FEBRUARY 5, 2024
New Executive Committee Appointments and Officers Elected
WASHINGTON — CRN (Council for Responsible Nutrition), the leading trade association representing the dietary supplement and functional food industry, today announced the outcomes of elections for its 2024 Board of Directors, along with two new Officers and new appointments to its Executive Committee. Karen E. Todd (Kyowa Hakko) has been re-elected by the full membership to serve a new board term and Ken Myers (Nu Skin) has been elected to his first term. In addition, Laura Harkness (Church & Dwight), David Campbell (Bayer) and Renato Camera (Haleon) have been appointed to the CRN Executive Committee.
The Board of Directors has also elected Chris Reid (Plexus Worldwide) to serve as Treasurer and Aaron Bennett (Vytalogy Wellness) as Secretary of the organization for the remainder of the 2023-24 term. They replace Mandy Kraynik and Mark Walsh who both left their companies near the end of 2023 and thus resigned their CRN positions.
Chris Reid serves as Plexus’ chief legal officer, leveraging his extensive legal experience to develop innovative approaches in legal operations and corporate reputation. Reid initially served as Vice President, Compliance and General Counsel and Vice President, Compliance and Corporate Affairs at Plexus before assuming the title of Chief Legal Officer in 2021, now overseeing the company’s legal operations. In that role he helps to grow Plexus into one of the leading providers in the health and wellness space.
Aaron Bennett serves as Chief Research and Development and Quality Officer of Vytalogy. He previously worked in similar roles at Curation Foods, Kraft Heinz and HJ Heinz, and has served on CRN’s board for nearly two years.
Karen Todd is a registered dietitian and currently is the Vice President of Global Brand Marketing for Kyowa Hakko and is responsible for marketing and branding for health product ingredients. In addition to being a member of CRN’s Executive Committee, she serves as chair of the Women in Nutraceuticals (WIN) initiative.
Ken Myers serves as the Vice President of Product Compliance for Nu Skin Enterprises, supporting the dietary supplement, functional food, cosmetic, beauty and medical device business globally for the past 20 years. This will be Myers’ first elected term on the CRN board.
David Campbell serves as Vice President, North America Regulatory Affairs at Bayer Healthcare; Laura Harkness is Vice President, Global Research & Development at Church and Dwight Co.; and Renato Camera is Vice President Marketing Wellness at Haleon. David and Laura both return to the Executive Committee after a one-year hiatus, as mandated by CRN’s bylaws; Renato is serving his first term in the Executive Committee. CRN Executive Committee members are limited to three consecutive, two-year terms.
Additionally, the Board welcomed several other new members who will represent their respective companies: Travis Borchardt, Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and QC/QA, Nature’s Way; Paul Browner, Head of Regulatory Affairs at dsm-firmenich; Paola Clavijo, Head of Policy, Advocacy and Risk Management, Unilever Health & Wellbeing; Haven Cockerham, Senior Vice President, Self-Care Business Unit, Kenvue; and Ron Fugate, Interim Chief Executive Officer, MeriCal.
“Congratulations to Chris and Aaron for their elections as officers, to Karen and Ken for their elections as board members, and to David, Laura and Renato on their reappointments to the Executive Committee,” said CRN President and CEO Steve Mister. “All of these individuals, including Travis, Paul, Paola, Haven and Ron, have vast experience in our industry and their insights and expertise will help guide the direction CRN takes in serving its members and the supplement industry at large.”
The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), founded in 1973, is a Washington, D.C.-based trade association representing 180+ dietary supplement and functional food manufacturers, ingredient suppliers, and companies providing services to those manufacturers and suppliers. In addition to complying with a host of federal and state regulations governing dietary supplements and food in the areas of manufacturing, marketing, quality control and safety, our manufacturer and supplier members also agree to adhere to additional voluntary guidelines as well as to CRN’s Code of Ethics. Follow us on Twitter @CRN_Supplements and LinkedIn.