Guest Speaker – Miriam Erickson Brown

Miriam Erickson Brown has spent over three decades working in the family business,Anderson Erickson Dairy (AE Dairy). Her first job at AE was working on Saturdays during high school taking store orders over the phone. Miriam graduated from Wheaton College, in Wheaton, Illinois, and after a brief stint in an entry level position at a publishing house in the suburbs of Chicago, she joined AE as a marketing specialist. For the next few decades, she worked on and held various marketing, sales, distribution and management positions until she was named President and CEO in 2006. Early in her career, Miriam made it a goal to immerse herself in all things “dairy” and deepen her leadership skills. This conscious commitment involved a long history of serving on and leading dairy industry boards where she could be a voice for the smaller independent dairies, like AE, and learn from the best industry leaders. She was selected by the Secretary of Agriculture to join the GOT MILK? board where she has served for 25 years in a variety of leadership positions. Miriam also led the: International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and Milk Industry Foundation Board as Chair. In 2007, she was the recipient of IDFA’s Soaring Eagle Award for extraordinary service in the dairy industry. Miriam is also committed to giving back to her community and has been active on many boards including: Keep Iowa Beautiful, Youth Homes of Mid America and the Greater Des Moines Partnership. More recently, she was honored with the Leadership Legacy Award from the Iowa Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO). Miriam enjoys speaking about the health benefits of milk as well as creating (and of course, tasting new AE yogurt flavors). She and her husband, Gary, live in Urbandale with their two golden retrievers, Audrey and Sunny