ASSOCIATIONS/ORGANIZATIONS:
The International Dairy Deli Bakery Association (IDDBA), Madison, Wis.
Whitney Atkins was tapped as vice president of marketing, effective Nov. 27, responsible for telling the story of the association and driving member engagement. Atkins maintains more than 20 years’ experience in marketing communications. She most recently served as communications manager for the City of San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department, where she played a key role in all communications, including approaches and strategies, and oversaw all content creation for various platforms. The majority of Atkin’s career has been with Kroger Delta Marketing, where her positions ranged from merchandising, assistant advertising and marketing manager, loyalty analyst, and most recently, customer communications and marketing specialist. At Kroger Delta Marketing, she played a key role as a liaison among many teams to develop and communicate selling initiatives and programs for more than 100 retail grocery, pharmacy and fuel locations.

National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association (NFRA), Harrisburg, Pa.
Dave Jones, vice president, industry initiatives, Kellogg Co., was elected chairman of the board for the 2018-2019 term. Jones has served on the board of directors since 2008, first as vice chairman, frozen from 2013-2016, then as secretary from 2016-2017 and chairman-elect from 2017-2018. Jones is also a member of the Honorable Order of Golden Penguins and Distinguished Order of Zerocrats. Joe D’Alberto, senior business manager for Acosta Sales & Marketing, was named chairman-elect; Neil Ritchey, senior vice president of sales and shopper marketing for Ajinomoto Foods North America, was elected secretary; Ray Tarnowski, president of Philadelphia Warehousing & Cold Storage, was elected treasurer; Steve Mayle, vice president of sales for General Mills, was named vice chairman, frozen and Bob Knodle, vice president of sales for H.P. Hood, was elected vice chairman, refrigerated. Newly elected to the board of directors were Rob Cohen, vice president of refrigerated and frozen for Bozzuto’s; Kristina Cole, chief customer officer for Danone North America; George Denman, vice president of sales for Graeter’s Ice Cream; Michelle Dorin, director of dairy, frozen, specialty foods and beer for Weis Markets; Risa Jenkins, senior category manager for C&S Wholesale Grocers; Tim McNamara, director of dairy and frozen foods merchandising for Southeastern Grocers; Jeff Nelson, chief sales officer for IMPACT Group and Theresa Whitney, assistant grocery sales manager for Albertson’s - Intermountain. Elected for a second term on the board of directors were Joey Bates, director of grocery for Harris Teeter; Bob Bollbach, vice president of frozen for RDD Associates; Randall King, category manager for Lowes Foods; Jim Motos, vice president of sales and marketing for Rich’s Consumer Brands and Marty Steinmetz, vice president of national accounts for U.S. Cold Storage.

The American Dairy Products Institute (ADPI), Elmhurst, Ill.
Veronique Lagrange joined as director, strategic development, effective Nov. 1, tasked with leading an ADPI member-based Task Force in conjunction with its new Dairy Protein Messaging Initiative (DPMI) to develop a successful messaging campaign. Lagrange will also lead the ADPI Center of Excellence (COE) Task Force to address complex business development opportunities and address threats on behalf of members and the industry. Lagrange has served as a strategic development consultant to ADPI since March. Prior to joining ADPI, she spent 22 years in various roles with the US Dairy Export Council (USDEC), most recently as senior vice president of strategy and insights. Lagrange is the author of many publications, technical manuals and reference guides on the topic of dairy ingredients, from milk powders to specialized protein products, their applications in human nutrition products, their functionality and manufacture. 

American Trucking Association (ATA), Des Moines, Iowa
Dan Van Alstine, president and COO of Ruan, was elected vice chairman of the board of directors, and will move up the board’s leadership team, eventually serving as chairman of the board in 2023. Van Alstine currently serves as vice chairman of the Iowa Motor Truck Association.

International Foodservice Editorial Council (IFEC), Boise, Idaho
Jamie Bowen, marketing manager for the Idaho Potato Commission, was elected to the board of directors. Bowen has been an IFEC member for 10 years, where she’s served on New-Member Orientation, Learning Sessions and Scholarship Auction committees.
 
