Annette joined IAOM as the headquarters’ office coordinator in July 2014, coordinating general office operations for IAOM. Her key responsibilities include facilitating the correspondence courses, maintaining member records, order fulfillment and bookkeeping. Annette is also the point person for conference and short course registration, and district event coordination. Originally from Prairie Village, Kan., Peterson moved back to the Kansas City area after living and working for 34 years in Texas. Peterson has a bachelor’s degree in horticulture industries from Kansas State University. Prior to joining IAOM, Peterson had served as the office coordinator at Texas A&M-Kingsville’s Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, South Texas Natives Program in Kingsville, Texas, for eight years.
Whitney joined IAOM as the director of meetings and exhibitions in July 2022, and is responsible for the full scope of event and conference management, and the coordination and logistics responsibilities for IAOM’s major annual conferences, committee and board meetings, and educational courses. She is also responsible for advertising and sales for the Association’s publications. Prior to joining IAOM, Whitney was an events program manager with the Cerner Corporation in Kansas City, Missouri. She also has 15+ years of experience as a catering and summer conference manager at the Kansas Memorial Union in Lawrence, Kansas.
Melinda has served as the organization’s CEO since June 2007; and was IAOM’s director of communications from 2004-2007. As CEO, she is responsible for implementing board policies, managing the association’s overall operations and staff, as well as IAOM’s in-house publications, which include the International Miller, membership directory and website. Melinda has a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Baker University, and a master’s degree in Russian and East European Studies from the University of Kansas. Melinda has been a member of the executive management team for the Food Fortification Initiative (FFI) since 2007. Since 2010, she has held the Certified Association Executive credential from the American Society of Association Executives. Melinda was president of the Kansas City Society of Association Executives from 2015-2016, and served on its board from 2012-2017. Prior to joining IAOM, she was communications manager for the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia.