The hearing over the Federal Milk Marketing Order is on pause after weeks of testimony. Soon, the National Milk Producers Federation will have a new CEO.

Gregg Doud will take over when Jim Mulhern retires early next year. He is no stranger to Capitol Hill, having spent the last 31 years working closely with lawmakers, but he says he will face several challenges, including dairy policy, risk management programs, and the ins and outs of the Federal Milk Marketing Order.

“Not many people have gone through this. It’s been 23 years since the last time they did this, and that’s the funny conversation in the office: ‘Now we know why.’ This is a very tedious and gigantic undertaking, but I think the key thing that National Milk has done here, and Jim has done a very good job of building consensus among the National Milk Membership in deciding how we’re going to do this and what we all agree on as a group and push forward with that as a game plan, and I think that’s paid huge dividends.”

The hearing is in a six-week recess. When complete, it could take well over a year to see if USDA will approve any changes.