Courtesy of TAG
BIGFORK, Mont. – The Acheson Group (TAG) announced the hires of Kevin Steward, who joins the team as a director of food safety, and Don Kautter and Jennifer van de Ligt, who are joining as senior advisors.
Steward has more than 25 years of experience in food safety and quality management, holding leadership roles for major food companies in environmental and regulatory compliance, operations, workplace safety and statistical process control and improvement, as well as food safety and quality management systems.
After serving in the United States Air Force, Steward began his career in manufacturing in a non-food sector, then transferred this knowledge to food, providing quality management and food safety expertise to companies such as Coca-Cola, Bigelow Tea, 4C Foods, Boxed Inc. and BH Coffee.
“As a believer that a strong culture needs to exist for a successful food safety system, I am excited about applying my industry experience to help others achieve a robust culture for food safety and quality success,” Steward said. “I enjoy being part of a team where I can utilize my experience and expertise to add value, and I see joining the TAG team as a great way of doing that.”
Steward holds a bachelor's in quality management systems and a Six Sigma certification, is HACCP and PCQI certified and is a SQF practitioner. He has experience implementing GFSI schemes (BRCGS, SQF and FSSC-22000) with distribution and manufacturing organizations.
Kautter has 30 years of senior positions at FDA, culminating in 10 years as a senior advisor/consumer safety officer in the FDA Human Foods Program.
Kautter brings knowledge and experience in reviewing and resolving regulatory, compliance and policy issues, with a focus on Preventive Controls for Human Food, HACCP, microbiological contamination/environmental monitoring, intentional contamination/food defense and related enforcement and corrective actions.
Having been a primary instructor at FDA for federal and state investigators, inspectors and compliance officers, Kautter will assist in providing training in GMPs, FSMA Preventive Controls for Human Food, enforcement action and corrective actions response and other areas.
“I know what the agency wants from a firm to bring it into compliance and how facilities can prepare for inspections,” Kautter said. “Having sat across the table from The Acheson Group in many compliance meetings, I knew things would always be better when TAG was involved, so I’m happy to now be a part of TAG team.”
Van de Ligt served as a senior advisor in intentional adulteration for FDA and director of the Food Protection and Defense Institute. She will intensify TAG’s expertise in the Intentional Adulteration rule, food defense preparation and food fraud prevention. She also brings expertise in nutrition, product development, ingredient safety evaluation and approval and claim substantiation for both human and animal foods and ingredients.
“Having held senior positions in private and public food and regulatory sectors, I bring a range of perspectives to provide solutions that cover all aspects of a situation,” van de Ligt said. “I look forward to augmenting the core expertise of TAG with my knowledge and experience to help bring comprehensive offerings to clients.”
“I am thrilled to welcome Kevin, Don and Jennifer to the TAG team of recognized food safety and public health experts,” said president and CEO Dr. David Acheson. “Their addition as food safety consultants further expands our expert offerings and capabilities, enhancing TAG’s value to our clients.”
As TAG is a virtual company with its experts working from where they live, the expansion is also geographic, as Steward is located in New York, Kautter in Washington, D.C., and Van de Ligt in Minnesota.