Ensuring Food Safety and Security From Farm to Fork

Steven Grover, R.E.S.H., VP Food Safety, Quality Assurance, Regulatory Compliance, Burger King

Steven joined Burger King Corporation as vice president, food safety, quality assurance and regulatory compliance in January 2005. He is responsible for total product safety, quality assurance and regulatory compliance for nearly 11,200 BURGER KING® restaurants in 67 countries. Steven has led the complete reorganization and focused re-prioritization of the BURGER KING® food safety and quality assurance departments

Steven’s industry accomplishments over the last 28 years are numerous. His experience in food safety, quality assurance, health and regulatory affairs give him the in-depth industry knowledge to speak on critical health-and-safety, nutrition and national regulatory policy issues. He is considered an expert by his peers, and has been interviewed over 135 times by CBS News, ABC News, NBC News, “60 Minutes”, “Dateline” NBC and other national news programs regarding food safety, security and obesity related issues.

In 2002, the U. S. Secretary of Agriculture and the U.S. Trade Representative appointed him to the Federal Trade Advisory Committee for Processed Foods and in 2004 he was appointed to the US Food Safety Advisory Committee. Steven has served many leadership roles in food safety, public health and food service industry, including the Board of Director for the Florida Restaurant Association, National Restaurant Association, National Conference for Food Protection, Association of Food and Drug Officials and the National Environmental Health Association. He has held a voting seat on over 20 national and international food safety advisory bodies including the U. S. Food and Drug Administration, U. S. Department of Agriculture, U. S. Department of Homeland Security and the White House.

Walter Staehle, Senior M.E.S Industry Manager,Food & Beverage, Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc.

Mr. Staehle is the Director of Industry Management, Food & Beverage, for Siemens Energy & Automation.  Prior to joining Siemens, he spent over 24 years as an executive with Kraft Foods, the largest food company in North America, most recently as Director, M.E.S. and Shop Floor Systems.  His significant operations experience includes having led production organizations at four plant locations and senior operations staffs at two headquarters locations. He was Plant and General Manager of Kraft Foods’ one million square foot regional manufacturing and distribution center located in Allentown, Pa. Mr. Staehle and his plant leadership team received the Manufacturing Achievement Award in May 1999 from the Ben Franklin Technology Centers of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry and the State Employer Advisory Council honored Mr. Staehle and his plant leadership team with both the Regional and Statewide “Job Creator of the Year” awards in October 2000.

He holds a BA in Economics from Muhlenberg College, an MA (Summa Cum Laude) in Business Management from Central Michigan University and completed post-graduate work in Operations Management, Manufacturing Strategy for Competitive Advantage, and Integrated Supply Chain Management at Stanford University.

Mr. Staehle has co-authored, presented and published numerous articles on Systems for Operations Management, including: “Gaining a Competitive Advantage thru Agile Industry Practices”, published in Solutions, the Journal of the Institute of Industrial Engineering (November 1999), “Scenario-based Approach to Manpower Planning and Scheduling”, presented at the Proceedings of the Decision Sciences Institute (November 1999) and “Integrating Manufacturing and Information Systems for Business Decisions” in the World Market Research Council’s Business Briefing:  Food Tech (July 2002). He was a Manufacturing Excellence Award finalist at the 2003 MESA Conference of the Americas. In 2004, he was the  keynote speaker at ARC’s Performance Driven Manufacturing & Supply Chain Forum, and was the MESA Manufacturing Excellence Award winner in the Product Quality category. Mr. Staehle was also the keynote speaker at the 2005 Food Automation and Manufacturing Conference and presented “Information:  Building, Protecting and Advancing Food Brand Equity” at the 2005 Worldwide Food Expo. He has conducted numerous Web-based seminars including “Manufacturing Visibility” and “The Connected Enterprise” in 2005, and “How MES can Leverage Food Brand Equity” and “Bringing Value to the Brand with e-HACCP” in 2006.

Mr. Staehle currently serves as the regional Ombudsman for the Pennsylvania committee of the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve.  In 1998, he received the Pro Patria Award from the National committee representing the Secretary of Defense for distinguished contributions in support of the National Guard and Reserves and in 1999, was recognized with the State Chairman’s Award for his outstanding service to the national defense.  He was awarded the Bronze Citizenship Medal from United States Marine Corps League in March 2000 and the Distinguished Citizen Medal from the Valley Forge chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution in July 2001.  In April 2002, Mr. Staehle was recognized by the National Chapel of the Four Chaplains with the Legion of Honor, awarded for his work in supporting the Armed Services.