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2021 Virtual Restaurant Risk Management Summit
On Wednesday, June 9th we held a welcome and networking event with several restaurants in attendance and a live musical performance from American Idol contestant Alex Miller. To learn more about Alex visit his website.
On Thursday, June 10 we held our annual two and a half hour Restaurant Risk Management Summit. This year's theme was “Resilience, Rally, and Reach” and we had a full range of risk management topics to participate in from business resiliency and worker safety, to navigating the insurance marketplace and learning best practices from your restaurant peers.
As a bonus this year, we were excited to have special guests Mark Miller, VP High Performance Leadership, Chick-fil-A speak on strategies for achieving high performance leadership and Dr. Dhamu Thamodaran, former EVP and Chief Strategy Officer at Smithfield Foods, Inc. speak on the future of the restaurant industry. This session will also be of interest to Supply Chain and C-Suite professionals so do share this page with these individuals at your company.
Speaker Bio for Dr. Dhamu Thamodaran
Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer & Chief Commodity Hedging Officer of Smithfield Foods, Inc., Retired
Dr. Thamodaran retired as Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer & Chief Commodity Hedging Officer from Smithfield Foods, Inc. in December 2020, having served in this role since 2016. Dr. Thamodaran joined Smithfield Foods in 1995 as Director of Price Risk Management. Prior to joining Smithfield Foods, he had related industry experience with John Morrell Food Group and Farmland Foods, which later become part of the Smithfield Foods family.
With Smithfield Foods, Dr. Thamodaran led strategy development for the firm’s vertically integrated business, managed its commodity hedging activities, and oversaw its global economics commodities research and analysis group. Widely respected for his knowledge of global macroeconomics, agricultural markets, and the pork value chain, Dr. Thamodaran was a frequent speaker before boards of food and agriculture companies, at industry trade association events, and before MBA candidates in agricultural-focused programs. And in February 2019, Dr. Thamodaran received the Henry A. Wallace Award from Iowa State University, annually awarded to an outstanding alumnus/a in the field of agriculture, for his notable professional achievements.
Dr. Thamodaran remains involved in the industry. Since January 2019, he has served as member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group’s Agricultural Markets Advisory Council.
Dr. Thamodaran earned his PhD in agricultural economics, summa cum laude, in 1983 from Iowa State University, where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and Gamma Sigma Delta honors societies. Dr. Thamodaran earned his master’s degree in agricultural economics and statistics in 1980 from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute and his bachelor’s degree in agriculture in 1978 from India’s Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.
Dr. Thamodaran currently lives in Virginia Beach, VA with his wife, where his hobbies include playing golf and reading history. Together, Dr. Thamodaran and his wife enjoy travel and support various educational and cultural nonprofit organizations.