Overview

The National Pork Board (NPB) is also known as the Pork Checkoff but will be referred to as NPB throughout this request for proposal (RFP). Representing the more than 65,000 pig farmers in America, NPB executes specific programs in the areas of promotion, research and education to address the opportunities and challenges of the pork industry, all of which is funded through a federally mandated national Checkoff. NPB represents a category and commodity more so than a brand or commercial product. Therefore, NPB often works through and with pork processors and channel partners who do produce and sell branded products.  

The Pork Act, Pork Order and USDA Ag Marketing Service Guidelines provide the legal authority and controlling documents for NPB operations. A 15-member Board of Directors oversees NPB and Pork Checkoff funds. Each year, Pork Act Delegates, appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, have the responsibility to elect members to the Board, set the Pork Checkoff assessment rate, and establish the return-to-state rate which provides funding to the designated State Pork Associations. The Chief Executive Officer reports to the Board and is responsible for working with the Board to develop long-range strategy and then lead NPB’s project and program execution with staff in the following areas: 

  1. Organization-wide leadership, management and oversight 
  1. Operations, HR, Legal, Finance, Research and Administration 
  1. Market Growth, both domestic and international 
  1. Sustainability under our We Care® Ethical Principles 
  1. Swine Health and Production 
  1. Communications, Reputation Management, Crisis Response and Public Relations 
  1. Producer and State Pork Association Engagement 

NPB’s primary goals are to “Build Trust” in pork producers and pork production practices via the industry’s “We Care” principles; and to “Add Value” through efforts including domestic and international marketing and nutrition research/communication. To learn more about NPBs strategic plan, goals and primary areas of work, visit porkcheckoff.org/about/strategic-plan.

Strategic Planning Facilitation and Partnership in Plan Creation and Delivery

NPB seeks the services of a strategic business partner or other consultative party to support and provide facilitation to the organization’s board of directors and senior leadership team in the creation of a three-year strategic plan. The NPB Board, senior staff and industry leaders will be the primary drivers and owners of the strategic plan. The final deliverable will serve as a roadmap from which NPB staff, board of directors and stakeholders can operate, organize and conduct business, projects and programs on behalf of U.S. pork producers.

Strategic Plan Objectives: 

  1. Create a new directional yet practical guiding document that can be shared with all pork industry stakeholder audiences (see audiences below). 
  1. Align and unite the organization’s staff in its work on behalf of pork producers. 
  1. Ensure retention of previously established stakeholder and industry priorities. 
  1. Align with NPB’s existing operational structure at a high level. 
  1. Balance short-term needs with long-term impact of research, education and promotion as established via the Pork Act and Order of 1985. 
  1. Direct the organization’s daily focus during the next three years. 
  1. Serve as a key input to the NPB annual planning and budgeting process. 

Strategic Plan Internal Audiences: 

  • NPB board of directors 
  • NPB staff 
  • State pork association board members  
  • State pork association executives and staff 
  • Pork Act Delegates 
     

Strategic Plan External Audiences: 

  • Pork producers, all 
  • Swine veterinarians 
  • State animal health officials 
  • Packer/processors 
  • Pork Quality Assurance/Transport Quality Assurance (PQA/TQA) advisors & trainers  
  • Swine educator and outreach professionals  
  • Pork Leadership Institute members  
  • Food supply chain stakeholders 
  • Strategic partners and collaborators, such as the Real Pork Trust Consortium 

Statement of Work / Scope

Deliverable #1 – Successfully prepare for and facilitate an in-person 2-day meeting in Minneapolis, MN, on November 4-5, 2024, to gain input from global food and agriculture industry leaders on long-term, forward-thinking disruptive risks and opportunities to the pork industry, including topics and issues that NPB should consider for possible research, education and promotion plans beginning in 2026. 

Deliverable #2 – Summary of Minneapolis meeting, including recommendations and related analysis or intelligence. The recommendations within should include the topics and issues to incorporate, their strategic relevance to NPB, as well as the role the Pork Checkoff would play in making an impact in this area on behalf of the pork industry.  

