ATLANTA — Wendy White, food and beverage manager with the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP), was just elected to the executive board of the International Association of Food Protection (IAFP) as its secretary.
Every year, two prominent members of the organization are chosen from one of three rotating categories — academia, government, and industry — to run for secretary. All group members are eligible to vote, and the election winner joins the IAFP’s executive board for five years, moving in order through its five positions: secretary, vice president, president elect, president, and past president.
Considered one of the world’s most influential food safety organizations, the IAFP was founded in 1911 to facilitate the professional exchange of information regarding protecting the food supply. Its membership numbers in the thousands and spans 50 nations.
“I’ve been a member of this organization since I was a student,” said White, who has been with GaMEP, a program of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, since 2019. “This honor is incredibly special.”
White’s passion for food safety revealed itself when she was earning her B.S. in biology at the University of Georgia.
“I had an epiphany sitting in a microbiology course. The professor spent two weeks on food safety, and I knew wanted to do something with public health. As a subset of public health, food safety is all about preventing illness and injury. That really resonated with me,” she recalled.
“I told my professor, ‘I’d love to learn more about this,’ and he said, ‘Well, you should go two buildings down, because the food science building is right there.’”
White did exactly that, and after completing an M.S. in food science and technology, she spent 17 years in Georgia’s food and beverage manufacturing industry — including a stint as the global director of food safety for an international company — before joining GaMEP to kick-start the group’s food-focused services.
That new programming represents a significant development for GaMEP’s client base. Per the Georgia Department of Economic Development, as of the first quarter of 2024, the state was home to 1,475 food and beverage companies, collectively employing 78,630 people and creating $1.2 billion in income.
“Food/agriculture is the largest manufacturing sector in Georgia, so there was a need for offerings in that area,” said White. “I’ve spent the last six years expanding and developing a suite of services, training, and events geared specifically towards that industry.”
Given the versatility of her expertise, it’s no surprise that the range of positions White has held within IAFP is extensive.
She began her membership as an inaugural member of the group’s Student Professional Development Group (PDG), and over the course of 25 years, she’s organized 15 sessions and presented at seven of them. Later, to support the generation coming up behind her, she spearheaded the Developing Food Safety Practitioners PDG, acting as vice chair and chair from 2012 to 2016.
In addition to being involved in the IAFP Student Mentor Program for the past several years, she also mentors Georgia Tech students on an informal basis.
Philanthropy has always been important to White, and while serving as vice chair of the IAFP Foundation Committee for the past five years, she has helped run scholarship competitions and also helped create grants that reduce annual meeting registration fees for members in need of assistance.
White previously served as vice chair and chair of the IAFP’s Meat and Poultry PDG from 2016 to 2020, becoming IAFP’s Affiliate Council Secretary in 2020. In this role, she became a member of the IAFP Executive Board as Affiliate Council Chairperson for 2021-2022.
And, in 2011, she received the IAFP President’s Recognition Award.
Indeed, White has had no shortage of recognition from her peers in a field that, when navigated successfully, renders itself invisible. “That is definitely one of the challenges of this career choice,” she said. “When everything is perfect, absolutely nothing happens.”
She will take up her post as IAPF secretary following the organization’s 2025 membership meeting, scheduled to be held this July in Cleveland, Ohio.