It now appears that James Robson, former CEO of the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, was actually dismissed by the board and did not truly resign.
In his first radio conversation since the announcement last Thursday following a regular board meeting of WMMB dairy producers, Robson tells Pam Jahnke he's still baffled about his dismissal. Robson says he was told by legal counsel and executive board members that they were "taking a different strategic direction" and they believed that would require new leadership. Period. Robson was so surprised by the meeting, that he actually had to walk up to board chair, Connie Seefeldt, later and ask "so am I done today"? The answer – yes.
Robson says he's very proud of his legacy in Wisconsin with WMMB. "You know when I arrived in January of 2001, it looked a lot different here in Wisconsin and the dairy industry overall," Robson says. At that time, Wisconsin's reputation as a cheese state only went as far as it's efficiency to produce 40 pound blocks of cheddar. Today – the state dominates the specialty artisan cheese market and has seen exponential expansion in both dairy milk production and cheese manufacturing.
Robson says one challenge the state will continue to face is that it's deficit in milk production today. Cheese plants and other diary operators need more milk than Wisconsin's currently producing. Right now the state brings in between 3-4 billion pounds of milk annually according to Robson just to meet manufacturing needs.
Robson says he hopes that board members that are being held responsible for managing the more than $30 million in state dairy checkoff monies will take their job seriously and focus. Robson says he understands that taking time away from their operations for board meetings is a challenge – but says the questions they're asking and the decisions they help make will be the guiding force for the state's dairy future and need to be taken seriously. Even now – there is only one contested district for upcoming board elections. All other candidates are running unopposed.
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