About ADPI
Awards
Recognizing and Rewarding Members
Since 1992, ADPIAmerican Dairy Products Institute More has been proud to recognize individuals with the Award of Merit, an award that was renamed in 2023 in honor of CCarbon More.Earl Gray, one of the founding members of ADPIAmerican Dairy Products Institute More.
In 2017, ADPIAmerican Dairy Products Institute More and Dairy Foods established the Breakthrough Award for Dairy Ingredient Innovation, to recognize ADPIAmerican Dairy Products Institute More member organizations who are driving innovation in the ingredient space.
C. Earl Gray
Award of Merit
The CCarbon More. Earl Gray Award of Merit is bestowed upon individuals who have made a lasting contribution to the dairy products industry. Anyone may be nominated regardless of nationality or role within the industry, including manufacturing, marketing, R&D, academia, regulatory, equipment manufacturers, ingredient suppliers, etc.
ADPIAmerican Dairy Products Institute More will accept nominations for the 2026 CCarbon More. Earl Gray Award of Merit starting in January 2026. This award, established in 1992 has now been renamed in honor of Chester Earl Gray, a pioneering founder of one of ADPI’s legacy organizations. This award is presented annually at the 2026 ADPIAmerican Dairy Products Institute More Annual Conference, which will be held April 26-28 in Chicago.
Congratulations to the 2026 recipient, Dr. Chao Wu, Director of Product Research at Hilmar!
- 1992 – M.E. “Mel” Franks (posthumously)
- 1993 – William F. Dietrich & Nico van Zwanenberg
- 1994 – Harvey HHydrogen More. Ebert
- 1995 – Wesley E. Eckert
- 1996 – William A. Diehl
- 1997 – Donald CCarbon More. Storhoff & Robert E. Vaughn
- 1998 – Lyle Brenne
- 1999 – Larry L. Claypool
- 2000 – Mark Davis & A. Kent Keller
- 2001 – HHydrogen More. Jack Pollei & A. Marriott Walker (posthumously)
- 2002 – Warren Clark
- 2003 – Harlan Mammen
- 2004 – Bernard S. Horton
- 2005 – William J. Merrick, III
- 2006 – Bobby L. Hall
- 2007 – John Burke
- 2008 – John Whetten
- 2009 – Lee Blakely
- 2010 – George E. Hutson
- 2011 – Diane D. Lewis
- 2012 – Joseph A. O’Donnell
- 2013 – Phillip S. Tong, PhD
- 2014 – Jerry Kozak
- 2015 – Rick Kaepernick
- 2016 – Richard Stammer
- 2017 – Tom Suber
- 2018 – Dave Barbano
- 2019 – Barney Krueger
- 2020 – David Thomas
- 2021 – Jerry O’Dea
- 2022 – MaryAnne Drake, PhD
- 2023 – Richard Bradfield
- 2024 – Doug Wilke
- 2025 – Dan LaMarche
- 2026 – Chao Wu, PhD
Breakthrough Award for Dairy Ingredient Innovation
Awarded by Dairy Foods in cooperation with the American Dairy Products Institute to honor achievements by dairy processing members of the American Dairy Products Institute. Entrants MUST be members of ADPIAmerican Dairy Products Institute More to enter and Achievements must have taken place in the last 2 years (between Feb. 1, 2024 and Feb. 1, 2026).
Innovation Categories include:
- Milk-Derived or Whey-Derived Dairy Ingredients
- Processing or Packaging of Dairy Ingredients
- Breakthroughs in R&D or QualityFocus on doing things well and producing a product acceptable to consumers More Assurance of Dairy Ingredients
- Marketing of a Dairy Ingredient
- Tool or System to be Used for Dairy Ingredients
Select Custom Solutions Southwest received the 2025 Breakthrough Award for Dairy Ingredient Innovation for the development of its ImmuniGen supplement.
Congratulations to the 2026 recipient, Hilmar, for the formulation of the ingredient PROtelyze Bio-Brain.
- 2017 – Agropur
- 2018 – Lone Star Dairy Products and Caloris Engineering
- 2019 – California Dairies, Inc.
- 2020 – Milk Specialties Globa
- 2021 – Eurofins DQCI and GoodSport Nutrition
- 2022 – Arla Foods Ingredients
- 2023 – Hydro-Thermal
- 2024 – Idaho Milk Products
- 2025 – Select Custom Solutions Southwest
- 2026 – Hilmar