Managing Risk, from Farm to Fork with Julie Anna Potts, Meat Institute CEO

Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.

 

In this episode, Justin interviews Julia Anna Potts, President and CEO of the Meat Institute, about her career, background, lifelong interest in agriculture and food, and how she joined the Meat Institute following a career in environmental law. The discussion covers the role of the Meat Institute in the food supply chain and how it serves member companies and the food industry in general, through its food safety best practices and a free online course, "The Foundations of Listeria Control." Julia reveals the Protein PACT initiative and explains how food safety relates to risk management with their shared values. She tells how meat processors are good community members.

Listen for advice on the culture of safety and how it starts at the very top of the organization.

 

Key Takeaways:

[:01] About RIMS and RIMScast.

[:17] About this episode of RIMScast. We will be joined by Julia Anna Potts, the CEO of the Meat Institute. We'll discuss food safety and education, and risk frameworks that the Institute uses to ensure that our food and supply chains are clean. But first…

[:47] The next RIMS-CRMP-FED Exam Prep with AFERM will be held on December 3rd and 4th. The next RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep with PARIMA will be held on December 4th and 5th. These are virtual courses.

[1:03] Links to these courses can be found through the Certifications page of RIMS.org and through this episode's show notes.

[1:11] RIMS Virtual Workshops! On November 19th and 20th, Ken Baker will lead the two-day course, "Applying and Integrating ERM."

[1:24] "Managing Data for ERM" will be led again by Pat Saporito. That session will start on December 11th. Registration closes on December 10th. RIMS members always enjoy deep discounts on the virtual workshops.

[1:40] The full schedule of virtual workshops can be found on the RIMS.org/education and RIMS.org/education/online-learning pages. A link is also in this episode's notes.

[1:52] This episode is released on November 18th, 2025, Day Two of the RIMS ERM Conference in Seattle, Washington. We've covered a lot of ERM ground in the last few episodes. For more ERM, click the link to the RIMS ERM Special Edition of Risk Management magazine in the notes.

[2:18] RIMScast ERM coverage is linked as well. Enhance your ERM knowledge with RIMS!

[2:24] On with the show! Our guest is Julie Anna Potts. She is the President and CEO of the Meat Institute. She leads the Institute in implementing programs and activities for the association.

[2:38] She is an agricultural veteran, previously serving the American Farm Bureau Federation as its Executive Vice President.

[2:47] With Thanksgiving coming up next week in the U.S., I thought this would be a great time on RIMScast to talk about food safety, food production, and what another not-for-profit is doing to ensure the safety of our products and the speed and efficiency of our supply chain.

[3:07] We're going to have a lot of fun and talk turkey, so let's get to it!

[3:12] Interview! Julie Anna Potts, welcome to RIMScast!

[3:27] Julie Anna Potts and RIMS CEO, Gary LaBranche, are both part of the Committee of 100 with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. They get together with other association heads across industries. Julie Anna says it is very valuable.

[3:44] Julie Anna and Gary were talking in the summer about food safety and about what