ASSOCIATIONS/ORGANIZATIONS:
MHI, Charlotte, N.C.
John Paxton was appointed chief operating officer/chief executive officer designate, tasked with managing MHI’s Industry Group activities, among others. Paxton maintains over 30 years of experience, including over 20 years of executive leadership at Demag Cranes and Components. Paxton has also served as president of the Crane Manufacturers Association, president of the Hoist Manufacturers Institute, and most recently, as chairman of the board of MHI.

Legacy Foodservice Alliance, Glen Ellyn, Va.
Industry veteran Callie Redford joined as vice president of member development, charged with helping grow the distributor member network. Redford started her foodservice career at Pocahontas Foods USA, which later became Progressive Group Alliance, which then transitioned to UniPro in 2009. Redford logged 20-plus years in Progressive Group Alliance.

United Fresh Produce Association, Washington, D.C.
Parker Linn, who joined United Fresh in 2015 as government relations assistant, now serves as manager, industry relations for the grower-shipper community. Andrew Marshall, a 10-year staff member, transitioned to become director, foodservice programs and foundation partnerships. Erin Hutchinson was named director, supply chain relations, tasked with supporting the fresh-cut processor community, as well as United Fresh’s supply chain logistics and service provider members. Previously, Hutchinson worked in agricultural equipment and services at GVM Inc./Independent Ag Equipment, where she supported growers and their partners. Mary Alameda will serve as manager, industry relations for the wholesaler-distributor community. Spencer Crawford was appointed manager, industry relations for the retail community. He joins United Fresh from the Educational Advisory Board, where he served multiple roles within the member services department. He also previously interned for Congressman Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming. Finally, Natalia Gamarra joins as manager, international member services, where she will focus on supporting United Fresh members in Mexico, Central and South America. She most recently worked for Produce Business Magazine, and has worked in international membership for the Produce Marketing Association.

PROCESSORS/RETAILERS/DISTRIBUTORS:
Russ Davis Wholesale, Inver Grove Heights, Minn.
Lavonne Kucera was tapped to head product quality initiatives and oversee food safety and quality assurance. Kucera most recently served as senior director of food safety and quality assurance for Caribou Coffee Co. Prior to her role at Caribou Coffee, Kucera led food safety programs at Rutgers University and Deli Express.

Tom Lange Family of Cos., Springfield, Ill.
Eric Hoffmann, vice president of sales, retired from the company after 42 years of service. Hoffmann transferred to Atlanta in 1982 to expand the Tom Lange presence and was instrumental in building the Atlanta team. Chase Tatham was promoted to vice president of sales of Tom Lange Co. and Trevor Powell was promoted to vice president of sales for Lange Logistics. Rick Harsnett, vice president of sales, also retired from the company after 39 years of service. Harsnett joined the Indianapolis, Ind., office in 1979. John Caito, who has been with the company for almost 21 years, was promoted to vice president of sales for the Indianapolis office. Steve Holdren was promoted from sales manager to vice president of sales for the Chicago office. And, Barry Rutherford, account manager, retired from the company after 34 years of service.

ARYZTA AG, Switzerland
Michael Andres, Gregory Flack and Tim Lodge were elected independent directors of the board. Andres spent the majority of his career with McDonald’s Corp., having most recently served up to 2017 as president of McDonald’s USA. He joined McDonald’s in 1982, and previously served in a range of senior positions, including leading the turnaround and sale of Boston Market. He maintains a deep understanding of global consumer markets and North America in particular. Flack is executive chairman of Green Chile Foods Co., a position he has held since 2014. He spent most of his previous career at Schwan Food Co., where he served as chief executive officer from 2008-2013, where he led a turnaround strategy and business restructuring. Lodge recently retired as chief financial officer of COFCO International, where he helped combine two businesses into a global agribusiness with revenues of $34 billion. He spent most of his previous career at Tate & Lyle PLC, where he served as chief financial officer from 2008-2014, and oversaw a significant balance sheet reduction and business transformation program. And, Charles (Chuck) Adair, independent director and chairman of the Remuneration Committee, announced plans to retire at the end of the year. As a result, Rolf Watter will be appointed as chairman of the Committee.

Land O'Lakes, Inc., Arden Hills, Minn.
Matt Wohlman will join as senior director of state and industry affairs, effective Sept. 26, tasked with leading state government relations and collaboration with industry organizations. Wohlman has served in executive posts at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) since 2011, including assistant commissioner from 2011-2016 prior to his current role as deputy commissioner. Before joining MDA, Wohlman served in staff roles for U.S. Representative Tim Walz and State Senator Yvonne Prettner Solon.       

California Dairies, Inc. (CDI), Visalia, Calif.
Brad Anderson was appointed chief operating officer, effective Sept. 10, responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of CDI’s core commodity businesses and integrating a sustainable strategy that will progress the cooperatives' performance over a multi-year horizon. Anderson maintains more than 25 years of consumer products experience in commercial sales in the food and beverage industry. Most recently, he served as senior vice president and chief sales officer at Dean Foods, and prior to that, held positions of increasing responsibility at Sara Lee Corp., Pepsi Bottling Group and Earthgrains Co. He also recently served as board chairman of MilkPEP.

Tampa Maid Foods, LLC, Lakeland, Fla.
Pam Cooper was hired as business development manager for the Southwest region, responsible for developing and managing Tampa Maid’s foodservice distribution business and broker network in the Southwestern United States. Cooper maintains over 20 years of experience in the foodservice industry, and for the past 4 years, has worked as distribution sales manager for Lamb Weston. Prior to that, she spent 9 years with Nestlé Waters.

