Farewell

Just recently Ag Sector President Scott Norling reminded me that “the only constant is change.” Well folks, that couldn’t be any closer to the truth. Change is most certainly occurring and a fresh new season is upon us. Between new company partnerships, organization restructures, new hires and retirements – it can be quite the roller coaster ride keeping up with our family of companies!

I (Yes, I will be writing in the first person for this blurb; I = Mike Bregel) will be transitioning to a new position at another company. Now, don’t you shed another tear, I won’t be far. I’ll be working with Betsy Bonnema’s team over at Redstar Creative; still here on the Minnwest Technology Campus in Willmar, MN.

I feel a bit awkward taking up precious space in our employee update, but after over 3 years of communicating information to all of you wonderful people, I feel that I must do a proper send off (also I was ordered to by my team!). It has been an absolute pleasure working with all of you Turkeys. Whether I’m partnering with the hatcheries to better communicate bio security, or helping an engineering team conceptualize their product ideas, or sprucing up the visuals of an internal training program, there is always something interesting and unique to be apart of. The diversity of our family of companies I believe is our greatest strength. In the Communications & Marketing role, I am grateful to have been able to work with all of the affiliates in our web of turkey-ness. I certainly get a unique perspective of how connected each part of the whole is. I’ll give an example:

I remember a day in the summer of 2015 when I was minding my own business – entering a restroom on the 3rd floor of Nova-Tech Engineering’s 1705 to relieve a desperate bladder. Just then I ran into NTE’s President Jim Sieben. He asked me something about Die-electric treatments, the Industrial Park Hatchery and a communication piece that I was apparently involved in – ever have those moments where you feel like you should know something but you don’t? I had no idea what he was talking about…

Never-the-less, this conversation led to many more and turned out to be a very cool collaboration between the innovation of Nova-Tech Engineering and our largest ag sector hatchery working together to clearly communicate a new idea & value to our customers. This project hit that sweet spot of R&D & operations coming together to deliver on our purpose!

Lets switch gears: One of the things I’ll miss most is being able to publicly humiliate (in a fun and respectful way of course) my fantastic co-workers via the Employee Update. I might as well give one last hurrah in that arena; I present to you a highlight reel of humiliating content that I have collected over the years for your pure pleasure and delight!

*we understand that not all of you will know every person in this video; but hopefully you’ll recognize a few & still appreciate the fun*

I feel confidant in our beloved Executive Assistant Pam Schlagel to take over this company communication. Pam offers a great funnel of information as she is close to the senior leadership team, and will be a perfect champion of the employee update! (All future inquires and content for the update should now be forwarded to Pam)

I would like to thank Jonathan Huisinga and his vision for my type of position and taking a chance on a scrappy millennial artist.

I appreciate you all putting up with me for the past few years. See you around.

Cheers,

Mike Bregel

Retirement

Over the past 47 years, Tim Johnson (second from left) has been leading and managing many of the operational divisions in the Live Production area of the Willmar Poultry group. As of Friday, November 3rd, Tim handed those responsibilities over to other members of the WPF/Wilpro team.

Larry Lind (second from right) also retired on November 1st, with over 18 years working with the Wilpro group.  Larry started his career with Jennie-O, and we were pleased to have Larry finish his career with us.

 

 

Congratulations Gary!

Please join us in Congratulating Gary Ascheman as he announces his retirement “sometime in 2018” from the Administrative Manager position at Farm Service Elevator here in Willmar, MN. Gary will transition to 3 days per week starting December 1, 2017. Gary will have 31 years with FSE in January. FSE will be posting this position and recruitment to fill these big shoes will begin.  We are so thankful Gary will be helping in the transition of this position.

Here are some fun facts: Gary buys over $50,000,000  worth of ingredients each year, mainly corn, ddg’s, and soybean meal. We are consistently near the top of Agri-stats in his areas of purchasing which has a very strong ripple effect to everyone that feeds through FSE. Gary’s duties don’t end with purchasing ingredients as he also monitors our utility consumption and rates to the facility; he even buys spot natural gas during winter months to keep FSE’s costs at a competitive advantage. His 31 years of knowledge will be extremely difficult to replace but we wish him well as he makes this transition.