 

PROCESSORS/RETAILERS/DISTRIBUTORS:
Paine Schwartz Partners, LLC, San Mateo, Calif.
Edward Haft joined as operating director. Haft maintains more than 30 years of experience in the consumer packaged goods and food manufacturing industries. For the past 14 years, Haft has served as president and CEO of Sunrise Growers, where he oversaw a strategic reorientation of the business that resulted in more than a decade of rapid category growth, add-on acquisitions, geographic and customer expansion and significant automation projects. Prior to Sunrise Growers, Haft spent 18 years at Sara Lee Corp., with the last 6 years as president of Sara Lee Frozen Bakery. He currently serves on the boards of directors of FoodChain ID, Wawona Packing and Lyons Magnus.

General Mills, Minneapolis
Diane Neal was elected to the board of directors, effective Nov. 5. Most recently, Neal was chief executive officer of Sur La Table, Inc. until her retirement in 2017. Before that, Neal served as chief executive officer of L Brands, Inc. and chief operating officer of Bath & Body Works. She’s also held leadership roles at Gap Inc. and Target Corp.

Target Corp., Minneapolis
George Barrett was elected as a new director, effective Nov. 5. Barrett has spent the last decade at Cardinal Health, serving as chairman and CEO from 2009-2017, and as executive chairman until November. During his tenure, Cardinal Health grew to rank 15^th on the Fortune 500, with 50,000 employees in 60 countries. Prior to joining Cardinal Health, Barrett spent a decade at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, serving in a variety of leadership positions, including president and CEO of the North American business and corporate executive vice president for global pharmaceuticals. Barrett serves as a director for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, chairman of the Healthcare Leadership Council, vice chairman of The Conference Board and a trustee of the Committee for Economic Development. Barrett also serves on the board of directors for Brown University, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, the Columbus Partnership, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Columbus Foundation.

Borden, Dallas, Texas
Eric Downum was promoted from director of financial planning and analysis to vice president, tasked with leading the budgeting, forecasting and analysis. Downum joined Borden in December 2016 after working in a variety of financial leadership roles for 13 years at PepsiCo and Frito-Lay.

Ahold Delhaize, The Netherlands
Selma Postma was appointed brand president of Peapod, effective Jan. 1, 2019. Postma maintains almost two decades at Albert Heijn. Since 2014, Postma was general manager of Albert Heijn Online, where she helped to accelerate online sales to more than 20% annually. Her teams also led the transformation of Albert Heijn into an omnichannel retailer by optimizing ah.nl and the mobile app "Appie" and developing solutions such as voice assistance, delivery subscriptions and more.

North Shore Living, Thermal, Calif.
Durell Strouse joined as sales manager. Strouse maintains a wealth of experience within the grocery and consumer packaged goods industry, having served in sales and customer development roles at Kraft Foods, PepsiCo, Post Foods, BakeMark/CSM Bakery Solutions and B&G Foods. 

John Vena, Inc., Philadelphia, Pa.
Joe Killian was tapped for the newly created role of business development, tasked with driving force behind the company’s retail growth strategy and overseeing business development efforts in the grocery sector with a focus on regional independent banners. Previously, he worked as director of operations at a leading foodservice distributor. He also owned and operated a produce distribution business for more than a decade, and spent 10 years in sales with J. Ambrogi Foods developing and managing the Philadelphia region. Most recently, Killian addressed core operational challenges as director of operations at FarmArt Produce. Before entering the fresh produce industry, he worked in foodservice management.

D’Arrigo California, Salinas, Calif.
Cody Ramsey was appointed foodservice manager. Ramsey has worked with Mann Packing for 10 years, where he directed sales and business efforts, specifically targeting the foodservice sector. And, Shannon Aliotti was appointed a sales representative, tasked with leading communication and execution of the day-to-day functions for several foodservice accounts. Aliotti maintains 13 years of experience working in the sales sector. Most recently, Aliotti worked as sales representative and commodity manager for NewStar Fresh Foods. 

London Fruit, Inc., Pharr, Texas
Tonya Hill joins as retail development manager in sales. Hill maintains over 15 years of produce experience in roles such as Texas regional manager, director of sales and transportation, category manager and director of new customer development.

