Missouri
Biography
As the senior director of innovation for Triumph Foods, Emily Arkfeld, Ph.D., has helped develop key principles of the Prairie Fresh® USA Prime program and has led the company’s efforts to secure multiple patents related to pork processing. Employing more than 2,900 staff members, Triumph Foods processes more than 6 million market animals per year to produce 1.4 billion pounds of pork products.
Emily is an active member of the American Society of Meat Science (17 years) and the American Society of Animal Science (15 years), where she was active on the Growth, Development, Muscle Biology and Meat Science committee for the Midwest section (2020-2022). She volunteered her time and meat science expertise with the Meat Institute on the product quality subgroup for the Foundation of Meat and Poultry Research and Education (2020-2022). Finally, Emily was the advisor of the National Pork Board’s Domestic Marketing committee (2018-2019).
Nominating Committee Comments
Emily Arkfeld is articulate, professional and intelligent. She expresses her opinion in a direct, clear, concise manner that’s not forceful or combative, but with listening and collegiately debating to make decisions. In her interview, she demonstrated her commitment to the process and board member role by offering specific examples of the National Pork Board’s involvement in consumer needs, applied research projects, showpig.com, an early-career internship and her We Care® commitment.
She knows her passion lies in processing technology and innovation. The Nominating committee can see her in the boardroom, in a media interview and on the stage at National Pork Industry Forum. She represents the industry well.