High Road Craft Ice Cream, Inc., Atlanta
Carlos Canals, chief executive officer of Ciao Bella, which High Road recently acquired, will join as chief integration officer. Canals is a veteran of the consumer packaged goods world, having worked previously worked with Kellogg/Kashi, UNREAL Brands and Tribe Mediterranean.

Albertsons Cos., Boise, Idaho
Jim Donald, president and COO, was appointed president and CEO, effective immediately. Robert Miller, currently the company’s chairman and CEO, will continue as chairman of the board. Miller’s 57-year retail career began as a high school job in the backroom of a neighborhood supermarket. He took on roles of increasing responsibility, culminating in him serving as executive vice president of operations for Albertsons, Inc. Miller left Albertsons in 1991 to serve as chief executive officer of Fred Meyer, Inc.; chief operating officer and vice chairman of Kroger; and chief executive officer of Rite Aid. In 2006, Miller returned to lead Albertsons as chief executive officer, following the divestiture of Albertson’s assets. Donald’s 47-year retail career began as a trainee with Publix Supermarkets. He joined Albertsons in 1976, which culminated in him being appointed vice president of operations. In 1991, he was recruited personally by Sam Walton to join Walmart to lead the development of its grocery business and superstore concept. Donald subsequently left in 1994 to be senior vice president of Safeway’s 130-store Eastern region, a position he held for two years. His then served as chief executive officer of Pathmark Stores from 1996-2002, followed by his appointment as president and CEO of Starbucks, where he led the company through record growth, including five straight years of 20%-plus annual earnings increases. Post Starbucks, Donald served as chief executive officer of Haggen and Extended Stay America, Inc. Donald joined Albertsons in March as president and COO.

US Foods Holding Corp., Rosemont, Ill.
Cheryl Bachelder was appointed to the board of directors, effective Oct. 1. Bachelder served as chief executive officer of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc. from 2007-2017. Prior to that, she served as president and chief concept officer of KFC Corp. Bachelder’s earlier career includes brand leadership roles at Domino’s Pizza, RJR Nabisco, Gillette and Procter & Gamble. Bachelder is also a director of Pier 1 Imports, Inc.

Kayco, Bayonne, N.J.
Brian Gormley was named executive vice president and general manager, responsible for driving strategic sales and marketing initiatives for Kayco Beyond, the company’s newly formed division. Other responsibilities include identifying new opportunities, reviewing and analyzing market trends, evaluating effective ways to go to market, analyzing use of retail services, driving distribution gains and leading new product launches. Gormley spent the last 14 years at Ocean Spray Cranberries, most recently serving as senior director in charge of the company’s $800 million groceries business. Areas of experience include marketing strategy development, business planning, customer-broker management, cross-functional leadership, team building, data analysis, new product launches and creative development.

Sun World International, Bakersfield, Calif.
Cecilia Rivera was named director of in-house packing of the company’s new in-house packaging operations, while Ted Yukawa was appointed operations manager. Both Rivera and Yukawa joined the Sun World team in May, bringing advanced management styles that focus on worker empowerment and training, as well as efficiency and waste reduction. 

The Kroger Co., Cincinnati
Michael Marx, president of Roundy’s Wisconsin, will lead the combined Roundy’s/Mariano’s division. As a result, Don Rosanova, president of Mariano’s, announced his retirement, effective Sept. 29. Rosanova joined Roundy’s in 2002, serving in several leadership roles before taking the helm as Mariano’s president in 2016.

FOODSERVICE:
CEC Entertainment, Inc., Dallas, Texas
The operator of Chuck E. Cheese's and Peter Piper Pizza restaurants appointed James Howell as chief financial officer, effective Sept. 17, replacing Dale Black, who is retiring Sept. 21, after many contributions to the company. Howell most recently served as chief financial officer of Billabong International Ltd., and prior to that, served in senior financial positions at Nordstrom, Inc. and Blockbuster, Inc. He began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, servicing clients in retail and financial services industries.

SUPPLIERS:
Placon, Madison, Wis.
Derek Skogen joined as marketing manager. Skogen maintains over 7 years of product and brand management experience in retail, e-commerce, industrial and food customer segments.

Navistar International Corp., Lisle, Ill.
Julie Ragland was named senior vice president and chief information officer, effective Sept. 17, replacing Terry Kline, who announced his retirement. Ragland previously served as vice president, information technology for Adient, where she helped to establish the company's first IT organization after its separation from Johnson Controls. Prior to joining Adient, Ragland served as vice president, IT, corporate applications at Johnson Controls, and before that, served as director of IT for power solutions and director of IT for building efficiency. Before that, she served as consulting director at Answerport, Inc., and was a senior manager at Ernst & Young.

Philadelphia Scientific LLC, Montgomeryville, Pa.
Charles Snyder was named vice president of sales and marketing, tasked with overseeing sales, marketing, promotional and public relations activities in North, Central and South America. For the past 7 years prior, he led a Philadelphia Scientific team that provided new product development, manufacturing support and the delivery of custom business solutions.

ESE, Inc., Marshfield, Wis.
Nicholas Truehl was hired as information technology technician.

Ramp Systems, Philadelphia, Pa.
Doug Bailey was named director of 3PL sales. Prior to this role, Bailey held positions at HighJump, Accellos and Provia, accumulating 20-plus years of sales experience serving the logistics industry.