The NCIMS Hall of Fame was created in April of 2013 to recognize individuals who have devoted significant time, resources, and leadership skills—sometimes sacrificing greatly—in order to enhance the NCIMS documents and program. Through the volunteer efforts of all NCIMS members the incidence of milk-borne illness in the United States has been almost eliminated.
The details of this program can be found in 2013 Resolution No. 11.
Nominations are open for the 2023 Hall of Fame Award. Please use this link to download the NCIMS Hall of Fame Nomination Form and email it to Cary Frye, NCIMS Executive Secreatry at ncims.frye@outlook.com by the deadline of February 21, 2023.
2019 Hall of Fame Award Recipients
Frank Barcellos, Oregon
Frank Barcellos, graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a Bachelor’s degree in microbiology and served as a senior microbiologist and lab supervisor from 1976 to 1993 for the state regulatory laboratory in eastern Oklahoma. In 2011, he was appointed Director of Dairy Services in the Food Safety Division for the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture and continued as supervisor of the Regulatory Dairy and Food laboratory. In 2012, he became the Food Program Manager with the Oregon Department of Agriculture. During his career, he served on many NCIMS committees and councils, as well as the NCIMS Executive Board. He served with great distinction as Chair of the NCIMS Lab Committee for over 15 years and through nine biennial meetings of NCIMS. His calm demeanor, expertise, and highly measured circumspect approach to addressing issues, allowed him to serve the Laboratory Committee with great distinction, and to serve all NCIMS stakeholders, including states industry and FDA, in the approval of many laboratory methods and the discussion and deliberation of very complex technical challenges related to laboratory matters.
Dr. Thomas Graham, Maryland
Thomas Graham of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began attending NCIMS biennial Conferences in 1991, and has been an attendee or an active participant in fourteen Conferences since that time. Dr. Graham co-authored many proposals with others from the FDA that contributed to the ongoing improvement of the NCIMS program over the years. He has worked within the Laboratory Proficiency and Evaluation Team (LPET) of FDA from the early 1990s as an auditor of state dairy laboratories and their personnel, with his distinguished service leading to his eventual appointment as the supervisor of LPET in December 9, 2009. During his career with FDA, he has been responsible for teaching many state laboratory evaluation officers across the nation. His expertise and seemingly unflappable demeanor, garnering him the highest respect from his colleagues, the states, and industry. As an adviser to the NCIMS Executive Board, Councils and various committees, he has greatly influenced policy, practices, and the content of NCIMS documents to the betterment of the national program over the last 28 years.
Dave Lattan, Illinois
Dave Lattan started his career 40 years ago with the New Era Dairy milk plant in Carbondale, Illinois. Over the next four decades, he attended and served in various roles for 16 biennial meetings of NCIMS from 1989 to the present. During those years, no one has demonstrated more commitment and dedication to the NCIMS mission, nor has anyone better exemplified the very best strengths, values, and ethics of the national Grade A milk program. He was appointed as the very first chair of the NCIMS Technical Engineering Review Committee, serving from 1991 through the 2017 conference. During that time, he distinguished himself as a gifted leader, a person of sound judgment and wisdom, and of professional integrity. These qualities have caused him to be sought out by many for assistance or guidance, including on parliamentary and technical matters, as well as Conference history. Dave has also served on the NCIMS Executive Board over the last 12 years with great distinction, including the important role of Vice Chair.
2017 Hall of Fame Award Recipients
Donald M. Breiner, Pennsylvania
Mr. Don Breiner began his career as a field representative with Interstate Milk Producers Cooperative in 1971. In 1986, he was promoted to Manager of Quality Control and Regulatory Affairs for Atlantic Dairy Cooperative which later merged with the Land O’Lakes Company. Don maintained that important role in Land O’Lakes’ management until his retirement in 2013. From 1983 through 2013 he attended 16 NCIMS Conferences, including the special Conference held in 1997. As an industry leader, he ensured that the dairy industry view was well represented in a fair and level-headed manner, and his professional yet approachable style of seeking solutions of importance to the NCIMS mission was highly respected by both state and industry colleagues. In recognition of his service to the dairy industry Mr. Breiner received an Honorary Life Membership Award in 2011 from the Dairy Practices Council, and the Distinguished Service Award in 1998 from the Pennsylvania Association of Milk, Food and Environmental Sanitarians. During his career, Don served on various NCIMS committees, as a council member and Chair, as well as a member of the NCIMS Executive Board, where he held a long and distinguished tenure as Vice Chair. His passion for the people and process of NCIMS motivated him to serve as a mentor to many, both in industry and state programs alike, and he worked to make the NCIMS program better for all involved.
Robert F. Hennes, Maryland
Capt. Bob Hennes was actively involved with the Grade “A” NCIMS program for forty years at both the state and federal level. During his 40-year career he admirably fulfilled the duties and responsibilities of a routine dairy inspector, State Rating Officer, State Dairy Program Manager, FDA Regional Milk Specialist and 17 years as Leader of the FDA National Milk Safety Team. In that role he served as a highly respected national dairy expert who provided technical assistance and program guidance to 18 Regional Milk Specialists, regulatory agencies in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, industry, foreign governments, FDA Centers, and other federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Defense. Captain Hennes attended 18 NCIMS Conferences and provided invaluable expertise on numerous committees and councils, including as a voting delegate when employed by the North Dakota State Department of Health. As an unwavering supporter of the national Grade “A” program, he earned the reputation as a consistent, highly credible, and sometimes tough, voice of the federal-state cooperative perspective that has made the NCIMS so successful at protecting public health for decades. During his many years of dedicated service, he demonstrated a sincere and passionate commitment to the NCIMS program and its important mission to assure the safest possible milk supply for all the people.
