SEATTLE — Darigold, Inc. the Seattle-based farmer-owned co-op and one of the nation’s largest dairy producers, announced that it has named Richard Scheitler to the newly created position of chief transformation officer. The promotion comes at the midway point of a major transformation strategy that has the 104-year-old co-op pursuing a number of initiatives aimed at global expansion and modernization.
“No business survives for more than 100 years without demonstrating the ability to adapt to changing environments and dynamics,” said Joe Coote, chief executive officer at Darigold. “We are fortunate to be in a growth industry, to have a beloved heritage brand, and supportive farmer-owners who are willing to make the necessary investments to ensure our success well into the future. But realizing that success also means doing the work that’s necessary for our own evolution as a business. Richard is the right person to lead those efforts at Darigold.”
Darigold is well into a transformation journey that has the co-op pursuing initiatives to expand production capacity, modernize its technology infrastructure, and enhance logistics, among other strategic improvements. Most notably, Darigold is building a new production facility in Eastern Washington to expand its capacity in a location that is proximate to a significant number of its affiliated farms as well as rail and maritime shipping infrastructure, and rebuilding a fire-damaged facility in Idaho.
Scheitler originally joined Darigold in 2019 as chief information officer. Prior to Darigold, he held the CIO role at The Wonderful Company, a $4 billion business that owns and operates such well-known consumer brands as FIJI Water, POM Wonderful, Teleflora, Wonderful Pistachios and Almonds, and other businesses in the wine, shipping, and consumer-packaged goods industries, and at POM Wonderful. His background is long on information technology and systems design, and also includes a decade at KPMG Consulting/BearingPoint, where he helped a variety of businesses across categories to make significant strategic improvements and transformations.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master’s degree in Information Systems Technology, both from the George Washington University School of Business and Public Management.
“Richard is a proven leader with a track record of driving successful business transformation efforts,” said Coote. “Since joining our co-op three years ago, he has made considerable progress transforming our technology infrastructure and earned the respect of our board of directors, our senior leadership team, and employees across the organization. I’m confident that he is the right person to lead these key aspects of our transformation.”About Darigold
Headquartered in Seattle, Darigold, Inc. is the marketing and processing subsidiary of Northwest Dairy Association (NDA), which is owned by more than 300 family-owned dairy farms in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. Darigold handles approximately 10 billion pounds of milk annually. Darigold produces a full line of dairy-based products for retail, foodservice, commodity, and specialty markets, and is one of the largest U.S. dairy processors. Darigold, Inc. operates 11 plants throughout the Northwest, processing high-quality milk produced by NDA farm families, and satellite offices in Mexico City, Mexico and Shanghai, China. For more information, visit darigold.com.
