OKLAHOMA CITY — The Home Baking Association will see a change in leadership this fall.

The HBA board has named Christine Kirby as executive director. Ms. Kirby, currently director of marketing and communications at the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, will assume the position Nov. 1 at the retirement of longtime HBA leaders Charlene Patton and Sharon Davis.   

As executive director, Ms. Kirby will be tasked with handling a wide variety of HBA marketing and administrative duties, including program implementation, partnership collaboration, member recruitment and development and record-keeping. She brings to the position 20 years of experience in agriculture, nutrition and food policy. Her background includes marketing, public relations, program development and coordination, budget development and management.

That experience drew the search committee’s attention to Ms. Kirby’s resume, said HBA board president Robert Harper of Hopkinsville Milling, Hopkinsville, Ky.

“We are delighted to find someone of Chris’s caliber to manage our association,” he said. “Through her previous involvement as a board member, she has gained a critical vision into our association and will be able to hit the ground running. With her energy, insight and enthusiasm, the Home Baking Association will continue to promote the development of baking skills with curriculum wherever they are taught.”

For nine years as director of marketing and communications with the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, Ms. Kirby worked to increase awareness of the wheat industry and market wheat to consumers through the study of market data in research, education and outreach. Her purview included the administration of two annual contests, an annual cookbook, the creation and management of websites and social media accounts plus the planning and implementation of commission board meetings, trade shows, events such as hands-on bread workshops and virtual baking workshops during the COVID-19 pandemic. She served on the boards of the HBA, the Wheat Quality Council and Wheat Foods Council.

Previously, Ms. Kirby administered the Farm To School Program with the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry and was the urban harvest director with the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma.

She received a bachelor’s of business administration degree from the University of Oklahoma and studied applied horticulture and horticulture business services at Oklahoma State University.

Her familiarity with the HBA as a board member prepared her to maintain the HBA’s outreach and service aspects during the leadership transition, Ms. Kirby said.

“I believed in the mission and vision of the HBA while serving on the board and it will be an honor to guide the organization into the next decade of baking excellence, education and inspiration,” she said.