ASSOCIATIONS/ORGANIZATIONS:
PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies, Reston, Va.
The owner and producer of the PACK EXPO portfolio of tradeshows hired Gerardo Barajas as director of EXPO PACK events, maintaining oversight of EXPO PACK México and EXPO PACK Guadalajara, PMMI’s tradeshows in Latin America. Barajas comes to EXPO PACK and PMMI from HAYS, a British recruitment firm focused in the accounting and financial fields. Previously, he was the general director of Intermoda, a fashion tradeshow in Latin America. He also spent eight years with Mexicana Airlines, most recently as a key account manager.
FTI Foodtech International Inc., Canada
Patrick Coignard joined the company's board of directors.
Refrigerated Foods Association, Marietta, Ga.
Megan Levin was promoted to executive director, taking over for Erik Lawser, who left the organization in May. Levin has been working for the RFA in various capacities for over 20 years. Also, Kayla Bailes was named new communications director, effective Sept. 8.
PROCESSORS/RETAILERS:
Olam Spices & Vegetable Ingredients, Fresno, Calif.
The producer of controlled-moisture frozen vegetablespromoted Jill Russell to vice president, North America sales, responsible for strategic sales, supporting key accounts and engaging across all departments in the company to address customer concerns. Russell joined Olam SVI through the strategic acquisition of Gilroy Foods in 2010. She brings more than 15 years of experience as an account manager of several high-profile accounts with leading global food brands.
SUPPLIERS:
Ben McLean was named president and COO, responsible for the company’s more than 260 operations nationwide. Since joining the company in 2007, McLean most recently served as executive vice president, providing oversight of Ruan’s western operations and the information technology, maintenance, assets and legal teams. Prior to joining Ruan, McLean worked at William Blair & Co. assisting technology companies with mergers, acquisitions and equity offerings. In addition, Dan Van Alstine joined as president of western dedicated contract services. Van Alstine has an extensive background in the transportation industry, most recently as senior vice president and general manager of dedicated services and logistics at Schneider National, Inc.
Kansas City Southern, Kansas City, Mo.
Shawn Vecellio was promoted to assistant vice president production and standards for the engineering department, responsible for overseeing tie and rail production gangs, engineering mechanical functions and engineering standards. In his new role, he will manage the Superior Tie & Timber facility in Vivian, La.; planning and administrative functions for the engineering group and support of the engineering functions for KCS' subsidiaries in Mexico and Panama. Vecellio has nearly 18 years of railroad engineering and management experience. He joined KCSR in 2008 from CSX, where he served as manager of program construction for the Atlanta division. He has also worked for BNSF, Permian Basin Railways and Great Western Railway, serving in roles such as roadmaster and superintendent of operations.
Schneider Packaging Equipment Co., Inc., Brewerton, N.Y.
Ron Pietraszek was promoted to regional sales manager for the Northeastern U.S. Pietraszek has over 20 years’ experience in industrial sales and marketing, includingmaterial handling equipment. He spent seven years with Schneider as an applications engineer.
OneView Commerce, Boston
Henk-Jan van der Weide was named senior vice president of global sales. Over the past seven years, van der Weide has held several executive sales positions with hybris software's German, United Kingdom, Scandinavian and South African operations. Previous to hybris, van der Weide owned a company that sold and distributed a document management solution. After he sold the business to MBO, he worked with young startups in the European region, focusing his efforts on assisting them to meet growth and expansion targets.
enVista, Indianapolis, Ind.
Supply chain veteran Robert Grace joined as vice president of operations development, responsible for leading the new Food & Beverage Solutions group within enVista’s Facility Design Build practice. This will enable enVista to provide even greater food and beverage expertise for facility design-build clients. Grace brings over 25 years of food and beverage supply chain experience, including analyzing, creating and implementing cost-effective solutions in warehouse process development, inventory management, distribution planning, workforce development, strategic future direction development, operational cost monitoring, logistics, transportation and direct-store delivery. He specializes in developing innovative processes for manual and automated material handling systems for distribution and delivery. His immediate role will be to develop and secure new business opportunities centered in the food and beverage industry. Grace founded Beverage Operations, LLC in 2010, and served as senior consultant at Keogh Consulting, corporate manager of operations development for Coca-Cola Enterprises and director of system sales for Automotion Systems.
