Last updated on January 19th, 2018
Scott McGinty has been named CEO of Aurora Organic Dairy as the company’s founder, Marc Peperzak, assumes a new role as executive chairman.
McGinty brings 20 years of direct category experience and varied perspectives to the role as CEO, the company says. After joining Aurora at its inception to establish product distribution, he was asked to lead manufacturing and logistics in 2007. In 2010, McGinty was named president with responsibility for strategic initiatives and operating results of the company. As an integrated dairy company, he has been involved with all aspects of the business, from capital projects and organic agriculture development, to public policies affecting the organic and dairy industries. Prior to joining Aurora, McGinty helped build the Horizon Organic Dairy brand.
“As president, Scott has been on a succession track for several years and has been assuming the duties of CEO, directly, over the last 18 months,” said Peperzak. “He has been an integral part of our senior leadership team since he joined the company in 2003, and I look forward to his leadership as CEO.”
Peperzak founded Aurora Dairy Corp. in 1976 in Jerome, Idaho, and moved the headquarters to Boulder, Colorado, in 1984. In the early 1990s, Peperzak co-founded Horizon Organic Dairy, for which Aurora began producing organic milk. The company transitioned to a 100 percent organic dairy company in 2003. Since then, Aurora Organic Dairy says it has supported the conversion of more than 100,000 acres to organic agriculture, and has built a team of 700 employees. Peperzak has served as CEO since the company was founded.
McGinty says the company’s strategy is clear and unchanged.
“We are focused on building the strength of retailer organic brands from cow to carton. Our investments in the supply chain will offer our partners more product innovation and traceability than ever before,” he said. “When a talented group of people are this committed to each other, to organic stewardship and unwavering animal care, they have purpose that makes anything possible. I am humbled and proud to lead this team into the future.”
As executive chairman, Peperzak will work directly with Aurora’s senior leadership team in an advisory role, and will continue to serve as chairman of the board of directors.
Aurora operates organic dairy, heifer and calf farms in Colorado and Texas, as well as an organic dairy processing plant in Platteville, Colorado. In early 2019, Aurora expects to begin operations on its second milk plant in Columbia, Missouri. The company manages nearly 12,000 organic pasture acres where its dairy cows graze during the grazing season. Approximately 75,000 additional acres are used to grow organic forages and feed crops by more than 100 independent farmers who support its farms.
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