ASSOCIATIONS/ORGANIZATIONS:
Refrigerated Foods Association (RFA), Marietta, Ga.
At the conclusion of RFA’s annual conference and tabletop display, Steve Loehndorf, president of Reser’s Fine Foods, was named the new president, serving a 2-year term.
Institute of Food Science and Technology (IFST), London
Food scientist Maureen Edmondson was named president. She is a fellow of IFST, a chartered scientist and visiting professor at Ulster University, and has worked for the past 20 years for Mars Inc. in international scientific affairs. Edmondson also served six years as a board member for the Food Standards Agency and chair of the Northern Ireland Food Advisory Committee.
PMMI, Reston, Va.
The organization that produces the annual PACK EXPO shows appointed Patricia Andersen, human resources manager of Delkor Systems., as its first female chairperson to lead the Education & Workforce Development Committee. Andersen will ensure the strength and growth of the packaging and processing supply chain workforce through education as well as talent development and talent acquisition.
PROCESSORS/RETAILERS/DISTRIBUTORS:
Mondelez International, Deerfield, Ill.
Robin Hargrove will become executive vice president, research, development and quality, effective April 1, responsible for all product and packaging development, research, nutrition, quality, food safety and scientific affairs activities worldwide. Hargrove succeeds Jean Spence, who is retiring after nearly 35 years. Hargrove has served as senior vice president, RD&Q for Mondelez Europe since 2013. Prior to joining the company, he worked in various senior roles for PepsiCo since 1994. He began his career with Procter & Gamble in the UK as a product developer in the laundry detergent category.
Hormel Foods Corp., Austin, Minn.
Julie Craven, vice president of corporate communications, announced her retirement. Craven began her career at Hormel Foods in 1988 as the director of consumer affairs, after experience at Kraft Foods and Meredith Corp. In 1995, she became a product manager in foodservice and was promoted to senior product manager in 1998. In 2001, she became the director of public relations and assumed her current role in 2005. Wendy Watkins, global vice president of corporate communications at Delaware North Cos., will assume Craven’s role. Watkins has more than 20 years of experience in strategic communications, marketing and media relations. She began her career in public relations at Four Seasons World Resort and Community and subsequently worked at LaNier Associates agency and led corporate communications, advertising and public relations for Brandywine Enterprises. Watkins spent 10 years with the Marriott family of companies, serving as global director of corporate communications and public relations, and in 2000, joined her current company, Delaware North, leading the company’s global communications team. Joe Swedberg was named vice president of legislative affairs. Swedberg began his career in sales in 1981, and in 1984, became an associate product manager in meat products for Hormel. He became the vice president of meat products marketing in 1999 and assumed his current role in 2003. Lastly, Jeffrey Grev, director of legislative affairs, will advance to the position of vice president of legislative affairs. Grev began his career in 1984 in grocery products sales for Hormel, and a year later, became a sales representative for the Michigan and New England territories. In 1987, he became the manager of sales services for grocery products, followed associate product manager, grocery products in 1988. He also held several marketing positions until 1996, when he became a group product manager for grocery products. In 2006, he became the general manager of Hormel’s Valley Fresh Foods brand, was the corporate manager of mergers and acquisitions in 2007 and then director of corporate development in 2013. He assumed his current role in 2014.
The Kraft Heinz Co., Pittsburgh, Pa., and Northfield, Ill.
H.J. Heinz Co. and Kraft Foods Group, Inc. entered into a definitive merger agreement to create The Kraft Heinz Co., what is said to be the third largest food and beverage company in North America. When the transaction closes, Alex Behring, chairman of Heinz and managing partner at 3G Capital, will become the chairman of the new company. John Cahill, chairman and CEO for Kraft, will become vice chairman and chair of a newly formed operations and strategy committee. Bernardo Hees, chief executive officer for Heinz, will become chief executive officer of the new company.
Gehl Foods, Germantown, Wis.
Eric Beringause joined as new chief executive officer, as a result of the dairy processor being acquired by Wind Point Partners. Beringause, who most recently served as CEO of Advanced Refreshment, maintains 30 years of experience in consumer packaged goods. Previously, he was chief executive officer of Sturm Foods, and president of Alcoa Consumer Products.
FOODSERVICE:
Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc., Canton, Mass.
The parent company of Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins announced that Jack Clare was promoted to the newly created position of chief information and strategy officer. Clare, who has served as the company's CIO for the past three years, will continue to oversee Dunkin' Brands' global information technology resources, and will now focus on developing the strategies designed to drive the company's future success. Prior to joining Dunkin' Brands, Clare was the vice president, IT and chief information officer for the international division of Yum! Brands, where he was responsible for developing and implementing the IT strategy for more than 14,000 restaurants in over 120 countries. Earlier in his career, he was vice president, technical services at Constellation Brands, and held various senior IT management roles with Sapient Corp. Clare also served as a system and flight test engineer with the United States Air Force.
