New Board Members, Officers Elected at NMC 47th Annual Meeting

Herman Barkema, University of Calgary, and Liliana Sotomayor, a dairy consultant from Ecuador, joined the NMC board of directors following the 47th NMC Annual Meeting, held January 20-23, 2008 in New Orleans, Louisiana. They replace retiring board members Joe Hogan, The Ohio State University, and Ken Leslie, University of Guelph.

NMC board members elected Larry Fox, Washington State University, to serve as president; Norm Schuring, WestfaliaSurge, Inc., as first vice president; Pamela Ruegg, University of Wisconsin-Madison, as second vice president; Eric Hillerton, DairyNZ, as secretary; and David Reid, BouMatic, as treasurer.

Barkema completed his doctor of veterinary medicine degree at Utrecht University in The Netherlands. Then, he worked in Costa Rica as a manager of a large dairy and beef herd. Barkema returned to Utrecht University as a contract veterinarian to teach bovine herd health. While working on his doctorate project, he became the epidemiologist of the ruminant section of the Dutch Animal Health service. In 2001, Barkema moved to Prince Edward Island to become associate professor, epidemiology and farm service. Currently he serves as a professor in epidemiology of infectious diseases and heads the department of production animal health at the University of Calgary's new Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.

Sotomayor graduated from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. Previously, she worked for dairy veterinary practices in Chino, California, Sunnyside, Washington, and Fairbanks, Alaska, before returning to Ecuador in 1997. Currently, she serves as a dairy consultant for three milk processors as a milk quality and animal health adviser. Her work focuses on farmer and employee training, leading dairy producer workshops and advising at the plant level on milk quality and public health issues. In addition, she runs a family-owned 150-cow dairy herd. The dairy's somatic cell count has averaged less than 150,000 for the past four years. Sotomayor uses the farm as a base for dairy producer training programs.