Christopher Salm
Christopher Salm grew up on his family’s dairy farm on the Fox River in West De Pere, Wisconsin. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the UW–Madison in meat and animal science and completed his master’s and Ph.D. degrees at Purdue University in muscle biology and bioengineering. His industry experience includes years at Oscar Mayer, Johnsonville Sausage and ConAgra (Armour-Swift-Eckrich) with roles as principal scientist, plant manager, product developer, technical trouble shooter, brand manager and lastly, as vice president of research and development. Salm stepped away in 2003 to found Salm Partners with three of his brothers. Salm Partners pioneered a novel co-extrusion technology and a cook-in-package process that yields preferred products that have exceptional shelf-life, free of microbiological contamination. The company has expanded multiple times and currently produces over 15% of all the pre-cooked sausage sold in the U.S. In 2015, Salm co-founded Ab E Discovery, a new venture designed to aid university scientists in the commercialization of their discoveries and inventions that are focused on animal agriculture and human health. To date, Ab E Discovery has spawned three more businesses: Ab E Manufacturing, Ovation Foods and CoVigilance. Salm has applied his knowledge and experience to serve UW–Madison on many occasions, primarily in vision development and fundraising. As a principled businessman and bold entrepreneur, he has faithfully served the meat industry and his efforts have greatly benefited the economy and the citizens of Wisconsin.