  • A condensed version or executive summary/overview (with these options) should also be created for NPB Board of Directors’ consideration (a PPT deck that shares the options and recommendations). 

Deliverable #3 – Successfully prepare for and facilitate an in-person 1.5-day meeting (location TBD), the week of January 13-17, 2025, to gain input from a cross section of US pork producers, state pork association executives, packer/processor representatives, grocery retailers, food service operators and allied industry leveraging the information gleaned from the November 2024 meeting. The focus should continue identifying long-term, forward-thinking disruptive risks and opportunities to the pork industry, including topics and issues that NPB should consider for possible research, education and promotion plans beginning in 2026. 

Deliverable #4 – Summary of the January 2025 meeting, including recommendations and related analysis or intelligence. The recommendations within should include the topics and issues to incorporate in the plan, their strategic relevance to NPB, as well as the role the Pork Checkoff would play in making an impact in this area on behalf of the pork industry. 

Deliverable #5 – The NPB three-year strategic plan itself; partner should recommend structure, format, layout and/or framework for the final document (PPT deck and PDF file) or documents encapsulating the strategic plan and work generated, including the approved strategic objectives and recommendations for how/when/where to address them and an approach for NPB to measure (ROI measurement, key results) milestones, incremental change, progress and impact. The end goal is to provide the NPB board of directors with a strategic plan document they can review, edit and formally adopt that will guide NPB priorities and budget for 2026, 2027 and 2028. 

Deliverable #6 – Present the NPB three-year strategic plan to our board of directors on March 10-11, 2025, in-person at our board meeting in Orlando, FL and conduct Q&A.

Criteria for Approval

Preference will be given to vendors who demonstrate: 

  • True grounding and understanding of NPB’s mission, core values, organizational opportunities and constraints as a non-profit association and commodity checkoff  
  • A keen understanding of NPB’s strategic plan objectives and timing expectations 
  • A portfolio of work led by seasoned executives with experience in production agriculture and/or livestock and food production 
  • Creativity, objectivity and rigor in both style and approach to driving actionable strategic plans with SMART goals that are clear, concise and direct 
  • Ability to successfully and efficiently facilitate meetings containing a diverse set of independent producers and competitive businessperson viewpoints, capture key and relevant information in real time and respectfully challenge and clarify positions to ensure accuracy and agreement

Additional Considerations

Input to the Strategic Planning Process to be Provided by NPB:

  • Existing NPB strategic pillars and project priorities 
  • Direction and expectations from producers and state pork association executives 
  • Anecdotes from conversations informing the NPB annual planning process 

Recently (to be) completed producer survey and research study (end of October)

Due Date

Proposals for this RFP are due July 15, 2024. Proposals will be evaluated and selections will be completed by August 9, 2024. 

Evaluation

NPB Strategic Planning Team 

Executive Sponsor:  

Bill Even, CEO, National Pork Board 

Project Manager: 

Lauren Zaug, Director, Project Management 

Working Group: NPB senior leadership team 

Alex Wibholm, SVP Operations 

Brett Kaysen, SVP Producer & State Engagement 

David Newman, SVP Market Growth 

Dustin Oedekoven, Chief Veterinarian 

Jamie Burr, Chief Sustainability Officer 

Rachel Holdren, SVP Human Resources 

Sally Krueger, SVP Communications 

Funding Amount

The estimated budget for this project will be in the approximate range of $150,000.  When submitting your proposal, please include budget breakdown for direct costs, indirect costs, equipment and materials, travel and other expenses.

Submission Information

All responses must be received by 5:00 PM CST on July 15, 2024.  Digital responses are preferred and should be send to [email protected] with a copy to [email protected].  The submission of a proposal does not in any manner oblige the National Pork Board to enter into a contract or to be responsible for the costs incurred by your organization in responding to this RFP.

Questions?

For additional information, please contact:

Lauren Zaug 

Director, Project Management 

National Pork Board 

[email protected] | 515-223-2636

Rachel Holdren 

SVP, Human Resources 

National Pork Board 

[email protected] | 515-223-2636