Recently I had the chance to get a few minutes with one of our newest company vice presidents. She heads one of our largest and arguably most critical departments-production. Spend a few minutes getting to know Kristi Fiedler.
- How long have you been in your current position? A little over a year.
- What did you do prior to your current job? I have worked several jobs at CRI since my MOET (multiple ovulation and embryo transfer) internship in Fall 2005, including about 1.5 years in milk testing for AgSource. I came back to GENEX as a dairy consultant in eastern Wisconsin. After earning a master’s in management I was hired to oversee the U.S. Technical Services team. In that role I managed the national team of strategic dairy consultants and the dairy support programs used by GENEX field staff.
- How did you get your start at GENEX? See paragraph above.
- How many employees are on your production team? There are 134 employees between production and distribution.
- What areas does production encompass? Production is everything from the time a bull is identified as a genetic outlier to the moment his frozen semen leaves distribution. The team manages health testing, animal pickups, young bull rearing, bull handling, collections, lab processing, cryopreservation, research and more.
- How many locations do you oversee? Production is located in five locations: Ithaca, NY; Tiffin, OH; Shawano, WI; Strafford, MO and Billings, MT.
- What has been the biggest challenge of your new position? The biggest challenge in production is that GENEX is in a transition phase, as is the industry. Bulls don’t stay in stud very long before their genetics are obsolete, on average 2.5 years. So it is crucial for bulls to qualify for CSS and EU as quick as possible, and then they need to be in a collection barn. Our facilities were built for housing long-term bulls in waiting, so we need to invest in facilities to get more bulls in production stalls to increase availability of sires for marketing.
- Is there any new development on the horizon you can tell us about? The young sire teams in both the livestock and lab side are doing an excellent job preparing bulls for collection at an earlier age. They accomplished this goal by using research in calf nutrition and lab technologies to lunge us forward in reducing the generation interval.
- What do you enjoy doing on your time away from GENEX? My time away from GENEX is spent with my family. My husband, Brian and I have two children, Allyson (4) and Hudson (2). When we get a break from them we can be found in the woods hunting, on the water fishing or on the volleyball court.
- What advice do you have for people just entering the job market? Set goals and hold yourself accountable to achieve them. Take time to go to seminars, take extra classes, gain experience and knowledge. GENEX has been a wonderful in helping me and others advance in our careers, but ultimately it is your responsibility to keep up with new skills, change and information.
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