Jack Burnett
Jack Burnett is Technical Consulting Manager serving Diversey’s North American retail, food service and hospitality sectors. Jack is part of a team that focuses on industry engagement and knowledge-based services provided to Diversey’s customers. Areas of expertise include food safety, sanitation product application and environmental microbiology. Responsibilities at Diversey include training materials development and management, fielding questions from both customers and Diversey’s account managers, execution of field tests and validations, supporting Diversey’s brand through industry associations, and a variety of ad hoc projects supporting sales or internal initiatives. Concurrently with his responsibilities at Diversey, Jack is a Ph.D. Candidate at Purdue University and his research, focusing on biofilms in food processing environments, is guided by Diversey’s Customer Advisory Board and funded by the company.
Jack grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. In undergraduate studies Jack initially researched several aspects of pollinator behavior. In his junior year Jack completed an internship with the Institut National de Research Agronomique (INRA) in Montpellier, France where he studied stress response systems in plants. Upon returning stateside Jack continued his research career by applying his newly acquired molecular biology acumen to study protein secretion systems and regulation of extracellular-matrix degrading enzymes. After graduating in 2013, Jack continued this research as a full-time employee.
Jack developed an interest in the interplay between microbes and the different stages of the farm-to-fork continuum and in 2014 accepted a role as the Production and Orchard Manager of a micro-cidery based in Door County, WI. Here he was responsible for managing the health and development of the orchard based on Washington Island as well as executing and overseeing the production processes including the fermentation, aging, pasteurization and sanitation processes.
In 2016 Jack became a graduate student at Purdue University in the Department of Food Science where his research focused on Listeria monocytogenes in the retail produce environment. He managed and executed the largest longitudinal environmental swabbing project ever undertaken in grocery stores; the project sampled and processed over 10,000 environmental samples from 30 produce departments in the United States over a six month period. This USDA-funded research led to a second project studying the ability of processes to improve the microbial situation in highly-contaminated environments. Jack partnered with Diversey for the execution of this phase of his research.
Jack received his Masters degree in 2018 and accepted a position with Diversey. His Ph.D. research is robust and ongoing; Jack plans to complete his doctorate in 2023. He is recognized within the retail industry as a leading expert on control of bacteria in their environments. Jack currently lives in Wauwatosa, WI with his 1-year-old son, Miles, and 12-year-old dog, Louie. In what little free time he has, Jack enjoys gardening, reading, and spending time outdoors.