SUPPLIERS:
Raymond Corp., Greene, N.Y.
Michael Field was appointed chief executive officer, and Tim Combs as president of sales and marketing, both effective April 1. In his new role, Field will oversee the operations, engineering, sales and marketing and administrative functions. Field joined Raymond in 2004, and has served as the vice president of engineering, and most recently, president of operations and engineering. As president of sales and marketing at Raymond, Combs will lead sales and marketing activities, including distribution development. He was the executive vice president of sales and marketing for Raymond.
Eriez, Erie, Pa.
Mike Mankosa was promoted to executive vice president-global technology, tasked with guiding Eriez’ product technology focus, leading the collaboration of Eriez’ technical expertise across global enterprises and directing the development of technology solutions to enhance Eriez’ strategic goals worldwide. Mankosa joined Eriez in 1997, beginning his career as the company’s technical director in the research and development lab. Soon after being named vice president of operations in 2004, he became the executive sponsor and global leader for Eriez’ newly acquired flotation business. Throughout his career, he has published nearly 100 articles in scientific and technical journals, obtained numerous equipment and process patents and received more than $2 million in research funding from a number of state and federal agencies. Also, Lukas Guenthardt was appointed executive vice president of global strategy and development, taking over for Andy Lewis, who will retire effective April 10, but will remain chairman of the board for Eriez-Europe.Guenthardt’s responsibilities include developing and implementing business operations systems with an emphasis on accelerating the company’s business development initiatives in new and existing markets.
Omnitracs, LLC, Dallas
Mansoor Bajowala was appointed vice president of professional services, responsible for overseeing professional services, technical services, implementation and training for Omnitracs and the XRS business unit. With a seasoned track record optimizing corporate performance, Bajowala previously worked at top consulting firms with Fortune 500 companies, tasked with leveraging technology to enhance corporate performance by aligning business and IT strategies. Prior to joining Omnitracs, he served as director of professional services at Mitratech, and was a management consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Diamond Management & Technology Consultants and Accenture.
SMART Safety Group, Atlanta
Charles Black, a United States Marine veteran, was added to the safety staff. Black is a certified Construction Health and Safety Technician who maintains over 10 years safety management experience with general contractors and a variety of trade contractors on commercial, residential and industrial projects. He also has significant experience in developing effective solutions for challenging field audits, safety data sheet compliance, confined space, crane critical lifts, building and fire code compliance, claims and worker’s compensation case management and safety meetings.
AIT Worldwide Logistics, Itasca, Ill.
Joe Lee was hired as the company’s new director, air freight/agents – Greater China, responsible for managing AIT-Asia’s air freight business. Lee brings more than 20 years of air cargo industry experience. Before joining AIT, he held positions with CEVA Logistics, Expeditors, UPS and most recently, XPO Logistics.
enVista, Carmel, Ind.
Jim Caleca joined the beverage operations group within the company’s design build solutions practice as director of strategic initiatives, tasked with developing strategic alliances and securing new business opportunities in the food and beverage industry. Caleca brings more than 25 years of experience within the beverage distribution industry, including strategic planning, sales and marketing, wholesale operations, acquisition integration, functional alignment, distribution planning, leadership development and project management. He specializes in the planning and implementation of systems that create alignment and drive efficiencies across all organizational functions. Most recently, he was vice president, corporate services and business development for West Side Beer Distributing, and prior to that, served as vice president, sales and marketing for West Side Beer.
Advanced Distribution Solutions, Inc. (ADSI), Schaumburg, Ill.
Barry Gebler joined to head up the company’s strategic alliances team, responsible for expanding ADSI’s business development strategy and helping increase market presence among ERP solution providers, systems integrators and other business solution providers. Gebler brings over 30 years of experience in the logistics industry. Previously, he was vice president of operations for Tasco Inc.
Bastian Solutions, Indianapolis, Ind.
David Strawser was hired as unified support manager. Strawser brings over 15 years of engineering accomplishments in the manufacturing, process and product development field, with capital project management, CNC programming, tooling and work holding improvements, new product introduction, engineering leadership and general shop floor support.
TeamOne Logistics, Alpharetta, Ga.
Page Siplon, an expert in supply chain, process optimization and technology development and integration, was named chief executive officer, responsible for overseeing the company’s operations throughout the southeast and beyond. Siplon began his career in logistics in 2004, when he was named the first director of Savannah’s Maritime Logistics Center, which was later re-named the Center of Innovation for Logistics. In 2013, the Georgia Department of Economic Development charged Siplon to lead all six centers. Siplon is also the architect of the annual Georgia Logistics Summit, and is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force.
