SafetyChain Appoints Five Food Industry Leaders to Inaugural Customer Advisory Board

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. – August 20, 2026 – SafetyChain, the plant management platform for food and beverage manufacturers, today announced the formation of its inaugural Customer Advisory Board (CAB), bringing together senior food industry executives to share the operational experience, industry knowledge, and customer perspective that will help guide the continued evolution of the SafetyChain platform.

The invitation-only board creates a dedicated forum for SafetyChain and its customers to discuss the priorities shaping food and beverage manufacturing, including the growing role of advanced analytics and AI, the need for technology that can scale across complex enterprise operations, and opportunities to simplify plant-floor workflows. Members provide strategic guidance on SafetyChain’s product direction and planned capabilities, drawing on their experience leading food safety, quality, and operational programs across some of the industry’s most prominent organizations.

Inaugural members to the board include:

“Food and beverage manufacturers operate in an environment where the decisions made in a plant can have an immediate impact on product safety, quality, performance, efficiency, and customer trust,” said Steven Delzell, Vice President of Product Strategy at SafetyChain. “Sharon, Meghan, Michael, Neil, and Juanfra all understand those pressures because they have spent their careers leading teams through them. Their experience gives us a valuable view into how priorities are changing across the industry, where technology can remove friction from people’s work, and what manufacturers will need from SafetyChain as their operations and data strategies continue to mature.”

Sharon Birkett brings more than 30 years of food industry experience to the CAB. As Vice President, Global QA Operations at OSI Group, she provides strategic leadership across the company’s global quality assurance function, helping translate global policies into effective programs at the regional, national, and plant levels. Her work has included advancing OSI’s Food Safety Always campaign, participating in the Global Food Safety Initiative’s technical working group on food safety culture, and sharing best practices in environmental pathogen control at industry workshops in Europe and North America. She has also served on advisory boards for BRCGS and the Food Safety Summit.

Meghan Stevenson has more than 15 years of experience spanning multiple food categories and currently leads food safety and quality assurance, sanitation, procurement, and commercialization functions at SK Food Group. Her work connects the disciplines that influence how products move from concept to full-scale production, with an emphasis on cross-functional collaboration, process optimization, supplier partnerships, and operational excellence. Stevenson’s experience will bring the board a practical perspective on managing quality and food safety across multiple sites while supporting commercialization and strategic growth.

Michael Rybolt, Ph.D. has led food safety and quality assurance at Tyson Foods for more than a decade and currently serves as the company’s Senior Vice President of Food Safety and Quality Assurance. His career also includes senior scientific, regulatory, and food safety roles at Hillshire Brands, Perdue Farms, and the National Turkey Federation. Rybolt holds a Ph.D. in veterinary medical science with a focus on food safety and is an ASQ Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence, combining deep scientific knowledge with extensive experience in quality systems, sanitation, regulatory affairs, and enterprise leadership. 

Juanfra DeVillena, Ph.D. serves as Senior Vice President of Quality Assurance and Food Safety at Wayne-Sanderson Farms, where he has spent 22 years progressing from a quality assurance supervisor to a member of the executive team. His career has included leadership positions in quality assurance, plant management, and operations, giving him a direct understanding of how food safety programs intersect with production realities. DeVillena previously worked in quality assurance and HACCP at Perdue Farms and began his career as a research microbiologist intern with the FDA.

Neil Checketts is Senior Vice President of Food Safety, Occupational Health and Safety, and Compliance at Mastronardi Produce. His career spans senior food safety and quality roles at Walmart, Sobeys, Kneaders Bakery & Café, and True World Group, giving him experience across retail, foodservice, and food production environments. Checketts began his career as a registered environmental health scientist with several health departments in Utah and holds a bachelor’s degree in food science from Utah State University and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix.

“Each member brings a different combination of scientific expertise, plant leadership, enterprise responsibility, and firsthand knowledge of the challenges facing modern food manufacturers,” Steven  continued. “That range of experience will make the conversations richer and keep our thinking closely connected to the work happening inside facilities every day. We’re grateful for their willingness to contribute their time, share candid feedback, and help us continue building a platform specifically for the food and beverage industry.”

The CAB will serve in an advisory capacity, offering executive perspectives on industry trends and operational challenges while helping SafetyChain validate product priorities against enterprise requirements, usability needs, and opportunities for scalable adoption. Its members will also explore how emerging capabilities can turn growing volumes of manufacturing data into meaningful insights while supporting stronger collaboration between SafetyChain and its customer community. Board members will serve a 12-month term and participate in a combination of in-person and virtual meetings. SafetyChain will maintain ongoing collaboration with members throughout the year, including early engagement around selected innovation milestones and discussions demonstrating how customer feedback is informing product decisions.

SafetyChain is the plant management platform for food and beverage manufacturers, providing tools for quality, food safety, production, maintenance, and supplier compliance. The platform connects plant-floor execution with the broader systems manufacturers rely on, supporting operations from a single facility to multi-site enterprise environments.