WICHITA, Kan. – Cargill named Dr. Stephanie Cottee, Ph.D. to lead the company's animal-welfare initiatives for its international poultry businesses. 

Stephanie Cottee, Ph.D.

Before joining Cargill, Cottee held positions for animal welfare with Maple Leaf Foods, Ontario Pork, Chicken Farmers of Ontario and the National Farm Animal Care Council. She also has taught at the Univ. of Guelph.

“Stephanie is well-respected as an animal-welfare professional and she has a wealth of experience and knowledge that will be valued by Cargill’s poultry businesses and our customers around the world,” said Dr. Mike Siemens, Cargill's head of animal welfare based in Wichita. “Producing animal protein to meet ever-increasing global consumption is more complex each day and stakeholders ranging from consumers to customers, employees and others are more interested than ever before about how animals are raised and harvested for food. We are known as a leader in animal welfare and our reputation took a large step forward with Stephanie joining the Cargill team.”

Cottee will be based in Guelph, Ontario. Her appointment is effective immediately. Cargill has chicken businesses in Canada, Thailand, China, Europe and Central America, along with a turkey business and an egg business in the US.

“People should have the choice to consume meat and egg products and we want to ensure the animals that provide that type of nutrition are raised with care and properly handled and harvested,” Cottee said. “With billions of additional people joining the middle class around the world over the next few decades, demand for nutritious forms of complex animal protein will continue to increase globally, and the ethics associated with doing things the right way are important to Cargill and important to me.”

Cottee earned a Bachelor of Science in Zoology from the Univ. of Toronto and a Master of Science and Ph.D. in Farm Animal Behavior and Welfare degrees from the Univ. of Guelph. She also conducted post-doctorate work on poultry research.