Michigan Sugar Company

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: Michigan Sugar Company welcomes Cam Vermeersch as the Packaging & Warehousing Supervisor at the Sebewaing factory. Cam is a native of Unionville, graduating from Unionville-Sebewaing Area High School in 2009. He then attended Delta College, where he earned his associate degree in marketing management. After college, he worked at Cooperative Elevator Co. as a grain handler at the Akron location for three years. From there, he joined SC Johnson in Bay City, where he spent eight years as a Tech Specialist. He joined the Michigan Sugar team in January 2024. “The people here are fantastic,” Cam said. “Everyone here cares for each other. I can honestly say that I enjoy coming in to work every day.” Cam and his wife Stephanie have been married for eight years and live in Unionville with their three children - Grayson, 7; Raelynn, 5; and Brody, 2. In the winter, Cam enjoys snowmobiling, and in the spring and summer, he stays busy coaching Grayson’s T-ball team. Welcome to the Michigan Sugar family, Cam! #employeespotlight #PlantYourCareer #SWEETJOBS #MakingLifeSweeter #CreatingGrowthandOpportunity

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: Meet Jeremy Porzondek, Michigan Sugar Company’s new Reliability Engineer at the Sebewaing factory. A native of Ubly, Jeremy graduated from Ubly High School in 2013 and went on to earn his bachelor’s degree from Saginaw Valley State University in mechanical engineering in 2018. He began his career at Corteva Agriscience, working as a Utility Engineer at the company’s Harbor Beach site. After four years there, he took a position as a Reliability Engineer at American Chemical Solutions in Muskegon. Jeremy joined the Michigan Sugar family in April 2024. He’s happy to be back closer to home and near family. “I grew up in a farming community,” he said. “Being here at Michigan Sugar, I get to be part of that again. It’s truly a family atmosphere here. I have a passion for agriculture, and I’m so happy to be back in the industry.” Jeremy lives in Unionville with his two dogs, a 2-year-old Labrador named Willow and a 13-year-old beagle named Toby. In his free time, he enjoys hunting and fishing. Welcome to Michigan Sugar, Jeremy! #employeespotlight #PlantYourCareer #SWEETJOBS #MakingLifeSweeter #CreatingGrowthandOpportunity

VETERAN OF THE MONTH: Congratulations to Keith Rang, Michigan Sugar Company’s Veteran of the Month for June 2024. A Standish native, Keith graduated from Standish-Sterling Central High School in 1996. He enlisted in the U.S. Army after graduation and completed his basic training at Fort Jackson in South Carolina. He went on to complete Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) training in petroleum supply and motor transport operations. He spent four years in the 980th Reserve Unit in Bay City, where he worked as a diesel mechanic and fuel supply specialist. Keith joined the Michigan Sugar team in 2000 as a Welder at the Bay City Factory. From there, he completed the Millwright Apprenticeship Program, and held several other positions, including Lead Mechanic, Assistant Beet End Foreman, Dryer Foreman, and Beet End Foreman. Four years ago, he started his current position as Shift Supervisor at the Bay City Factory. “I love my job, and I love the people here,” said Keith. “Every single day is different, and the diversity is what really motivates me to come to work every day.” Keith and his wife Josette have been married since 2005. In his free time, Keith enjoys hunting, fishing, home renovations, and yard work, along with spending time with his nieces and nephews. Congratulations, Keith, on being named Veteran of the Month. We thank you for your continued service to our country and our cooperative. To nominate a Michigan Sugar Company employee for Veteran of the Month, send an email to Tyler Kring at tyler.kring@michigansugar.com. #thankyou #veteran #veteranofthemonth

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: Meet Rick Lomasney, Michigan Sugar Company’s new Director of Safety. A native of Marysville, located near Port Huron, Rick attended Marysville High School. In 1991, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, where he spent the next 21 years working as a hospital corpsman with a focus on sailor, workplace, and equipment health and safety. During his time in the military, Rick also earned his bachelor’s degree in health science from Trident University International. Rick retired from the Navy in 2012 and went on to earn his master’s degree in occupational safety from Eastern Kentucky University. Dedicated to improving workplace safety, Rick worked in a variety of industries with a goal of creating a safe workspace for all with what he refers to as a "common sense, practical approach to safety." After working for companies in the automotive, metal heat treating, and aerospace tooling manufacturing industries, Rick took a position at Boeing as a Corporate Safety Leader. He spent five years at Boeing before joining the team at Michigan Sugar. “When the opportunity presented itself at Michigan Sugar, I knew I wanted to be a part of this company,” Rick said. “With the company’s impressive history, and the smart, positive people here who share my passion for workplace safety, I’m looking forward to seeing how we can make our safety policies and procedures even stronger than they are today.” Rick and his wife AnneMarie have been married for 31 years and reside in Marysville with their two dogs and two cats. They have a 27-year-old son, Landon, who lives in Grand Rapids and works in the film editing industry. Rick and AnneMarie enjoy spending time with family, bike riding, working on home projects and in their yard, and traveling, especially to places with unique architecture. One of the family’s favorite travel memories is a whale watching trip they took while on vacation in Washington. Welcome to the Michigan Sugar family, Rick! #EmployeeSpotlight #MakingLifeSweeter #CreatingGrowthandOpportunity #SWEETJOBS #plantyourcareer

