Corporate Director of Energy, Utilities & Refrigeration

The Corporate Director of Energy, Utilities & Refrigeration at Indiana Packers is a strategic leadership role focused on optimizing utility and refrigeration systems across multiple manufacturing sites. Responsibilities include developing corporate strategies, overseeing industrial refrigeration, managing energy procurement, and ensuring compliance with safety standards. The position is critical for improving system reliability, reducing costs, and supporting operational excellence in protein processing facilities located in Indiana, Kentucky, and Michigan.
Corporate Director of Energy, UtilitiesRefrigeration


Position Summary
Indiana Packers Corporation's (IPC) Corporate Director of Energy, UtilitiesRefrigeration is a strategic leadership role responsible for driving the enterprise-wide vision, performance, and continuous improvement of all utility and refrigeration systems across Indiana Packers Corporation's protein processing and multi-site manufacturing operations. IPC has locations in Indiana, Kentucky, and Michigan.
This leader ensures the safe, reliable, and cost-effective operation of critical infrastructure supporting fresh pork and protein processing facilities, including industrial refrigeration (ammonia and CO systems), boilers, compressed air systems, electrical distribution, and water/wastewater utilities.


The role is accountable for optimizing energy consumption, improving system uptime and reliability, advancing sustainability initiatives, and ensuring full regulatory compliance in a high-volume, temperature-controlled protein production environment. This position plays a key role in supporting operational excellence, food safety, and long-term capital planning across all IPC protein processing facilities.


Key Responsibilities
Enterprise StrategyCapital Planning
Develop and lead the corporate strategy for energy, utilities, and refrigeration systems across all protein processing facilitiesEstablish long-range infrastructure plans aligned with growth, throughput demands, cold-chain requirements, efficiency, and sustainability goals in protein manufacturing operationsLead capital planning for system upgrades, modernization, and standardization across high-capacity protein production environmentsServe as the corporate subject matter expert for utilities and industrial refrigeration systems supporting protein processing operations
RefrigerationUtilities Oversight
Provide enterprise oversight of industrial refrigeration systems (ammonia and CO) critical to protein chilling, storage, and food safety complianceEnsure optimal performance, reliability, and safety of boilers, compressed air, electrical, and water systems supporting continuous protein processing operationsStandardize maintenance programs, including preventive and predictive maintenance practices across all protein processing facilitiesDrive consistency in system design, operation, and documentation to support food safety, USDA compliance, and cold-chain integrity
Energy ManagementCost Optimization
Lead enterprise energy procurement strategy, including utility rate negotiation and demand management for large-scale protein processing facilitiesIdentify and execute energy efficiency initiatives to reduce cost per unit of protein productionMonitor, analyze, and report energy consumption and performance metrics across all protein manufacturing locationsPartner with plant leadership to identify continuous improvement opportunities in energy usage without compromising food safety or production continuity
Reliability EngineeringPerformance Improvement
Implement reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) principles across utility and refrigeration systems supporting continuous protein processing operationsLead root cause analysis for critical system failures impacting production, refrigeration, or cold storage capacityDrive measurable improvements in uptime, system reliability, and maintenance cost across protein production facilitiesEstablish benchmarking systems to compare performance across protein processing plants and drive standardization
Safety, ComplianceRisk Management
Ensure full compliance with OSHA Process Safety Management (PSM), EPA Risk Management Plan (RMP), USDA requirements, and other applicable regulations governing protein processing facilitiesPartner closely with Environmental, HealthSafety (EHS) teams to manage high-risk systems and emergency preparedness in food production environmentsChampion a strong safety culture focused on ammonia refrigeration systems, high-energy utilities, and food safety-critical infrastructureOversee audit readiness and corrective action management for regulated systems supporting protein processing operations
LeadershipOrganizational Development
Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of utilities and refrigeration professionals across protein processing facilitiesEstablish training standards and technical development pathways for facility-level teams in food manufacturing environmentsFoster strong collaboration between Operations, Engineering, Maintenance, EHS, and Financ