SUNRIVER, ORE. — Robert Harper, president of Hopkinsville Milling Co., Hopkinsville, Ky., has been elected president of the Home Baking Association for 2024. Mr. Harper and other officers were named at the association’s annual meeting held in late October in Sunriver.
Mr. Harper began his career in the milling industry in 1993 and was previously director of operations and director of new product development at Hopkinsville Milling Co. and is the fifth generation of family to work at the mill. He was chairman of the North American Millers’ Association from 2018-20 and also represented the American Corn Millers Federation in merger discussions with Protein Grain Products and the Millers National Federation in the formation of NAMA in 1998.
He received a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a master’s degree from Northwestern University.
Also during the meeting, Paula LaBine, marketing director with ADM Milling & Baking Solutions, Decatur, Ill., was elected first vice president. Ms. LaBine joined ADM in 2018 after marketing leadership roles at Kerry, AB Mauri and General Mills.
Ms. LaBine received a bachelor’s degree in food science and nutrition from North Dakota State University and a master’s degree from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.
Ileana Durand, senior marketing manager with ASR Group, West Palm Beach, Fla., was elected second vice president. Ms. Durand joined ASR Group in 2018 after working in strategic and business planning at Nestle and as a senior brand manager at PepsiCo, among other roles.
Ms. Durand received a master’s degree in communications from Universidad del Sagrado Corazón and attended the leadership executive program in strategic marketing at Harvard Business School.
In addition, five directors were elected to serve a three-year term on the HBA board: Ardent Mills, Colorado Wheat, Kansas Wheat, Shawnee Milling Co. and Texas Wheat Producers. They join the list of current board members Thermoworks, Hopkinsville Milling, Oklahoma Wheat Commission, North Dakota Mill, ADM, American Sugar Refining, Homegrown Family.
Earlier this fall the HBA named Christine Kirby as executive director. She took over on Nov. 1, succeeding longtime HBA leaders Charlene Patton and Sharon Davis.
The HBA began in 1923 as members of the Soft Wheat Millers Association that produced self-rising flour sought to make advancements in the industry, including addressing rising public concern about chemical additives used in flour, as well as promoting home baking. The group became the Self-Rising Flour Institute 10 years later, and was incorporated as the Self-Rising Flour Institute, Inc. in 1951, before merging with the self-rising corn meal group in 1959 to become the Self-Rising Flour and Cornmeal Program, Inc. The group focused on stemming a significant nationwide decline in home baking that began in the 1960s as more women entered the workforce and as family meal preparation and eating patterns changed, in part due to the rise in microwave ovens and fast-food restaurants. Among other shifts in location, funding and sponsorship, the HBA became the last non-profit, generic communications program promoting baking at home in the 1980s.
