The Wisconsin Dairy Products Association (WDPA), Middleton, Wis., said Ron Kremer was selected to receive the 2021 WDPA Presidents Award.

Kremer started his career working on his family farm. During his high school years, he worked at Fairview Cheese Factory. In 1970, he commenced employment at Sanna Dairy, a division of Beatrice Foods, as a general laborer. After a tour of duty in Vietnam, Kremer returned to his previous job and rose through the ranks at the Vesper, Wis., location. He eventually became the general manager of Beatrice Foods, WDPA said.

In 1988, Kerry purchased Beatrice, and Kremer transitioned into becoming a sales manager for dairy accounts at Kerry. He retired from Kerry after 47 years. Since retirement, he has worked as a consultant in the dairy industry, WDPA said.

Kremer served two separate terms on WDPA’s board of directors: 2005–2010 and 2016–present. He has been a member of the WDPA Regulatory Committee and has actively supported WDPA’s special events. He regularly attends WDPA’s Dairy Symposium, World Dairy Expo Championship Product Contest and Summer Golf Outing. Kremer is also well known throughout the U.S. dairy industry for his extensive knowledge of dairy issues and his engaging and accommodating personality, WDPA said.

The Presidents Award will be presented to Kremer at a special awards dinner on Monday, July 12 at the 2021 Dairy Symposium. The Dairy Symposium will be held July 12-13, 2021, at The Landmark Resort in Door County, Wis. The 2020 WDPA Presidents Award winner, Jeff Giffin, will also be honored at this event.

This year’s winner was selected by the WDPA board of directors from a slate of nominees from the WDPA Presidents Advisory Committee. The nominees were chosen based on their contributions to the Wisconsin dairy industry and to WDPA. Past WDPA Presidents Award winners include Mike Dean (1998), Bob Aschebrock (1999), Fran Cobian (2000), Bob Bradley (2001), Don Storhoff (2002), John Galloway (2003), George Cornell (2004), Jim Kasten (2005), Bob Wagner (2006), LaVern Stencil (2007), Gary Steinhauer (2008), Dick Eiting (2009), Deborah Van Dyk (2010), Bill Jacoby (2011), Dallas Wuethrich (2012), Joe Weis (2013), Stu Giffin (2014), Rep. Al Ott (2015), Ted Galloway (2016), Allan VerVoort (2017), Tony Anderson (2018), Dave Robbins (2019) and Jeff Giffin (2020), WDPA noted.