of the responses I’ve received from readers, it is clear that there are many opinions on the science and the best approach to achieving sodium reduction in foods.

While some readers disagreed with the perspectives expressed in the President’s Message, I do welcome your thoughts and emails. Providing a professional community for open dialogue is an example of how IFT offers several opportunities to challenge and further the science. This important exchange of information benefits not only our profession, but the consuming public.

Also, I would like to clarify the goal of the President’s Message. We continue to update you on important IFT initiatives, and raise awareness of critical topics that are important to the membership as a whole. Because IFT is a scientific society of 17,000+ individuals, it is difficult to reflect all viewpoints. Often, critical issues and perspectives are presented to readers very briefly in the President’s Message; the one-page format limits our ability to fully present all facets of an issue.

It is always gratifying to know that the President’s Message is being read, and your feedback will help us shape future topics and address issues of importance. I welcome this ongoing exchange of information and invite you to share your thoughts so that we can continue to advance the science of food together.

Roger Clemens, Dr.P.H.,
IFT President, 2011–2012
Chief Scientific Officer, Horn Company, La Mirada, Calif.
[email protected]