Names of Note: Modesto’s Crystal Creamery has new CEO. Dairy industry aids food banks
Dennis Roberts is the new president and CEO at Crystal Creamery in Modesto, where he has worked on and off since 2002.
He succeeds Marty Devine, who had led the company since 2018. Devine will stay on as a consultant during the transition.
Crystal employs 431 people at its Kansas Avenue plant, which produces fluid milk, sour cream, butter, ice cream and several other products. About 150 others work around the Central Valley and at the organic Humboldt Creamery near Eureka.
Roberts, 54, has worked for dairy processors around the West and South for about 30 years. He was the Modesto company’s vice president of sales and marketing from 2002 to 2009, when it was known as Foster Farms Dairy. He held the same post with Crystal from 2014 to 2018.
A foray into seafood – as an executive vice president for Regal Springs Tilapia in Florida – preceded Roberts’ return to Crystal as CEO.
“Our mission will not change,” he said in a news release. “Crystal Creamery will continue to nourish families with simple, delicious ingredients and the freshest dairy from family and local farms.”
Crystal last made news with the revamping of all 29 ice cream flavors away from artificial ingredients earlier this year. Roberts said this has been a hit with consumers.
Dairy groups give both milk and money
Two statewide dairy industry groups have teamed up to help food banks meet the COVID-19 demand.
They are donating about 1.2 million servings of milk, and one of the groups also will give money via an Instagram campaign.
One is the California Milk Processor Board, which promotes fluid products via the Got Milk? tagline. The other is the California Milk Advisory Board, a farmer-funded outfit involved with cheese, yogurt, ice cream and other goods.
The donations will go to 17 food banks in the Feeding America network, including Second Harvest Food Bank of San Joaquin & Stanislaus Counties. Its service area also takes in Merced and nearby Sierra Nevada counties.
The processor group also will give $1 toward food bank meals each time a supporter mentions @gotmilk on its Instagram page through Sept. 30. The total donation will range between $25,000 and $100,000.
“It pains farmers to see so many children and families struggling with hunger, and they are grateful to do something to help,” said John Talbot, CEO of the Milk Advisory Board, in a news release.
And finally ...
Modesto crime writer Mike Monson has published “Ride Sharing,” inspired by his two years as an Uber and Lyft driver. It contains 37 stories, sketches and vignettes, some of them wholly or partly fictional. They take place mostly in the San Joaquin Valley.
“After reading only a couple of pages, you’ll know I’m not writing about being an Uber driver in L.A. or San Francisco,” Monson said in a news release. “These stories would not have happened anywhere else.”
“Ride Sharing” can be purchased on Amazon.
Monson also wrote the noir crime novellas “The Scent of New Death,” “What Happens in Reno” and “A Killer’s Love,” as well as the crime novel “Tussinland.”
Names of Note recognizes people and organizations for their contribution to their communities. Submit items to jholland@modbee.com.
