Genus ABS have announced the appointment of their new Chief Operating Officer – Dairy (COO), Nate Zwald. Nate will be responsible for ABS on a global scale, heading up Dairy for the whole of EMEA, Asia, Australia and North America. ABS Global are the world leader in bovine genetics, reproduction services and technologies, and operate as a division of Genus PLC.
“We sought a COO with deep dairy genetics expertise, a strong commercial execution focus, and a talented people leader. Nate has all this and more” said Karim Bitar, Genus PLC CEO. “We are thrilled to have Nate on board and are excited about the value he brings to this important position.”
Zwald received his Ph.D. in dairy cattle genetics and MBA from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He completed his Ph.D. while working for Alta Genetics and subsequently worked for the company in a number of North American and global roles. He most recently worked as the U.S. general manager for the company.
“Both our ABS customers and employees are valuable and important,” Zwald said. “Focus on building and empowering our people to make a valued difference for our customers will be reflected positively in the company results. ABS Global has a great history and a strong global brand; I’m excited to add to the next chapter.”
Passionate about the dairy industry, and the role that genetics plays in its future, Nate has shown leadership for the larger industry by sitting on the Board of the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB) and has been on the board of the National Association of Animal Breeders (NAAB) for the past 5 years. Throughout his career, Nate has stayed closely connected to the genetic program of his family dairy, Bomaz Farms. They have produced well-known industry and ABS sires including 29HO11153 Homestead, 29HO11849 Boulder, and more recently, young genomic sires 29HO18382 Daredevil and 29HO18611 Skywalker.