Meet the WAFP Board
Leili Afsah-Hejri
PRESIDENT
Dr. Leili Afsah-Hejri, is the Program Director of Food Safety & Quality at Lakeland University, where she also serves as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Food Safety & Quality. With more than 27 years of experience spanning academia, research, agriculture, and the food industry, she has deep expertise and a strong commitment to advancing food safety and public health.
She has a Ph.D. in Food Safety form University Putra Malaysia, with a research focus on foodborne pathogens and strategies to prevent their transmission during food handling. She later joined the University of California, Merced, where her research examined the effectiveness of postharvest technologies in improving food safety. Her work has centered on innovative approaches, including non-destructive detection methods (e.g., terahertz imaging), non-invasive identification and quantification tools (e.g., electronic nose technology), and environmentally friendly decontamination methods such as ozonation.
Throughout her career, Dr. Afsah-Hejri has served as a Co-PI on more than a dozen government- and industry-funded research and educational projects and has authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. She has a strong emphasis on translating research into practical applications that support regulators, industry professionals, entrepreneurs, and educators.
Alex O’Brien
FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT
Alex O’Brien is the Center for Dairy Research’s Dairy Safety & Quality Coordinator. He assists dairy plants with food safety plans, quality issues, and performs third party audits. He has worked in the food industry for the past 11 years, serving as a quality assurance supervisor and quality assurance manager. He has worked at Kerry Ingredients and Maple Leaf Cheese Company prior to working at the CDR. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2014 with a Food Science degree. Alex is a lead HACCP instructor, Lead PCQI Instructor, Certified Food Safety and Quality Auditor and has a certificate in Better Thermal Process School for Canning, Aseptic and Process Cheese.
Kristy Herlitzka
SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT
Kristy Herlitzka is the Director of Food Safety and Quality Assurance for Kwik Trip Production Operations in La Crosse, WI. In her role, she is responsible for development and the implementation of Kwik Trip’s food safety/HACCP plans, good manufacturing practices, quality assurance, SQF, environmental monitoring, sanitary design, food safety training and food defense programs in the Bakery, Dairy, Bread and Bun facility and Kitchens. She and her entire team are passionate about food safety and work toward the ongoing improvement of the corporate food safety programs.
Kristy is a graduate of Viterbo College in La Crosse, WI. Prior to joining Kwik Trip, Kristy worked for Reinhart Foodservice and has over 27 years of industry experience in food safety, quality assurance, internal and external auditing, USDA and FDA regulatory compliance and continuous improvement.
Kristen Houck
SECRETARY
Kristen is a Microbiologist at the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research, specializing in dairy product quality and safety . She has been an active member of IAFP/WAFP for over 25 years, once serving as WAFP’s (formerly WAMFES) newsletter editor, and is currently WAFP secretary, just completing her second year in the position. Kristen also contributes to the Wisconsin Laboratory Association, where she has held board and planning roles and most recently served as Administrative Director.
Takiyah Ball
PAST PRESIDENT
Takiyah Ball is a Food Safety Microbiologist at Sargento Foods Inc. She works within the Food Safety department providing support to the Supply Quality department with risk assessments for all ingredients and cheese products entering the facilities. Her other duties include providing educational Food Safety information to all employees, keeping up with national and international recalls, and reporting trends to leadership. She is also a founding member of the Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Employee Business Group at Sargento, launching in 2022. Prior to Sargento, she spent one year as an ORISE fellow with the FDA CFSAN in the Office of Applied Research and Safety Assessment within the Molecular Department. Her research was to find the best culturing methods to isolate Acinetobacter spp. in leafy green outbreaks and perform a genetic analysis to compare them to clinical outbreaks. Before the FDA, she spent 15 years with the USDA ARS in the Bacterial Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Resistance Unit. She managed the Salmonella and E. coli Laboratory, which was the animal arm of the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS). She has certifications in Better Process Cheese School, Dairy Processing, PCQI, Diversity, and Inclusion in the Workplace, and many other certifications for the workplace. She is a member of IFT, IAFP, and ASM. She is also also a Sargento representative member for the Food Research Institute, The Listeria Consortium, and The Forum of Food Microbiologists. She mentors three graduate students within the Food Science Departments at their respective schools. She has two Bachelor of Science degrees (Microbiology and Cellular Biology), and a Master of Science (Animal and Dairy Science) from The University of Georgia; a Master’s in Public Health (Prevention Science) from Emory University; and a Ph.D. (Comparative and Biomedical Sciences, with a focus on Population Medicine) from North Carolina University College of Veterinary Medicine.
Tyson Villarreal
TREASURER
Tyson Villarreal is the Dairy Services Section Manager for Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection. He has worked for DATCP regulatory since 2013. DATCP licenses and inspects milk producers, haulers, and dairy processing facilities. He is a Registered Sanitarian with the State of Wisconsin, a University of Wisconsin – La Crosse graduate and enjoys all things food related from farm to fork.
Jack Burnett
ADMINISTRATOR
Dr. Jack Burnett serves as the North American Hygiene Specialist for Vikan North America, a manufacturer of hygienic cleaning tools. He earned both his Master’s and PhD in Food Science from Purdue University, where his research contributed to advancing the understanding of persisting Listeria in food processing environments.
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