Author: Dairy News
“Soma has gained multiple decades of deep dairy expertise in preparation for our growth and scaling in the coming years. As a startup Founder, and for everyone on our team, there are so many things we set out to do for the first time, and are learning incredibly fast as we go. We are so excited about where we’ve gotten, both in terms of our technology development and at how our company has grown. We knew that in order to address the opportunity, and for the company to reach its maximum potential, it was time to add to our leadership team.” said Bethany Deshpande, CEO of SomaDetect. “I am grateful to our Board and key advisors who helped us bring both Tom McArthur and Dr. Saltman on board. These two leaders truly embody our farmer-first mentality, intimately understanding what it takes to commercialize scientific technologies and bringing decades of combined experience in the industry. ”
Tom has immense experience scaling successful businesses widely across several segments of the animal protein industry and is an expert in scaling business within Dairy operations. He has commercial, operations and technical experience. As Head of Commercial Effectiveness, US at Zoetis during the time that the Wyeth and Alpharma businesses were integrated into Zoetis (formerly Pfizer), Tom led the development of internal and customer facing operations an strategies across all business segments for the ~ $2B enterprise. Jon Leafstedt, Jimmy Paulakuhn, and Attila von Hankó, principals with Kincannon & Reed, a global executive search firm focused on the food and agribusiness value chain, assisted the SomaDetect in its recruitment of Tom McArthur.
“I grew up listening to stories from my grandmother who owned a dairy farm in Upstate NY. It is amazing to see how much technology innovation and automation has changed the dairy industry since then,” Tom said. “As head of Precision Livestock Farming at Zoetis, when I first saw a presentation from SomaDetect, I immediately thought this technology would be a major step change in the dairy industry. I am excited to be joining the team at SomaDetect and I look forward to bringing this game changing technology to the dairy industry.”
Tom led the US Beef & Dairy specialty sales forces for 6 years as well as the Dairy Production Specialist and Quality Milk Specialist teams at Zoetis. He led the training and development programs over that period and possesses a deep understanding of the dairy production system. Tom holds a BA in Economics and Business from Lafayette College and an MBA from Iona College.
Growing up in Southern California, Dr. Saltman went east to earn his undergraduate degree at Princeton University. He worked with the New York Dairy Herd Improvement Cooperative and operated a farm in upstate New York prior to earning his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree at Cornell University and his Masters in Business Administration degree at Syracuse University. He practiced as a clinical veterinarian for 7 years with a primary focus on dairy production medicine and was the former Chief Medical Officer and Executive Director of the US Cattle and Equine Business at Zoetis.
“The dairy industry has a long history of adopting technology, improving animal health, and enhancing environmental stewardship,” said Dr. Saltman. “SomaDetect represents another breakthrough innovation that has the potential to significantly improve a dairy farmer’s ability to measure and manage individual cow health and productivity. As a new member of the Board of Directors, I look forward to helping bring this exciting technology to the dairy industry.”
SomaDetect was founded in 2016 with the mission of providing farmers with the information they need to make the best possible milk. The company’s core technology is an in-line sensor capable of monitoring critical indicators of reproductive status, health, and milk components from individual cows. SomaDetect’s sensor uses no consumables, is extremely quick, and fits into existing milking equipment. SomaDetect bridges the information gap between farmers and their cows by providing data from every cow at every milking. For more information, visit www.somadetect.com