Congratulations Gary!

The Force Awakens

In a Galaxy far, far away…or well, actually, just in our Galaxy: Dave Dykshoorn, Business Systems Product Owner at Nova-Tech Engineering has been experiencing some strange happenings over the last couple years. He has received random Star Wars paraphernalia on his desk or in his office in a consistently intermittent fashion…and still to this day has no idea who it is.

“…But I am grateful, cuz Star Wars. I mean really! I hope I never make that person mad or I might start getting Star Trek stuff.” – Dave

The most recent developments are pictured below. The pez dispensers showed up a couple months ago with the Giant BB8 head arriving months before. Many other items such as a 2 foot plush Darth Vader, small plush storm troopers and a little Kilo Ren have magically arrived in Dave’s workspace.

Again, the mystery continues.

 

Years of Service

Congratulations:

 

Glen Miller (Poult Driver with Select Genetics in Foley, MN) celebrated 5 years with the company this year.

 

Diane Gleaves (Dispatch – admin support with Select Genetics in MN) celebrated 10 years with the company this year.

 

Tim Swanson (Poult Driver with Select Genetics) celebrated 10 years with the company this year.

 

New Babies

Congratulations Winner Jacobson (Serviceman & Karen liaison for Select Genetics) and his wife Deanna on the birth of their daughter Araya Mae Jacobson! Born: October 6th @ 9:15am, weighing: 8 lbs 3 oz. Araya was welcomed home by her big brother Malachi.

 

Congratulations Jonathon Buckle (Serviceman for Select Genetics in Fortuna, MO) on the birth of your daughter Adaline Jaymes Buckle! Adaline was born weighing: 6 lbs 12 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long.

 

Congratulations Francisco Ibarra (Farm Manager for Select Genetics ) on the birth of your son Luciano Mateo Ibarra! Luciano was born weighing 6.8 lbs and 19 inches long.

Recruiting Corner

Bienvenido de vuleta a Jami Halliday, Ag Sector Recruiter from her time away as now a Mom of 2 beautiful children!  She and Jay were muy suerte to be blessed this time with a baby girl, Adelynn Mae.  She’s way too adorable not to share this photo of her!   We are glad to have her back and don’t hesitate to send her a quick welcome note or just stop by the HR Department at LSI for a quick hola if you haven’t already.

We’ll Miss You Magic Mike!!!!!

I’m not going to be able to top the creative farewell video that Mike Bregel put together, but I definitely want to say THANK YOU and the ABSOLUTE BEST to you, Mike!!!  Your creative magic and unique personality is going to be missed here!  We’re going to miss you and the talents you brought to the recruiting department. (We’re glad you’re not going too far!) 🙂

Our Online Employment Listings are Updated Weekly!

You do not have to wait for the next update to come out to find out the positions and opportunities we have available across all of our affiliate companies. Just hop online and check out http://life-scienceinnovations.com/employment.  Each position will include a summary of the opportunity, and describe the experience and qualifications we’re ideally looking for in an applicant.  If you or someone you know is interested, please send us an email note with attached resume AND a short cover letter or a note to share with us WHY you have interest and believe you are a fit!

Have a WONDERFUL upcoming Thanksgiving holiday everyone!!

– Michelle Falling, MN Affiliates Recruiting Specialist

Openings

Current status of all organizational openings.

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Welcome New Employees

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Employee Count

As of 11/14/17 we have 1,938 employees

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Human Resources

The Human Resources/Employee Services Team specializes in benefits and payroll, compliance and policy, employee relations, legal compliance, and company & employee overall well-being. We are located on the first floor of Life-Science Innovations on the MinnWest campus at 1800 Technology Drive. We look forward to working with you!

Please message us via email at employee.services@life-scienceinnovations.com or give us a call at

320.222.9515 or 888.320.9750 extension 2515