PROCESSORS/RETAILERS/DISTRIBUTORS:
Capespan North America, Canada
Danielle Hand was appointed food safety director, responsible for managing and directing all aspects of the company’s food safety initiatives, including ensuring regulatory compliance, providing grower and customer support and establishing and monitoring supplier food safety verification procedures. Hand will take the lead in implementing protocols, operating procedures and information systems to ensure Capespan North America continues to meet its customers’ food safety certification needs.

River Fresh Farms, Salinas, Calif.
Eric Garcia joined the sales team. Garcia has spent the past six years as a district sales manager for Dole, selling commodities, value-added, salads and more. Prior to that, he spent five years as a deputy weight manager for Fresh Express. Also, Maggie Simonic was named office/accounting manager. Simonic worked as a staff accountant for numerous companies, most recently for the Spiering, Swartz & Kennedy law firm. She also spent 10 years as a staff accountant for Lago Marsino Farming.

Handy Seafood Inc., Salisbury, Md.
Jim Clark, 32-year foodservice industry leader, joined as vice president of foodservice. Clark has spent most of his foodservice sales career with Sara Lee and The Kraft Heinz Co.

G. Willi-Food International Ltd., Israel
Shneor Zalman Vigler resigned from the board of directors, effective immediately.  

Smart & Final, Commerce, Calif.
Edward Wong was named senior vice president, supply chain and CIO, responsible for managing the retailer’s supply chain, information technology and systems and enterprise project management functions.Previously, Wong spent six years with IBM as a partner in the global business services division, both in the United States and Japan. He also spent time at Charlotte Russe Holdings Inc., where he took on several supply chain and information technology roles before being promoted to chief operating officer. His vast retail experience also includes roles in merchandise planning and allocation, and as a buyer.Wong succeeded Michael Laddon, who retired.

Deli Star Corp., Fayetteville, Ill.
Jared Casewas appointedexecutive chef, tasked with leading culinary support for the company’s St. Louis Innovation Center, managing its kitchen and creating recipes. He will also drive innovation through menu ideation and serve as the primary research and development lead, collaborating with the production team and providing sales support with key culinary contacts and customers. Previously, he was executive chef for Park Grill, Del Frisco’s Restaurant Group, Prasino Restaurants, Tribute Restaurant and St. Clair Country Club as well as executive sous chef for the East Bank Club and executive chef de cuisine at Marche. Case has consulted with Deli Star since 2009.

Chicken of the Sea Frozen Foods (COSFF), El Segundo, Calif.
Peter Carpenter joined as director, technical services and sustainability, tasked with leading COSFF’s quality assurance group and engaging with suppliers to ensure the supply chain is in compliance with the company’s sustainability strategy. Carpenter maintains over 30 years of experience in seafood quality assurance, was a BAP certification manager at Global Aquaculture Alliance and has more recently consulted with several clients on food safety, sustainability and regulatory projects. Meanwhile, Jennifer Woofter joined Thai Union North America (TUNA), COSFF’s parent company, as director of sustainability. Woofter is the founder and president of Strategic Sustainability Consulting, and has worked in a variety of industries on projects such as green auditing, sustainability planning, carbon footprint analysis and sustainability reporting. Her responsibilities include guiding Thai Union’s U.S. subsidiaries in their implementation of Sea Change, its global sustainability strategy, focusing on safe and legal labor, marine conservation, responsible sourcing and caring for local communities.

