Boehringer Ingelheim (BIVI) held a networking event for women in the swine industry last weekend and overall the event was a great success. To learn more about Swine Link, I spent some time with Lara Sheeley, senior associate director of BIVI who moved from BIVI Australia to lead the swine brand team in the U.S.

Sheeley said that Swine Link evolved from another group geared toward women in the swine industry called Sweet on Swine. Over the years, Boehringer Ingelheim has sponsored networking events to really get women in the swine industry to be able to network and meet each other and learn from each other. This event took a different form and focused on women in leadership in the agriculture and the swine industry. She noted that there are not a lot of opportunities for women in leadership to network both in the ag industry and the swine industry and so they focused this event on meeting this need.

When Sheeley took the job, she thought it would be a challenge because she moved from the companion animal side of the business to the production animal side of the business. But she soon discovered that another challenge was moving into an industry with few women in leadership roles, including at BIVI. She said she could really relate to what many of the speakers said, especially Jane Fallon with Cargill Pork, having moved from one side of the business to the swine side of the business.

Swine Link is an ongoing networking group and Sheeley says BIVI plans to host more events over the next few months. Examples include breakfast networking meetings or receptions during industry events. So keep your eyes out for Swine Link news.

Listen to my interview with Lara Sheeley here: Swine Link Wrap-up

Check out the photos from the event in the Swine Link photo album.