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Dairy checkoff’s leader reflects on 25-year career ahead of leadership change

The retiring CEO of Dairy Management Inc. says consumers have changed how they think about food since she joined the checkoff 25 years ago.

Barb O’Brien tells Brownfield, “Trust is up nine points from a consumer standpoint, and that’s trust in dairy foods, in dairy farmers, in the category.”

“The alternatives continue to decline,” she says. “Dairy continues across the portfolio to grow.”

As DMI transitions leadership, incoming CEO Corey Scott says she plans to explore new pathways to secure demand.

“Dairy farmers are what I would call serial entrepreneurs,” she shares. “They’re always looking for the next thing to make their operation excel, and they have similar expectations for the checkoff work that we do. I’m very excited to lean into that.”

Scott says size does not dictate if a producer is a thought leader or successful entrepreneur, and she looks forward to working with all-sized farms.

Pennsylvania dairy farmer and chair of DMI Marilyn Hershey says, “It’s not great for everybody right now.”

“There are times our farms, small, medium, or large, will go through very difficult times and how do you make sure that farmers have those efficiencies?” she questions. “I think checkoff has a lane with promotion and research.”

O’Brien says the need for strong relationships has not changed, and growing exports and new demand depends on the entire industry.

O’Brien will officially retire following the Joint Annual Meeting of the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board (NDB), National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and United Dairy Industry Association (UDIA) later this month.