During SNAXPO 2006, the Snack Food Association set a new goal for the future: to strengthen an already aggressive educational program for the benefit of all of our members.

To help achieve that, the SFA formed a special task force to improve the association’s educational offerings, including online degree courses in partnership with colleges or universities that offer food industry related coursework.

This year at SNAXPO 2007, that new program was ready to be showcased with representatives of our education partners. The Ohio State University (OSU) and St. Joseph’s University both were available to explain to snack food professionals how they can benefit from the online courses that now are being offered.

Through OSU, which has worked with the SFA on our Total Quality Management (TQM) seminar series for many years, we will be offering courses leading to certification in food service and technology. SFA member companies will receive significant tuition discounts for this online coursework. St. Joseph’s University will provide a curriculum of courses in food marketing, an area of solid expertise for this outstanding institution.

Reflecting the SFA’s priority to improve educational opportunities and knowledge for its members, the SNAXPO 2007 program also contained a solid curriculum of seminars to complement a very strong general session program that included insight into Wal-Mart’s influence and the annual State of the Industry Report from Information Resources, Inc.

This year, we also established another Task Force composed of members of the SFA Board of Directors, which focused on ways to strengthen the SFA through new alliances with other associations and organizations. This group has had several meetings and discussions, with the objective of establishing partnerships that can further strengthen the SFA and its members through educational services and broader reach for our public and legislative affairs initiatives.

We have worked on important government and consumer issues. For example, the SFA recently endorsed the Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s competitive foods in schools guidelines. We also held a highly successful Day in D.C. Spring Summit last May, and we now encourage all members to attend this year’s summit, May 16-18, in Washington, D.C. It’s an important opportunity to help the SFA effectively represent your interests in the nation’s capital.

We appreciate the time, effort and participation of our members — especially our board of directors — on these and other important SFA initiatives. We look forward to further progress in the coming year.