During the Professional Manufacturing Confectioners Association's (PMCA) Annual Meeting of Members, held Tuesday, April 8 at the 78th Annual Production Conference in Lancaster, PA, members ratified the slate of directors for the new fiscal year beginning July 1.

The following individuals were ratified as new members of the PMCA board of directors. Their first terms began July 1 at the start of the PMCA fiscal year 2025/2026:

Judy Cooley, Global Confection Connections, LLC

Cooley has served on multiple PMCA committees for many years, including as chair of the Production Conference Program Committee, which organizes PMCA’s largest annual educational and networking event. She is also an active participant in the Student Outreach Program as a student mentor.

Cooley is a product development candy technologist with a mission to combine passion for confectionery industry success with eradicating global malnutrition, PMCA says. Her expertise is in global products, technical services, production feasibility and efficiencies, education, and team building with nearly 45 years in R&D, growth, and product implementation. She is the recipient of multiple confectionery industry awards and has mentored many young professionals. Cooley has always been an advocate of education, research, and cooperation within the confectionery industry. She retired from The Hershey Company in 2015 and started Global Confection Connections, LLC consulting company and has clients worldwide.

For 29 years, Cooley worked as a principal scientist for The Hershey Company where she was responsible for development of sweets, refreshment and international R&D and product implementation in multiple countries. From 2013-2015, she was involved in the development and implementation of ViVi, a highly fortified peanut snack that Hershey donates to school children in Ghana. Fifty thousand children were fed daily in 2015 alone.

In 2014, Cooley had the privilege to help with design and implementation of Project Peanut Butter’s Ghana factory for production of Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF).

Cooley has been volunteering her time within associations for many years, including multiple roles within PMCA, NCA, and AACT. She also mentor young confectioners in the U.S., China and Mexico.

Cooley was inducted into the Candy Hall of Fame in 2012, received AACT’s Stroud Jordan Award, and was nominated for Candy Industry’s Kettle Award in 2007 and 2011. She holds two patents, with two pending. She holds an MBA with high honors from the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management, a BS in foods and nutrition with a minor in chemistry from Illinois State University, and a certificate in international management from Georgetown University.

Jenna Derhammer, Blommer Chocolate Company

Derhammer started working in the food industry in 2004 as her second career. She attended the French Culinary Institute (now International Culinary Center) for a degree in pastry arts and received a master’s degree in nutrition from Drexel University. She has held various roles in product and recipe development at Balducci’s and Ashland prior to joining Blommer. She started with Blommer in 2007 focusing on product development and more recently has shifted focus to innovation and business development. As the innovation director, she leads the teams that develop opportunities, listen to customer voices and generate new and novel concepts.

Derhammer is reportedly passionate about the confectionery industry and has served on the board of directors at the Fine Chocolate Industry Association and is currently the chair of PMCA’s Research Committee. She was the 2024 recipient of the Marie Kelso Award for her 2023 production conference presentation.

Eric Schmoyer, IRCA Group Americas

Eric Schmoyer joined IRCA Group Americas in 2024 as technical innovation director. Previously, he was technical services manager with Barry Callebaut since 2007, where he worked with internal and external customers solving production issues.

Prior to joining Barry Callebaut, Schmoyer was with the R.M. Palmer Company for almost 20 years. Starting in the moulding department and moving to tech services, he worked with raw materials, formulation, and processing, as well as standard QA duties. In 1998, he was named R&D lab manager, where his duties included ideation and new item prototype development, plant scale-ups, on-line troubleshooting, production of sales samples, and managing the QA libraries.

Schmoyer has instructed and attended several PMCA courses as well as the NCA Confectionery Residency course in Madison, WI. A member of PMCA for a long time, he is co-chair of the Education & Learning Committee, chair of the Nominations Committee, and is active on the Long Range Planning and Student Outreach committees. He also leads the Beyond the Basics Subcommittee, which plans the Monday morning program for PMCA’s Annual Production Conference. Schmoyer is past president of the American Association of Candy Technologists as well as Philadelphia Chairperson. He was the 2020 recipient of AACT’s Stroud Jordan Award and will be inducted into the Candy Hall of Fame in October.

Directors renewing second terms are Rebecca Kuehn, Guittard Chocolate Company and Abdoulaye Traore, Ofi.

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