The Women’s Meat Industry Network (WMIN) announced Kate Rome, president of Rome Grinding Solutions, as the Most Impactful Woman of 2022.

As the first woman honored with the Most Impactful Woman of the Year Award, Rome demonstrated her leadership in the meat and poultry industry and her passion toward the education, development, and promotion of women in the industry. She championed the WMIN mission to make achieving the powerful benefits of gender diversity a shared goal in the meat and poultry industries.


“I am grateful for the opportunity that I have been given to make a meaningful impact in the professional lives of women over the past 6 years,” Rome said. “It has honestly been the highlight of my career, and I will continue pushing forward to achieve equality for women in our industry.”

“As the president of Rome Grinding Solutions, Rome has completely changed the culture of the company during her tenure,” said Cara Godack, director of business Ddvelopment at Rome Grinding Solutions. “She has increased the number of female employees by 25%, and has closed the wage gap for women employed by Rome. In addition … Rome has talked with other manufacturers and questioned them on diversity, which has prompted many to rethink hiring procedures.”

WMIN is proud to represent over 900 individuals in the meat and poultry industry, and the Impactful Woman of the Year Awards are an opportunity to recognize these outstanding WMIN members who go above and beyond in working toward a shared mission. 

The top nominees were recognized at the WMIN Event at NAMI’s Protein PACT Summit on October 12. Nominees were evaluated by a committee of WMIN members.

Impactful WMIN of the Year nominees included: 

  • Sharon Beals, chief food safety officer, CTI Foods
  • Dr. Sara Crawford, president, Sustainable Environmental Consultants
  • Darla Kiesel, co-owner, Dewig’s Meat 
  • Barbara Masters, vice president of regulatory policy, food and agriculture, Tyson Foods
  • Casey Gallimore, director of regulatory policy, North American Meat Institute

Source: WMIN