Portland, OR/Kent, WA Leader Earns National Plant Manager of the Year Award

International Bottled Water Association | NEWS RELEASE |November 10, 2020

Portland, OR/Kent, WA Leader Earns National Plant Manager of the Year Award

Alexandria, VA – The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) announced on this week that Monika Morgan is this year’s recipient of the prestigious Plant Manager of the Year award for 2020.

Ms. Morgan, who works for Primo Water North America at plants in Portland, Oregon and Kent, Washington, has earned IBWA’s certified plant operator (CPO) distinction and the Preventive Controls Qualified Individual certificate from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), was awarded the title during IBWA’s Annual General Meeting as part of the 2020 IBWA Virtual Annual Business Conference.

Ms. Morgan’s career at Primo Water began in Washington State in 1998 when a new company plant was built in Auburn. Prior to that, she worked as a waiter in her family’s diner. Since joining the team at Primo Water, Ms. Morgan has become known for being an outstanding leader.

She has led the Kent, Washington facility as plant manager since 2010 and assumed the leadership of the Portland, Oregon plant in 2019.

“With more than 20 years of experience in the industry, Monika has been an influential and innovative leader at Primo Water. She has held roles of increasing responsibility in production and quality,” said IBWA Convention Committee Co-Chair Dan Kelly. “Her leadership skills are top-notch.”

Ms. Morgan is also known for being an advocate for employee safety policies. She partnered with the company’s Quality department to develop response policies to COVID-19 that enabled business continuity during the pandemic, and she serves as the subject matter expert for inventory control for the organization.

In addition, she mentored four newly hired plant managers in 2019, ensuring they were successful dealing with an accelerated learning curve.

Ms. Morgan also more than doubled on-time shipments in the Kent plant in 2019, rising as high as 95 percent in 2020.

And in the Portland plant, she helped reduce injury trends by 66 percent from the second half of 2019 through the first half of 2020.

“Her performance and exceptional skills as a plant manager only speak to a small part of who Monika is,” said Kelly. “What also makes her special is Monika’s commitment to food safety and quality—both at the manufacturing plant and in the community in which she lives.”

IBWA has been recognizing the efforts of bottled water industry professionals since 1963. As ambassadors of the bottled water industry, plant managers are on the front lines in the critical role of ensuring safe and quality bottled water products are produced for customers.

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Media Contact:
Jill Culora
703.647.4609
jculora@bottledwater.org

The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) is the authoritative source of information about all types of bottled waters, including spring, mineral, purified, artesian, and sparkling. Founded in 1958, IBWA’s membership includes U.S. and international bottlers, distributors and suppliers. IBWA is committed to working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates bottled water as a packaged food product, to set comprehensive and stringent standards for safe, high-quality bottled water products.

In addition to FDA regulations, IBWA member bottlers must adhere to the IBWA Bottled Water Code of Practice, which mandates additional standards and practices that in some cases are more stringent than federal and state regulations. A key feature of the IBWA Bottled Water Code of Practice is a mandatory annual plant inspection by an independent, third-party organization.