FOODSERVICE:
Pie Five Pizza Co., a Dallas-based subsidiary of RAVE Restaurant Group, Inc.
Wendy Moats was hired as new senior vice president of operations, working with executive leadership to formulate an operations structure that enables continued growth, impactful training programs for staff of all levels that support sales and superior communication among franchisees in more than 90 locations across 24 states. Moats brings more than 25 years of multi-unit leadership experience in retail and restaurant companies. Previously, she spent 12 years as a regional director of operations in Dallas and Oklahoma for Starbucks Coffee Co., where she led profit and sales growth. Most recently, she was promoted to the Seattle Support Center, as the director of operations for food operations and evenings for the Americas, responsible for improving food ordering for core food and introducing profitable food innovation strategies for the over 10,000 stores in the United States, Canada and Latin America,

SUPPLIERS:
Intelligrated, Cincinnati
Chris Hillman was promoted to sales engineer for the central regional operations, responsible for identifying new business opportunities, serving as the primary point of contact for initial system concept and design and managing communication between customer staff and Intelligrated’s Lifecycle Support Services group. Hillman joined Intelligrated in a post-sales mechanical engineering role before most recently serving as an applications engineer, developing automated material handling systems for Greenfield and existing facilities. Meanwhile, Mark Jordan was appointed senior sales manager for the western regional operations, where he will lead business development efforts and manage the western region sales team. Jordan leverages more than 20 years of material handling automation experience, using his sales, management and engineering expertise to implement growth strategies, identify new business opportunities and provide mentoring and training for the sales team. He worked for a systems integrator for 18 years prior to joining Intelligrated.

Modality Solutions, LLC, Houston, Texas
Hannah Anderson was named technical consulting engineer, serving as one of the firm’s specialized project consultants. Anderson is currently assisting one of the company’s pharmaceutical clients with on-site program management of its thermal package engineering services. In her position, she forecasts and determines personnel project resource requirements and manages resource allocations, as well as writes up procedures, specifications and reports and conducts project update meetings, manages schedules and ensures all deliverable are being completed on time. Anderson also implements and monitors communication plans, and develops thermal packaging qualification and value stream maps (VSMs) to identify areas of improvement in process and project communications. Additional responsibilities include improving process and controls, justifying the use of qualified thermal shippers and identifying team user requirements for new product launches. Prior to joining Modality Solutions, Anderson was a thermal packaging engineer with Amgen, responsible for tracking the department’s budget and developing implementation plans for all projects.

PECO Pallet, Irvington, N.Y.
Joseph Dagnese was appointed new chief executive officer. Dagnese brings more than three decades of leadership experience in global logistics and transportation, most recently as president of Con-way Freight and executive vice president of its parent company, Con-way Inc., which was acquired by XPO Logistics in October 2015. Dagnese also led change management, employee engagement and continuous improvement processes. Prior to Con-way Freight, Dagnese led strategic initiatives and lean transformation as president of Con-way Truckload. He was also vice president of Menlo Logistics, a Con-way Inc. subsidiary, leading large-scale international project rollouts and resource realignments. Before that, he was manager of North American transportation operations for Procter & Gamble.

tna, Dallas, Texas
Wiebke Thiel was named PR coordinator of the Sydney, Australia, office, effective July 1. Thiel’s activities will include advertising and media buying.

Swisslog Warehouse and Distribution Solutions, Newport News, Va.
Michael Howes was tapped as vice president of the company’s new regional software and controls hub for the Americas. Howes will lead a team of software developers and controls engineers. He has served as vice president, software and controls for Swisslog business unit FORTE Industries for the past 10 years. Other key members of the management team for the new hub include Steve Thorne, director of software; and Francis Said, director of controls—both veterans of Swisslog.

Kenall Manufacturing, Kenosha, Wis.
Christopher Scherer was appointed corporate counsel, responsible for intellectual property program management, including strategy, execution and education, as well as corporate negotiations and litigation. Scherer is retained through the DeWitt, Ross and Stevens law firm.

Hydrotex, Atlanta
Gregg Power joined as division partner, tasked with counseling customers on cost-efficient machinery and equipment maintenance using environmentally-sustainable solutions for the over-the-road fleet, food processing and manufacturing industries. His efforts will focus on the areas in and around northwestern Georgia and southern Tennessee, including northern Atlanta, Rome and Chattanooga. Power maintains deep experience working with manufacturers and distributors, primarily in the healthcare field. He also served as an entrepreneur and business owner in 2009, and as a consultant to the biosciences and technology fields.