American Frozen Food Institute Adds to Public Policy, Comms Teams
The American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) has brought aboard Elissa McLerran Gilliam as its senior director of public policy, effective March 22.
“I am pleased to welcome Elissa as the newest member of the AFFI team, bringing with her years of Capitol Hill and trade association experience,” noted AFFI President and CEO Alison Bodor. “We look forward to enhancing AFFI’s public policy efforts on Capitol Hill and with the administration by leveraging Elissa’s understanding of food policy and grass-roots activation to share the story of how our member companies ensure Americans have access to a variety of safe, nutritious and easy-to-prepare frozen foods.”
Gilliam’s most recent position was legislative director for Rep. James Comer, R-Kentucky. Before that, she held legislative assistant positions for Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Alabama, and Jodey Arrington, R-Texas. Prior to her time on Capitol Hill, Gilliam was the public policy communications manager at the Food Marketing Institute.
AFFI also promoted the following executives:
Adrienne Seiling is now SVP of strategic communications. Her most recent role was VP of communications. A nine-year veteran of the association, Seiling develops and executes AFFI’s public affairs strategy to advance the association’s priorities in line with its new strategic plan. She is also executive director of AFFI’s Frozen Food Foundation, provides strategic counsel as part of AFFI’s senior leadership team and guides all aspects of the organization’s digital communications and market research.
Brian Peteritas has become senior director of marketing and communications, having previously held the role of director of marketing and communications. Peteritas joined AFFI in 2018 and in that time has played a major role in implementing multichannel marketing strategies, including the launch of AFFI’s Member Marketing Program.
“The experience and skills of our new and newly promoted team members will aid AFFI’s ability to advance the frozen food and beverage community’s public policy priorities and business needs,” said Bodor.
Arlington, Virginia-based AFFI represents all segments of the frozen food supply chain, from manufacturers to suppliers and distributors, advocating before legislative and regulatory entities on the $65.1 billion industry’s behalf, serving as the voice for the industry and convening industry leadership.
