PHOENIX — Richard D. (Don) Sullins, a longtime executive at ADM Milling, received an honorary membership at the 2015 annual meeting of the North American Millers’ Association. Also honored at the annual meeting was Mark Sabo, who was recently appointed president emeritus of Sosland Publishing Co.
The award was presented to Mr. Sullins in a ceremony led by Mark Kolkhorst, president of ADM Milling and vice-chairman of NAMA.
Mr. Sullins spent 45 years in the food and milling industries, retiring at the end of 2012 as vice-president of technical services at ADM Milling Co., where his portfolio of responsibility included research and development, quality assurance, labeling and regulatory affairs.
Before joining the business world, Mr. Sullins was associated with Texas A.&M. University for about 16 years. He holds a bachelor of science in agronomy and a master of science and a doctorate from the school in cereals and food chemistry. He also spent seven years on the staff/faculty of Texas A.&M.
In the late 1970s, Mr. Sullins moved to St. Louis, joining the Ralston Purina Co. as senior project leader of corporate process research and manager of corporate research and Development. He joined Frito-Lay in 1982 as section manager, bakery products, responsible for developing new products and new processes for the newly acquired, Grandma’s Cookie business. During his nine years at Frito-Lay, Mr. Sullins also served as manager of analytical laboratories, manager of raw materials, manager of product development, and manager of agribusiness research.
He left Frito-Lay for ADM Milling in 1996, where he first was named director of quality assurance. Four years later he was promoted to vice-president and corporate officer.
In his role, Mr. Sullins was a customer liaison for the ADM milling division. Since his 2012 retirement, Mr. Sullins has been running his own consulting business — Sullins Consulting Co, L.L.C. With NAMA, he served on the group’s technical committee beginning in 1998 and is a past chairman of the committee. He is a member of the American Association of Cereal Chemists International and a member of the Institute of Food Technologists.
“I can think of few people with the breadth of experience and passion that Don has brought to the milling industry over the years,” Mr. Kolkhorst said, introducing Mr. Sullins and his wife Brenda during the NAMA annual meeting.
Mr. Sabo has spent his entire career with Sosland Publishing Co. and is retiring at the end of 2015. He joined the company in 1972 after graduating from the University of Kansas with a bachelor’s of arts degree in journalism. His first assignment was as general manager of Retail Baking Today, the first publication launched by S.P.C. in the 50 years since the business was established in 1922 as the publisher of a single title — The Southwestern Miller (later renamed Milling & Baking News). He was named assistant publisher in 1980, and was promoted to director of publishing at Sosland Publishing in 1981. He was named president of Sosland Publishing Co. and publisher of Milling & Baking News in 1986.
Mr. Sabo also served as chairman of AIB International, and was a member of many industry groups, including the American Society of Bakery Engineers, the Allied Trades of the Baking Industry, and the Young Baking Industry Executives Committee of the American Bakers Association.
Mr. Sabo was unable to attend the 2015 NAMA annual meeting (he had been a regular at the meeting since the late 1970s), but Mr. Kolkhorst personally presented a plaque to Mr. Sabo Nov. 9 at the S.P.C. offices in Kansas City.
