Ali McDaniel Hill - Class of 2004
Ali McDaniel Hill, MHS Class of 2004, is the General Manager, Specialty Products, at Golden Peanut and Tree Nuts. After graduating from Milton, she attended the University of Georgia where she earned her BS in Food Science. She then continued her education at NC State University, earning a MS in Food Science with a minor in Nutrition and then got her MBA at Georgia State University. At UGA, Ali was a member of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority and the Food Science Club. She was the club president her senior year and participated on the club’s quiz bowl team at the national competition.
After graduating from UGA, Ali went to Stuttgart, Germany to study organic agriculture in an exchange program before enrolling at NC State University for her Masters program. At NC State, she focused her research on roasting peanuts and the effects of the nutritional and sensory attributes. This led to a job as a Food Marketing Manager for the USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council.
At her current job at Golden Peanut and Tree Nuts, Ali has been involved with peanut allergen research projects, most recently working with the company Aimmune that developed the drug Palforzia which is the first FDA drug approved as a peanut allergy treatment. Ali also serves as the Chairman of The Peanut Institute which promotes the health and nutritional benefits of peanuts. She has had the opportunity to meet President Jimmy Carter several times during The Plains Peanut Festival and has enjoyed hearing about his time as both a peanut farmer and our nation’s President. A true Georgia girl, Ali loves working with food companies to help them develop innovative, healthy, and fun products for their customers using peanuts and peanut ingredients.
Ali is part of a family of Milton graduates. Her older brother Wes graduated in 2002, her younger sister Anna in 2007, and her younger brother Will in 2016. Her husband Justin graduated in 2002 and her mother Judy was an active PTSA member for many years during that time. Ali was Class President her sophomore, junior, and senior years. She was a member of the National Honor Society, the Beta Club, the Prom Committee, the MHS Leadership Team, and was on the Homecoming Court. She scored “Superior” in Latin at the Foreign Language Forum, was chosen to attend Girls State, voted “Best All-Around” her senior year, and received the DAR Good Citizen Award. Ali’s favorite activities were working together as a class on building homecoming floats and planning senior events. Under her class president leadership, her class won the Homecoming Float competition every year! She loved getting the whole class together to work on different projects. Ali’s favorite subject at MHS was Chemistry which brought her to the realization of how much she enjoyed science. This propelled her toward a lot of her college decisions that then helped shape her career.
When asked to sum up her time at Milton, Ali said “I absolutely loved my time at Milton. Some of my best friends still include friends from high school. I know I’m biased, but I feel like the Class of 2004 was one of the best classes to ever graduate from Milton! We were always very involved with the school, staff, and faculty and worked to create meaningful experiences for everyone. Going to football games, watching theater performances, and participating in the many extracurricular activities that were offered provided me with some very fond memories.”
Ali currently lives in Roswell with her husband and their one year old daughter. Ali is a member of the MHS 100th Anniversary Committee.
