Chief operating officer

The Meat Institute is bringing on industry veteran Nicole Johnson-Hoffman as chief operating officer.

“Nicole Johnson-Hoffman brings a wide breadth of experience in the regulatory, legal, and sustainability fields of the animal protein industry,” said Meat Institute President and CEO Julie Anna Potts. “Her various roles have prepared her well to oversee operations at the Meat Institute at a critical time for the industry and during a time of great change and innovation.”

Johnson-Hoffman begins transitioning into the role in January 2025 as Mark Dopp, the Meat Institute’s outgoing COO and general counsel, prepares to retire in March of 2025.

Johnson-Hoffman began her career as an attorney at Cargill, where she eventually became vice president, Law Cargill Meat Solutions, and later, vice president and general manager of Cargill Beef at Fort Morgan, Colo. Subsequently, she was the vice president, managing director of Cargill’s Value-Added Protein/Cargill McDonald’s Business Unit, where she managed Cargill’s McDonald’s business segments in the US and Canada.

After 19 years at Cargill, in 2016 Johnson-Hoffman joined OSI Group as senior vice president, chief sustainability officer, where she managed the company’s global McDonald’s business unit, encompassing 64 markets, and led OSI’s global sustainability strategy, creating infrastructure for successful execution.

Johnson-Hoffman served two terms as the president of the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef and was the founding chairperson for the US Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, both key partners in the Protein PACT.

From 2022-2023, Johnson-Hoffman served as chief executive officer and executive board member of the Israeli cultivated meat startup Future Meat Technologies doing business as Believer Meats, leading the creation of a new consumer-facing brand, building a professional leadership team, and implementing foundational systems in finance, HR, legal, IT and corporate governance.

General counsel

The Meat Institute is also announcing the promotion of Bryan Burns to general counsel.

“Members of the Meat Institute benefit from Bryan’s ongoing in-house leadership on legal and regulatory strategies for the industry combined with his considerable experience tackling the day-to-day issues as counsel for meat and poultry companies,” said Potts.

Burns has worked for the Meat Institute for two years as vice president and associate general counsel. He serves as the staff liaison for the Worker Safety Committee, Environmental Committee and Labor & Employment Committee. He has managed key regulatory issues including the ongoing EPA Effluent Limitations Guidelines and a number of new OSHA and Department of Labor regulations, and has worked to provide education on child trafficking and identity fraud and to develop best practices for members to follow in determining workforce eligibility.

As the Biden Administration proposed new rules under the Packers and Stockyards Act, Burns has taken a leading role in determining legal and regulatory strategy for the Meat Institute.

Burns has testified twice before Congress regarding the economic and regulatory state of the meat and poultry industry, including before the House Agriculture Committee, and regarding labor and immigration issues before a bipartisan working group of members of the House Agriculture Committee.

Prior to joining the Meat Institute staff, Burns was general counsel, corporate secretary and vice president of risk management and environment, health and safety at Bachoco OK Foods. In addition to being responsible for all legal and corporate governance matters, Burns led the company’s COVID strategy, worker safety, environmental and sustainability efforts.

Prior to Bachoco OK Foods, Burns was employed at Tyson Foods, where he was senior counsel for 15 years. Besides complex litigation in areas such as antitrust, environmental and consumer class actions, and handling government agency investigations in a variety of subject matters, Burns worked on Packers and Stockyards Act issues.

Source: Meat Institute