COLT Technologies Names D. Bret Smith as New Chief Executive Officer

SALT LAKE CITY – COLT Technologies™, a Salt Lake City-based developer of wireless agricultural technologies, today announced it has appointed D. Bret Smith as its new chief executive officer. Smith replaces Tali Haleua who has assumed the role of executive vice president of sales and business development and will remain with COLT as chairman of the board.

With 20 years of management and executive experience in the beef and food processing industries, Smith (39) joins COLT Technologies from Dale T. Smith & Sons Meat Packing Company, Inc. in Draper, Utah where he has served as the general manager of the 58-year-old family business.

“The market dictated that it was time to bring in a savvy industry veteran with the depth and breadth of experience in both the beef and food processing industries, and Bret Smith is that man,” Haleua said. “Bret was one of the first believers in and advocates of COLT’s TekVet System™ and has already demonstrated his passion for implementing effective processes and protocols for food safety.”

“Everyone in the beef and dairy industries recognizes that it’s inevitable that the USDA will hand down more stringent tracking, tracing, monitoring and certifying requirements for beef and dairy products, and COLT’s revolutionary TekVet System is ready to meet that challenge today,” Smith said. “I look forward to introducing these industries to a new paradigm and consider it my responsibility and obligation to lead the beef and dairy industries into the 21st century.”

Prior to his position with Dale T. Smith & Sons, Bret Smith was previously with Heber, Utah-based Bear Creek Country Kitchens for five years where he worked in a variety of positions, from vice president of quality control/food safety to plant manager for the company’s sole manufacturing plant. He also served previously as quality manager with Daily Foods in Salt Lake City and as manager of operations, quality assurance and food safety with Inn on the Creek Foods in Midway, Utah. Smith studied agriculture economics, and food quality and safety while attending Snow College in Ephraim, Utah and Salt Lake Community College.

“I believe we’re finally at the junction in time where consumers not only demand, but deserve, the checks and balances that the TekVet System offers,” Smith said. “As I’ve watched and worked with COLT Technologies development team during the past 18 months, I’ve been impressed by its business approach, supporting technology and COLT’s potential for creating a whole new confidence level for consumers. I’m honored to be given this opportunity and look forward to some very exciting times in the coming weeks and months ahead.”

The TekVet System is a wireless radio frequency (RF) solution designed to track, trace and monitor the health and core temperatures of beef cattle, one of the key indicators of feeder animal health. The TekVet System immediately identifies unhealthy animals by monitoring core body temperature via the TekVet SmartSensor™, a small wireless device attached to a feeder animal’s ear that monitors temperature through a thermistor inserted into the animal’s ear canal. When the body temperature drops below (or climbs above) specific temperature thresholds, producers/feedlot workers/researchers are notified immediately via a wireless alert (through cell phone, pager or COLT Technologies’ console management software) about the change in the animal’s core body temperature.

As a result, sick feeder animals can be immediately identified, treated and returned to full health faster than ever before. This lowers the cost of caring for sick beef cattle while increasing the average profit per animal and making it possible for producers to ensure that animals are healthy at the time of slaughter.

Inherent in the TekVet System is the ability to gather historical data for trend analysis, as well as traceability capabilities that can track where an animal was born and record (throughout an animal’s life), when (if ever) an animal was sick, what illness was diagnosed and what treatment was given to restore the animal to health. The TekVet SmartSensor’s technology can also be tied to passive RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology to “date/time stamp” an animal and provide historical information about the animal’s life from “birth to slaughter.”

For more information about COLT Technologies, D. Bret Smith and the TekVet System, interested parties should visit www.tekvet.com or contact COLT Technologies’ strategic communications agency, Politis Communications, at 801-523-3730 or via email at info@politis.com.

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COLT Technologies, TekVet System and TekVet SmartSensor are trademarks of COLT Technologies, LLC.