U.S. Poultry & Egg Association (USPOULTRY) presented the organization’s annual Lamplighter Award to five individuals at the International Poultry Expo, part of the 2025 International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE). The award pays tribute to individuals for “sustained and exemplary service” to the poultry and egg industry. This year’s honorees are:
Greg Watt
Greg Watt is president and CEO and agrifood group publisher for WATT Global Media where he directs the company's strategic vision, corporate culture, business growth and acquisitions. Watt joined the company in 1993, and in 2007, he became the fourth generation to lead the company, founded in 1917, with the purchase of Poultry Tribune magazine by James W. Watt, his great-grandfather.
Watt currently serves as the Communications Working Group chair for the International Poultry Council and is a member of the National Protein and Food Distributors Association Scholarship Selection Committee. He directed and founded the Poultry Tech Summit, hosted every other year in Atlanta in collaboration with the University of Georgia Department of Poultry Science, Georgia Tech Research Institute and USPOULTRY. He also facilitated a partnership with the National Chicken Council to produce the annual Chicken Marketing Summit. He is the publisher of Egg Industry, WATTPoultry USA, Feed & Grain, WATTPoultry International, Executive Guide to World Poultry Trends, Feed Strategy, Petfood Industry and the annual WATT IPPE Directory, now in its 40th year in cooperation with the IPPE.
Dr. Steve Bolden
Dr. Steve Bolden graduated from Tennessee Tech University, where he received his Master of Science degree in Avian Physiology from Auburn University and completed his postdoctoral degree in poultry nutrition at the University of Georgia.
Dr. Bolden began his 40-year career with Central Soya in Decatur, Ind. He served in several roles within the Pilgrim’s family of companies, including WLR Foods, Seaboard Farms, Con Agra and Pilgrim’s Pride. He also worked at Cobb-Vantress as managing director of world tech services, where he worked in more than 40 countries. Dr. Bolden is currently the vice president of live operations for Wayne-Sanderson Farms, where he has been since 2019. He leads all live production for the company, including hatchery, feed mill and farm operations.
Paul Bredwell
Paul Bredwell is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he received a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree specializing in hydraulics, hydrology and environmental engineering. He is a licensed professional engineer in Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina.
With more than 30 years of experience in the poultry and egg industry, Bredwell currently serves as the executive vice president of regulatory programs at USPOULTRY. In this role, he develops educational programs to help the industry manage environmental risks and comply with regulations. He also provides technical and regulatory information to poultry producers, processors and associations; advocates for the industry on regulatory issues; and coordinates research projects focused on environmental risk mitigation.
Dr. Frederic Hoerr
Dr. Frederic J. Hoerr is a veterinarian specializing in veterinary pathology and poultry medicine. He focuses on understanding poultry diseases through diagnostic work and research.
He earned his DVM, MS and Ph.D. from Purdue University and worked for 32 years as a diagnostic pathologist at Alabama's state diagnostic laboratories, where he was also the laboratory director from 1987 to 2012. During this time, Hoerr was a professor and interim dean at Auburn University's College of Veterinary Medicine. In 2004, he founded Veterinary Diagnostic Pathology LLC, offering histopathology services to poultry industries worldwide. He has received numerous awards for his contributions to poultry health, including the Lasher-Bottorf Award and the Sustained Excellence in Poultry Disease Research Award. He has also been named a Distinguished Alumnus of Purdue University and an Honorary Professor at Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Peru.
John Pierson
John Pierson is a civil and environmental engineer with experience and expertise in wastewater treatment, with a particular focus on industrial treatment processes, remediation and restoration. His engineering consulting includes water chemistry analysis, recalcitrant compound treatment and data analytics. He is a licensed professional engineer in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Wyoming.
Pierson earned his Master of Science in Environmental Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. After 29 years, he recently retired as a principal research engineer from the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). At GTRI, he was co-inventor for an advanced UV disinfection system and the principal inventor for a cyclic filtration system recently licensed by a start-up company. He is the past president of the Georgia Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and he was named the 2020 Georgia Engineer of the Year in Industry by the American Council of Engineering Companies of Georgia. Pierson serves as a judge for the USPOULTRY Clean Water Award as well as the Family Farm Environmental Award.
“The dedication and service of this year’s Lamplighter Award recipients has been invaluable in driving the poultry industry forward. We value their contributions, and we sincerely appreciate their service to the industry,” said Mikell Fries, president of Claxton Poultry Farms, and outgoing USPOULTRY chair.