J. William Johnston, South Carolina
Bill Johnston is a graduate of Penn State and Cal State University and served as Vice President of Student Affairs at Southern Methodist University and again while a professor at Northwestern. He first served as Parliamentarian for NCIMS in 1997 and filled that important role for 11 Conferences. His invaluable work led to the creation of Article II, Section 10 of the NCIMS Bylaws that specifically authorized the Chair of NCIMS to retain the services of a Parliamentarian to rule on Parliamentary Procedures at Board meetings, Council meetings and during voting delegate meetings of the Conference. During his years of service, Bill helped to instruct many attendees in the art of parliamentary procedure and Roberts Rules of Order that greatly benefited the working activities of NCIMS. One of the most important strengths of NCIMS is the ability of various stakeholders to meet, confer, deliberate and find consensus on solutions to complex issues facing an ever-evolving industry and regulatory landscape. The role of the Parliamentarian has been invaluable to those efforts, and Bill’s guidance facilitated a structured process of decision-making by the Conference and the orderly and fair deliberation of nationally important NCIMS business for the last 20 years. His contribution as a valued adviser to many Chairs of committees, councils, and the Executive Board to navigate procedural matters that ensure the actions of the Conference are valid and in accordance with the principles of fairness and inclusiveness of all participants has been deeply appreciated by NCIMS and all who value its mission.
2015 Hall of Fame Award Recipients
Alfred R. Place, New York
23rd NCIMS Chair. Mr. Place saw through the pivotal time when the drug residue issues became public with congressional hearings and the ultimate development of Appendix N and associated Memoranda that strengthened the NCIMS Grade A Program. He was always the calm voice and his elder statesman approach to issues, as both Chair and Past Chair, allowed for all parties to work together toward improving the regulatory oversight of the industry-based drug residue program which became the Appendix N Beta-lactam testing program.
Dan Borer, Nebraska
28th and 29th NCIMS Chair. Mr. Borer successfully worked to maintain cooperation between the state dairy regulatory bodies, the dairy industry, and FDA during a time of significant stress from many sources.
Dan Rackley, Oklahoma
24th, 25th, 26th, and 27th including the 1997 Special NCIMS Conference Chair. Mr. Rackley’s vast technical understanding of how the NCIMS program operated, as well as the dairy farm and processing industry, resulted in significant modernizing of the PMO, solidifying the laboratory committee and technical testing methods, as well as requiring EML and 2400 forms to be updated. Mr. Rackley was the longest serving NCIMS Chair.
Earl Helmreich, Ohio
A true student and master of all NCIMS documents and internal procedures, Roberts Rules of Order, and particularly knowledgeable on the roles and responsibilities of the three key stakeholders to the NCIMS: State Dairy Regulatory Agencies, the FDA, and the dairy industry. Mr. Helmreich was a formidable debater and his interventions turned the tide on many key votes at the biennial NCIMS Conferences. He was particularly known for keeping FDA representatives humble.
Dr. J. L. Rowland, Missouri
1st and 2nd NCIMS Chair. Dr. Rowland worked tirelessly in organizing the early conference in Missouri. He set forth the objective “The Best Possible Milk Supply for all People.” Dr. Rowland chaired the first two NCIMS Conferences and without his tireless efforts publically and behind the scenes, there would have likely been no NCIMS Conference today.
Jim Kennedy, Missouri
20th, 21st, and 22nd NCIMS Chair. Mr. Kennedy chaired the conference through the Salmonella outbreak in Chicago and the Hispanic cheese listeria outbreak, both in 1985, that resulted in FDA launching the “Dairy Initiatives,” with assistance from State Dairy Regulatory Agencies. These initiatives, with Mr. Kennedy’s support resulted in a massive update on training for both state dairy inspectors and the dairy industry.
Marlena Bordson, Illinois
30th and 31st NCIMS Chair. Ms. Bordson had a passion for ensuring the NCIMS provisions were carried out and her legal-like mind ensured that the proceedings during the Conference were carried out with a minimum of uncertainty and wasted time for participants. She also protected the Conference and Executive Board from drifting into troubled waters. Ms. Bordson is the first woman NCIMS Chair and her service to the NCIMS program continues to this day, serving as the Executive Secretary for the Conference.
Jay Boosinger, Florida
18th and 19th NCIMS Chair. Mr. Boosinger was also the Past Chair for three more Conferences 1985, 1987, and 1989 while James Kennedy was Chair. Following the 1989 Conference, he was appointed to the Drug Residue Monitoring and Enforcement Committee that was Chaired by Dan Rackley. This committee went on to be called the Drug Residue Committee at the 1991 and 1993 Conference and worked on the development of Appendix N of the PMO.