Darigold, Inc., Seattle, Wash.
Mark Garth was tapped new chief financial officer and treasurer, effective Nov. 27. Garth maintains leadership experience across a broad range of financial functions and financing in similar food and beverage industries, including branded consumer products, cyclical agricultural commodities and global ingredient customers. He most recently served as chief financial officer for Country Fresh Holdings, LLC, and prior to that, was chief financial officer and treasurer at Perdue Farms and Wells’ Dairy. Garth has also held senior financial roles at Plexus Corp., Conagra and Maytag.

FOODSERVICE:
SONIC Corp., Oklahoma City, Okla.
Claudia San Pedro, president, will become chairman and CEO, taking over for Cliff Hudson, chairman and CEO, who announced plans to retire, effective as of the closing of SONIC’s proposed acquisition by Inspire Brands. Hudson is a 34-year veteran of SONIC, joining as assistant general counsel in 1984. Appointed as CEO in 1995, Hudson led the brand’s growth from nearly 1,500 drive-ins in 27 states with system-wide sales of $905 million to 3,600 drive-ins in 45 states and system-wide sales of $4.5 billion. San Pedro was named president of SONIC in January, and has served in various leadership roles at the company throughout her 12-year tenure. She joined SONIC in 2006 as treasurer, and was subsequently promoted to vice president of investor relations. In 2015, she was named chief financial officer, where she led all financial strategies and brand relationship with the financial community. Prior to SONIC, she served as the director for the Oklahoma Office of State Finance.

FoodFirst Global Restaurants, Inc., Orlando, Fla.
The owner of BRIO Tuscan Grille and BRAVO Cucina Italiana appointed industry veteran Dave Pickens as president and COO, responsible for the oversight of all BRIO and BRAVO restaurants to ensure operations excellence, guest count growth and effective cost management, in addition to improving efficiency and elevating the quality of service. Previously, Pickens served executive vice president of operations for Olive Garden, and later as president, where he achieved 57 consecutive quarters of same-restaurant sales increases.

 

SUPPLIERS:
Alfa Laval, Inc., Richmond, Va.
Sameer Kalra was appointed new head of the marine division, effective Jan. 1, 2019, taking over for Peter Leifland, who announced plans to retire as president of the marine division in the beginning of 2019. Kalra is business unit president for pumping systems in the marine division, Norway. He maintains extensive marine experience, including 10 years sailing on various merchant ships, as well as 20 years in different management positions for Aalborg Industries and Alfa Laval, both in Asia and in Europe. Leifland started with Alfa Laval in 1985. Before taking up the role as president for the marine division, he was responsible for regional sales company organizations for more than a decade.

Norfolk Southern Corp., Norfolk, Va.
Michael Farrell was named senior vice president transportation, effective immediately, responsible for all transportation operations, division mechanical and rail terminal management functions. For more than a year, Farrell has served Norfolk Southern in a consulting role, leading “Clean Sheeting” teams across the network. Prior to joining Norfolk Southern, Farrell served as general manager operations and mechanical of Canadian Pacific Railway’s Prairie and U.S. West divisions, as well as general manager for the U.S. network operations center in Minneapolis. Previously, he served as general superintendent-Chicago Terminal of Canadian National Railway and general superintendent terminals, North America. His railroad career began in 1990 at the Union Pacific Railroad. 

Pilot Freight Services, Lima, Pa.
Mark Baker joined in a newly created role of chief technology officer, responsible for modernizing the company’s technology and internal and customer facing processes. Baker maintains more than 23 years of senior IT management experience, operating exclusively in the transportation and logistics industry since 2003. Most recently, he served as global chief information officer for JAS Worldwide, where he led a comprehensive global IT integration and application development plan.

MonarchFx, a business unit of Tompkins International, Raleigh, N.C.
Matthew Sinn was appointed vice president of the food and beverage sector. Sinn maintains 15-plus years of transformative and collaborative executive leadership. Before joining MonarchFx, Sinn served as vice president with Earthbound Farm, senior director at WhiteWave Foods and has held multiple position with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, tasked with continually optimized operations, financial planning, product launches, network planning and customer service.

Premium Transportation Logistics (PTL), Toledo, Ohio
Magnate Worldwide's ground expedite division appointed Chris Koehring as vice president, effective Nov. 1. Koehring maintains over 28 years of transportation experience, holding roles as vice president of sales, director of operations and managing director for companies such as XPO and Panther Premium.