VETERAN OF THE MONTH: Congratulations to Tom Harper, Michigan Sugar Company’s Veteran of the Month for May 2024. A Cass City native and 1987 Caro High School graduate, Tom enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1988 after a year of HVAC training following high school. He completed basic training the same year at Fort Dix in New Jersey, now part of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. Following basic training, Tom deployed to Saudi Arabia for six years as part of Operation Desert Storm, serving as an Ammo Driver for the 4th Battalion 38th Field Artillery Regiment and a Petroleum Specialist for the 417th Quartermaster Company. As a Petroleum Specialist, Tom’s unit was the first to build a pipeline across the desert to connect their blister bags and fuel tanks to a civilian fuel refinery. Their actions wrote the training manual on such a procedure and led to a Presidential Unit Citation. Tom joined Michigan Sugar Company in 2017 as a Lime Kiln Operator. Later, he worked as a Sweeper Leader, and now works as a Chemical Supply Technician at the Caro factory. He resides in Caro and has three children and five grandchildren. In his spare time, Tom enjoys hunting and making memories with his grandchildren. Congratulations, Tom, on being named Veteran of the Month. We thank you for your continued service to our country and our cooperative. To nominate a Michigan Sugar Company employee for Veteran of the Month, send an email to Tyler Kring at tyler.kring@michigansugar.com. #thankyou #veteran #veteranofthemonth

Michigan Sugar Company is at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base just east of Dayton, Ohio, today taking part in a military recruiting event. Mariah Johnson (pictured), Amanda Stolicker, and Monte Ackerman are representing the company and looking forward to speaking with potential job candidates. #plantyourcareer #CreatingGrowthandOpportunity #SWEETJOBS #MakingLifeSweeter

HISTORY MADE: Michigan Sugar Company is proud to announce the start-up of its new molasses desugarization facility in Bay City. Nearly four years in the making - from conception, to engineering, to construction, to start-up - the new MDS facility came online around noon today. The 22,000-square-foot facility will allow Michigan Sugar to process 100% of the molasses produced as a byproduct of the sugar extraction process. "Desugaring" all of the molasses will allow Michigan Sugar to produce up to an additional 80 million pounds of pure, all-natural sugar annually without planting another acre of sugarbeets. Before the facility, Michigan Sugar Company had the capacity to extract additional sugar from 60% of its molasses. Now, the company expects to process as much as 650 tons of molasses daily, up from the previous amount of 325 tons per day. "We want to commend the team that has overseen this incredible project, as well as the countless contractors who had a part in building this state-of-the-art facility," said Neil Juhnke, President and CEO of Michigan Sugar. "We note the 160,000+ safe working hours this team achieved along the way. Thank you for your commitment and dedication to quality and safety - two things that should always to together." Nick Klein, Michigan Sugar's Vice President of Operations, added: "This new facility is more than just a place of production - it is a symbol of innovation, efficiency, and progress. We have cutting-edge technology and a dedicated team that will be taking this factory to its 650 tons-per-day molasses processing rate over the next several weeks. Huge thanks to our shareholders, employees, and contractors whose commitment to this project has delivered a world-class operation and sustainability for the future." #MakingLifeSweeter #CreatingGrowthandOpportunity

