MEET OUR LEADERSHIP TEAM

Daragh Maccabee joined the Idaho Milk Products team as CEO in 2017. Daragh’s beliefs include creating a business culture that focuses on developing people to their fullest potential, creating leaders at all levels. He believes that our work should enrich the lives of our people and our community.  With his leadership and commitment, our team continuously strives to add maximum value to the milk that we are entrusted with and create a business that can sustain itself for generations.

Daragh graduated from Griffith College Dublin and the Dublin Business School and is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. After 5 years in public practice, he initially worked with an Irish hotel group in Central Europe. Prior to joining Idaho Milk Products, Daragh spent 18 years with Glanbia, most recently as SVP Procurement & Dairy Economics at Glanbia Nutritionals. He served on the Board of Southwest Cheese and from 2006 to 2015 held the position of Executive Vice President & CFO of Glanbia’s US Cheese and Whey business He started his career with Glanbia as Financial controller of the group’s Irish Consumer Foods Division.

Daragh is a native of Ireland. He is married to Dolores and has 3 teenage daughters. He enjoys long distance running and has competed in multiple marathons and ultra-marathons.

Tina Thatcher joined the Idaho Milk Products team as Vice President of Finance in 2019. She is an Idaho licensed Certified Public Accountant, with over 20 years’ experience in the dairy industry. Tina manages banking relationships, board reporting, and risk management, as well as core financial responsibilities.

Tina holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Oregon State University and an MBA in Accounting from Kennedy-Western University and continued her education by completing the Strategic Financial Leadership Program at Dartmouth College. She came to Idaho Milk Products from Glanbia Nutritionals where she served as Vice President, Operations Finance. During that time, she partnered with the Chief Operating Officer to drive efficiency and effectiveness in manufacturing and logistical operations across Europe, Asia and the US. She also held the position of Chief Financial Officer of Southwest Cheese, a joint venture between Glanbia and DFA/Select Milk. Prior to her work at Southwest Cheese, Tina was Financial Controller for Glanbia Foods in Idaho and has also worked with Koch Feed Products as an accountant.

In her free time, Tina loves camping and riding UTV’s. Tina has ridden a UTV from her home in Gooding to Idaho City taking the back-country roads, which were mostly dirt and gravel. The entire trip was about 150 miles one way and took about 10 hours. Crossing the South, Middle and North Forks of the Boise River was the highlight of her trip. Other historical stops along the way included Hill City, a ghost town and Rocky Bar, an old mining town with a population of 2-4 people, which still has a post office.

Steve Christiansen joined the Idaho Milk Products team as Vice President of Human Resources & Organizational Development in 2018. Steve is responsible for the continued development of a best practice HR function and the alignment of business objectives with continuous improvement on culture throughout Idaho Milk Products. He continues to lead the effort to recruit and retain the best talent, including the development and administration of benefit packages and directs the HR team in providing support to all our leaders throughout the company.

Steve holds a bachelor’s degree in Management and Human Resources from Utah State University and an MBA from Westminster College in Utah. He is certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and has lectured for Boise State University as an Adjunct Professor. He came to Idaho Milk Products from Glanbia Nutritionals where he served in several senior HR and Organizational Development roles. Prior to his work at Glanbia, Steve held similar positions with The Dannon Company in West Jordan, Utah, Astaris (formerly FMC) in Pocatello, Idaho and Kennecott Utah Copper.

Steve has traveled to 17 countries and 3 U.S. territories.

Venkateswarlu (Venkat) Sunkesula, Ph. D., joined Idaho Milk Products in July 2019. He is a dairy science and technologist with over 20 years of experience in the industries of Confectionery, Brewing, Chemicals, and Dairy Foods. He joined Idaho Milk Products in July 2019, bringing with him over two decades of diverse industry experience spanning Confectionery, Brewing, Chemicals, and Dairy Foods. As the Vice President of Research and Product Development, Venkat plays a pivotal role in driving innovation at Idaho Milk Products. His responsibilities encompass a wide range of areas, including the development of new ingredients and products, evaluation and implementation of cutting-edge technologies, and overseeing the scale-up of new products. He also spearheads the development of intellectual property to bolster the company’s product and technology portfolio.

Venkat holds a doctorate degree in dairy science manufacturing. His contributions to the scientific community include numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters that he has authored and co-authored.  He also holds adjunct faculty positions at various universities, further solidifying his standing in the field of dairy science and technology.

Kevin Quinn came to Idaho Milk Products in December 2022 as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. He has worked in the food industry for 30 years with both domestic and international customers in sales, marketing and finance roles for Nestle, Sara Lee, White Wave, Leprino Foods and Darigold. 

During his time at Darigold as Vice President of Global Accounts, he was responsible for customer-facing activities for several major global accounts. After graduating from the University of Colorado in Boulder, he started his career in Colorado.