KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Meat&Poultry has announced its 2013 Operations Executive of the Year is Freddy Mortensen, senior vice president of production with Plumrose USA Inc. The award is presented each year in recognition of a career dedicated to pursuing operational excellence and providing leadership while delivering innovative solutions, according to the industry-leading trade publication. A feature focused on Mortensen’s career and accomplishments will be the cover story of M&P’s July issue.

“Mr. Mortensen was nominated by his industry peers as the individual whose vision and proven engineering expertise have allowed his company to grow and succeed in the very competitive meat processing industry,” said Dave Crost, M&P publisher. “Based on his reputation and overall body of work he is a very deserving recipient of this award,” he added.

Crost and Editor Joel Crews recently presented the award to Mortensen at the new Plumrose sliced-meats facility in Council Bluffs, Iowa. After hosting a rare tour of the plant for the M&P team, Mortensen recounted how his role in designing and leading the construction of the highly automated facility was a crowning achievement in a career that began modestly as an ambitious teenager growing up in Denmark.

In the July M&P cover story, Mortensen recounts his early career in the industry and eventual hiring by Danish Crown AmbA, the parent company of Plumrose, as the plant manager of its plant in Booneville, Miss. He recounts how his career evolved, culminating with the construction of the Council Bluffs plant, a project that went from a blueprint in October, 2011 to an operational reality in October of 2012. He also discusses his transition to retirement, a process that is scheduled to begin later this year.

On receiving the M&P award, Mortensen said, “I never in my wildest imagination considered something like this. I thought I was just another American nobody knew. I’m very honored.”