• The Dairy Business Association (DBA) awarded Speaker Robin Vos, a Wisconsin state representative, its annual Leadership Award during the 14th annual Business Conference. Vos, the 75th Speaker of the Assembly, was granted the DBA Leadership Award for his focus on improving the state’s business climate to promote job creation and moving Wisconsin’s economy and dairy industry forward.

Chris Parreira Certified A.I. Specialist Tulare, California All-West/Select Sires

Select Sires Inc. has named two of its own to new positions within the company. Dr. Matt Utt has been named director of research, while Marcus Schmelzer has taken on the role of laboratory safety coordinator.

Michaela Spring Sales and Mareting Manager, Northwest U.S. Nampa, IdahoImmuCell

• The Accelerated Genetics communications team was recognized in the following categories during the annual Cooperative Communicators Association Institute in Nashville, Tennessee, this past year: Two first-place awards for scenic pictorial and cover of the year; three second-place awards for exhibits, print advertising and most improved publication; and Best of Show in photography for its 2013 Beef Sire Directory.

Clayton Gill has been hired as the new public relations and strategic communications manager for Diamond V. Starting in January, Gill will be responsible for the global reach of the company’s public relations efforts, working from headquarters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Rice Dairy (RD), a boutique brokerage firm, has appointed Tom Sandy as the company’s new chief operating officer.

Jerry Kozak joined National Milk Producers Federation in 1997 as its CEO after previous work for the New Jersey Health Department, the Federal Food and Drug Administration and the International Dairy Foods Association. At the end of the year, he will retire and turn over leadership to incoming CEO Jim Mulhern. Progressive Dairyman Editor Walt Cooley interviewed Kozak about his decade-and-a-half tenure as leader of the Arlington, Virginia-based trade association.