After 17 years in the food manufacturing and distribution industry, Wendy joined academia in 2019 by becoming the Industry Manager for Food and Beverage for Georgia Tech’s Georgia Manufacturing Extension Program (GaMEP). She serves Georgia food and beverage businesses by providing educational outreach, consulting services, and events. She strives to serve as a bridge between governmental regulators and the manufacturing industry. Her strengths are in developing Food Safety Plans/HACCP, supplier management, auditing, governmental compliance, and she found her true passion for teaching continuing professional education classes.
During her time in industry, she was a corporate director for a global manufacturing company. She’s successfully facilitated many GSFI audits across multiple plants and oversaw the implementation of FSMA for the North American FDA-inspected plants. She's a past member of the BRCGS Internal Advisory Board and GSFI ICT Working Group and is currently on the GFSI American/Canada Local Group.
Wendy received her B.S. in Biology and M.S. in Food Science at University of Georgia. She is a FSPCA FSMA and International HACCP Alliance Lead Instructor and is an American Society for Quality Certified Quality Auditor. She has published articles in numerous scientific journals and publications and sits on the Editorial Board for Food Safety Magazine.
Wendy is a prolific organizer and speaker at food safety conferences and has been an active member of IAFP for over 20 years, since serving as an inaugural Student PDG member during grad school. She has acted as a mentor for the IAFP Mentor Program since its inception and helped found the Developing Food Safety Professionals PDG as one of its first Chairs. She is a past Chair of the Meat and Poultry PDG, pas Chairperson for the Affiliate Council, as well as past Vice Chair of the IAFP Foundation Committee. One a local level, she's a Past President and Delegate of the GA Assoc. of Food Protection.
Wendy is married to her high-school sweetheart, Todd White. They love traveling, tailgating (any GA college football team), and are both Certified BBQ Judges (You know I saved the most important title for last!).