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About the staff

Award-winning editorial and accessible print-and-online content

Award-winning editorial and accessible print-and-online content make Meatingplace the industry’s go-to publication. Meatingplace’s best-in-class editorial team has won five Jesse H. Neal Awards for journalistic excellence in the past two years. This award, commonly referred to as the “Pulitzer Prize of the Business Media,” gives street credibility to the integrity and high quality of reporting and writing featured in Meatingplace. Editorial accolades and strong readership translate to a healthy customer base for advertisers. This means as an advertiser, you’re missing out if you’re not a part of the Meatingplace space!

Editorial staff

Lisa Keefe, Editor

Ms. Keefe joined the Meatingplace team as editor in January 2008. Under Keefe’s leadership, Meatingplace has won five Jesse Neal Awards. In addition to overseeing all content in the monthly publication, Keefe contributes daily to the Meatingplace.com electronic newsletter. Prior, Keefe spent 10 years at the American Marketing Association in Chicago as editor of its flagship magazine, Marketing News. There, she led the publication to earn 13 awards for editorial and design. Before joining the AMA, Keefe was an editor and reporter for Crain’s Chicago Business. She also previously worked for The Orlando Sentinel in Florida and Forbes magazine in the Houston bureau. Keefe holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Rita Jane Gabbett, Executive Editor

Ms. Gabbett oversees the franchise’s industry-leading daily news operation, and, in addition, writes and edits in-depth features for Meatingplace In Print. She is the former managing editor of Reuters, North America. Also during her tenure at Reuters, Gabbett ran financial news operations in Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Chicago. Raised on a farm in Illinois, Gabbett started her journalism career covering the agriculture industry in Washington, D.C.

Tom Johnston, Managing Editor

Mr. Johnston serves as lead news and feature writer for the brand’s twice daily online newsletters and monthly magazine. Johnston has three Jesse Neal Awards to his credit for his contributions to Meatingplace. Before joining Meatingplace in December 2006, Johnston was a staff writer for a suburban Chicago newspaper chain, where he covered local government and business. His work there earned several awards, including Suburban Newspapers of America’s best feature writing and best in-depth reporting. He is a graduate of Penn State University.

Michael Fielding, Managing Editor of Technical Content

Mr. Fielding is an award-winning journalist with nearly 20 years of experience, including more than half a dozen regional and national journalism awards. He brings his experience in website management and new media to his role in engaging the Meatingplace technical audience through weekly online newsletters, in-depth print analysis and webinars. Prior to joining Meatingplace, he edited an infrastructure-related trade magazine for one of the nation’s largest business-to-business media companies. Since 2007 he has operated a community news site in Chicago, incorporating new media tools including original multimedia reporting, news aggregation and user-generated content. He holds a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Dani Friedland, Assistant Editor

Ms. Friedland came to Meatingplace as an intern in February 2010 and never left. Now assistant editor, she researches, writes and edits print and online stories for Meatingplace and its sister publications. She also manages social media outreach efforts for Meatingplace’s news coverage. Friedland holds a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism with concentrations in interactive storytelling and magazine writing & editing and a bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College.

Technical contributors

Ana Elia Rocha de McGuire, Senior Technical Editor

While continuing to build the CarneTec franchise, Ms. McGuire also shares her meat science and technical expertise company-wide, overseeing the technical direction of the entire slate of technical articles deployed on our English, Spanish and Portuguese websites. Prior to applying her expertise to CarneTec magazine for the last 12 years, Ms. McGuire served as Quality Assurance/Operations Control Manager for two Mexican poultry processing companies; Grupo Buenaventura in Chiapas, Mexico, and Grupo Genera in Monterrey, Mexico. Ms. McGuire holds a Master’s degree in Food Science from Kansas State University and a B.S. in Human Nutrition and Dietetics, Nuevo Leon State University, Monterrey, Mexico.

Robert Jon Maddock, Ph.D., Technical Contributor

An Assistant Professor of Animal Science at North Dakota State University, Dr. Maddock is the author of more than 25 scientific journal articles, technical papers and abstracts. Previously he was Extension Associate, Meat Quality at Texas Agricultural Extension Service and Texas A&M University. He received his Ph.D. in Meat Science from Texas A&M University.

Joseph G. Sebranek, Ph.D., Technical Contributor

Dr. Sebranek, a professor of Animal Science, Food Science and Human Nutrition at Iowa State University, has been a member of the World Food Logistics Organization’s Scientific Advisory Council since 2002. He was president of the American Meat Science Association from 2002 to 2003 and is the Review Editor for the Processed Meats Manual. Sebranek was a member of the Organizing Committee for International Congress from 2000 to 2005 and served as the Chair of the Muscle Foods Division of the Institute of Food Technologists from 1982 to 1983 and 1991 to 1992.

Wes Schilling, Ph.D. Technical Contributor

Dr. Schilling is not only a regular contributor to Meatingplace.com’s swath of poultry-related technical articles, but also Associate Professor in the Department of Food Science Nutrition and Health Promotion at Mississippi State University. At MSU, Dr. Schilling’s research focuses on increasing added value, shelf life prediction, flavor issues and processing. Dr. Schilling received his Bachelor’s of Science, two Master’s of Science and Ph.D. degrees from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Editorial Management

Mark Lefens, President & Editor In Chief

In 1993, Mr. Lefens saw a need for more targeted meat and poultry industry information and founded Marketing & Technology Group. Prior, Lefens held senior editorial and publishing positions with several other meat industry publications. Having spent nearly three decades immersed in the meat and poultry industries, Lefens is a recognized authority on industry trends and issues.

Bill McDowell, Vice President & Editorial Director

Mr. McDowell is responsible for overseeing editorial operations for several award-winning publications, including Meatingplace, CarneTec, Plate and HOTELS. Previously, he was editorial director of the Food & Beverage Group at VerticalNet and associate publisher/editor-in-chief of Chain Leader. Other editorial stints include senior editor at Advertising Age.