The American Egg Board (AEB) has named Bill Winkelman vice president of industry affairs and engagement, Nick Jones director of international marketing and Erica Mirth manager of content and design.
“The success of our industry rests with people, and the American Egg Board is continuing to deepen its bench strength with the experienced and proven talent required to deliver on major initiatives,” said Emily Metz, AEB president and CEO. “Bill Winkelman and Nick Jones were specifically recruited for important roles that, respectively, will strengthen and expand the essential support we provide to the industry and our producers in dramatic new ways and further our efforts to substantially increase exports of U.S. eggs and egg products to valuable markets across the globe. Erica Mirth brings much needed in-house creative expertise to ensure everything we execute reflects who we are as an industry and the best-in-class design standards of our brand.”
About Bill Winkelman
An established agriculture industry leader with extensive experience in pork, Winkelman is tasked with increasing the value delivered to U.S. egg producers through key support initiatives and engagement with egg industry stakeholders; building alliances within the industry and the broader agriculture sector; overseeing the AEB’s assessment collection process; and supporting fundraising, sponsorships, and promotion.
Most recently, Winkelman was executive director for the U.S. Pork Center of Excellence and COO of FarrPro Inc. Winkelman also served for eight years as vice president of producer and industry relations at the National Pork Board, where his responsibilities included development of resources such as national certification programs and workplace safety training, as well liaising between the National Pork Board staff and 41 state pork associations. He joined National Pork from Smithfield’s Murphy Brown LLC, where he was director of analysis and development for Western Operations. Prior to Smithfield, he served as CFO for National Pork. Winkelman has a B.A. in Accounting from Iowa State University and is credentialed in several continuous improvement training programs.
About Nick Jones
With more than two decades of experience in the U.S. pork industry and retail sector, Jones is responsible for developing, activating and maintaining the AEB’s strategic industry-wide initiative focused on deliberate and accelerated international growth that aims to double U.S. shell and egg product exports to high-value target markets around the world.
Jones joins the AEB from Berkwood Farms, a coalition of over 100 independent family farmers, where he was CEO and revolutionized, relaunched and rebranded Berkwood Farms as an elite pork product brand that is on-trend with consumer needs and attracts customers from both the domestic and international markets. He was promoted to the position from head of operations, overseeing financial day-to-day operations, performing trend analysis within the marketplace and forecasts, budget and quarterly reports, and cash flow recommendations. Prior to Berkwood, Jones was a lab technician with BASF SE, a German multinational chemical company. He has a B.S. in Marketing and Transportation Logistics from Iowa State University.
About Erica Mirth
Mirth will be responsible for conceptualizing and executing visually compelling designs while also contributing to the development of diverse content materials. Her graphic design will be combined with storytelling to support marketing activations, communications programs, meetings and events, and other creative needs across the organization. Erica will play a crucial role in creating engaging content across various mediums, ensuring a consistent and impactful brand presence.
Erica MirthCourtesy American Egg Board
Mirth joins AEB from Jackie O’s Brewery, where she led the quarterly conceptualization of all design, branding, packaging, and advertising materials for more than eight new brands. She also managed the design and social media teams, administering oversight and mentorship, in addition to coordinating with cross-functional teams to provide creative direction and ensure brand standards were maintained.