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: Meet Heather Clark, Michigan Sugar Company's new Director of Talent Development. A native of Holland, Michigan, Heather graduated from Holland High School in 1983 and went on to earn her bachelor's degree in psychology with a minor in economics from Albion College in 1987, and her master's degree in science administration with a concentration in human resource management from Central Michigan University in 2000. Heather began her professional career in 1988 working as a Marketing Assistant for CMI, a computer hardware leasing company, in West Bloomfield. From 1990 to 2000, she worked for EDS in Troy, first in a recruiting role and later in a global human resources position focused on corporate training and facilitation. In 2001, she joined the team at Thyssenkrupp Materials North America, a metals distribution company in Southfield. She spent 23 years there as a human resources professional working in the areas of human resources management, project management, training, leadership development, and coaching. Heather is also a Professional Certified Coach through the International Coaching Federation. She said she was drawn the job at Michigan Sugar Company because she finds the work interesting and sees an opportunity to make an immediate impact. "I like the culture of the people," she said. "They are hungry, passionate, professional, and they want excellence. There are new projects and new programs to put in place and I like the challenge of starting from the ground up." Heather now lives in Lapeer, but is in the process of moving to the Great Lakes Bay Region with her cat named Bonnie. She has a 21-year-old son named Douglas who serves in the U.S. Air Force and is stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona. In her free time, Heather enjoys spending time outdoors, especially on the water, gardening, and community service work. She previously was a mentor for elementary students in the Detroit area through an organization called Tutor Tree. She also has a deep love of animals as both her father and grandfather were veterinarians. Welcome to the Michigan Sugar family, Heather! #employeespotlight #PlantYourCareer #SWEETJOBS #MakingLifeSweeter #CreatingGrowthandOpportunity

CARO CROWNED 2023-2024 CAMPAIGN CHAMPIONS! Michigan Sugar Company officials this week recognized employees at the sugarbeet processing facility in Caro as 2023-2024 Campaign Champions. The award – revived this year for the first time in decades – honors the factory that met or exceeded its targets for slicing beets and extracting sugar by the highest percentages. The Caro factory finished the campaign with an average daily slice rate of 3,752 tons with a 78.6% extraction rate. “Our team in Caro had an absolutely incredible campaign and are well deserving of this award,” said Nick Klein, Vice President of Operations for Michigan Sugar Company. “The team focused in all the right areas of maintenance to ready their factory, then throughout the campaign, they were steady and solid, day after day after day, even when challenges arose. Their performance is a credit to every employee at that site, whether they work in the factory, in packaging and warehousing, or in the agriculture department. It was a true team effort.” During the campaign, the Caro employees set six new production records, including a new record for daily slice set on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023, when the team processed 4,801 tons of sugarbeets, beating the previous record of 4,760 tons set in September 2006. Adding to the achievement of the record was the fact that the Caro team achieved a sugar extraction rate of more than 85% that day. “I am incredibly proud of the success the Caro team had this campaign,” said Josh Taylor, Caro Factory Manager. “Ag did a great job maintaining the quality of the sugarbeet supply and P&W managed the sugar path and silos well. The support of both Ag and P&W helped give us an opportunity to excel and the Caro factory staff did an excellent job maintaining and operating the factory.” Taylor said he was especially excited to break the 17-year-old daily slice record. “It was an awesome achievement,” he said. “We were very close to breaking a few other longstanding slice and sugar pack records and have targeted some key items to address this summer to help set us up for success next campaign. I expect to see the Caro factory on the top of the list next year as well.” Built in 1899, the Caro factory is the oldest sugarbeet processing operation in the United States. It is Michigan Sugar Company’s smallest of four sugarbeet slicing operations and the only factory that produces liquid sugar. Klein explained that years ago the honor of Campaign Champion was awarded each year with large pennants presented to the winning factory. At some point, the award was suspended, but company officials decided to bring it back this year. “It’s meant to promote friendly and healthy competition between the factories, and it should be considered a great honor to receive this award,” he said.

VETERAN OF THE MONTH: Congratulations to Michael Tunnell, Michigan Sugar Company’s Veteran of the Month for April 2024. A 2018 Port Huron High School graduate, Michael enlisted with the National Guard in 2021 and completed his basic training at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. Michael returned from active duty in March 2024 after serving 311 days with the 1-182nd Field Artillery Regiment in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq, where he completed truck delivery and electronic warfare missions. Michael is heading to Camp Shelby in Mississippi to complete leadership courses for his Sergeant rank in May. Michael planted his career at Michigan Sugar in August 2022 and is currently a Sugar Specialist at the Croswell Factory. He resides in Croswell with his wife Lia and their children Oliver, 5; Serenity, 4; and Owen, 3. The family also has two cats and two guinea pigs. In his spare time, Michael enjoys working as a mobile mechanic, focusing on mechanical repairs, bodywork, and painting jobs. He’s also an avid powerlifter and enjoys taking his children fishing. Congratulations, Michael, on being named Veteran of the Month. We thank you for your continued service to our country and our cooperative. To nominate a Michigan Sugar Company employee for Veteran of the Month, send an email to Tyler Kring at tyler.kring@michigansugar.com. #thankyou #veteran #veteranofthemonth