B&G Foods announces formation of business units and senior leadership appointments

B&G Foods Inc. announced the formation of four business units and senior leadership appointments to establish clear focus and expectations and drive organic and acquisition growth, according to the announcement. The four newly created business units are:

Spices & Seasonings — representing approximately 18% of B&G Foods’ net sales, Spices & Seasonings will include, among others, the Dash, Weber, Spice Islands, Tone’s, Ac’cent, Trappey’s, Durkee and Wright’s brands.

Meals — representing approximately 22% of B&G Foods’ net sales, Meals will include, among others, the Ortega, Maple Grove Farms, Cream of Wheat, Victoria, Las Palmas, Mama Mary’s, Spring Tree, McCann’s, Carey’s and Vermont Maid brands.

Frozen & Vegetables — representing approximately 27% of B&G Foods’ net sales, Frozen & Vegetables will include the Green Giant frozen, Green Giant shelf stable and Le Sueur brands.

Specialty — representing approximately 33% of B&G Foods’ net sales, Specialty will include, among others, the Crisco, Clabber Girl, Back to Nature, Bear Creek, Polaner, Underwood, B&G, Grandma’s, New York Style, B&M, TrueNorth, Don Pepino, Sclafani, Baker’s Joy, Regina, Emeril’s, SugarTwin and Brer Rabbit brands.

Commenting on the announcement and the transition from a function-based organization structure to a business unit structure, Casey Keller, president and chief executive officer of B&G Foods, said, “We are reorganizing our company into four business units — establishing clear focus and expectations within the B&G Foods portfolio. These units will define the categories and brands that we will resource and grow, the platforms for future acquisitions, the brands that will run for efficiency and cash flow, and the businesses we may exit over time. The business unit structure will also push accountability and multi-function responsibility down to more closely managed parts of the complex B&G Foods portfolio — improving the speed and clarity of decision-making to deliver growth and financial performance. Following today’s announcement and leadership appointments, which will take effect on August 1, 2022, we expect to complete these organizational changes during the next several months and to set performance expectations for the business units by the end of the year.”

Keller continued: “Our priorities and goals remain consistent and will be enabled by the business unit structure:

• Foremost, managing B&G Foods effectively through the current inflationary, pricing and supply environment — which means pricing as quickly as possible to recover higher input costs, and increasing production and critical supply to improve service levels above 95%.
• Improving organic growth performance beyond COVID-19 recovery to 1% to 2% growth, capitalizing on the post-pandemic trends of remote working from home and a renewed interest in cooking and baking.
• Focusing on brands and categories where B&G Foods has the capabilities, scale and ability to win — in terms of resources, investment and structure.
• Making disciplined acquisitions that are accretive to our portfolio and cash flows, and fit with our core expertise in center store, dry distribution.
• Accelerating cost savings and productivity efforts to eliminate non-value-added costs, offset inflation and strengthen margins and cash flows longer term.”

  Business unit president appointments

  Jordan Greenberg, currently executive vice president and chief commercial officer, will transition to president of Spices & Seasonings and remain an executive vice president of B&G Foods. Greenberg joined B&G Foods in 1999 and has served in roles of increasing responsibility over that time, including as vice president of marketing, vice president and general manager – Green Giant and his current position. Prior to joining B&G Foods, Greenberg served in the marketing departments of Land O’Lakes and Alpine Lace.

  Ellen Schum, currently executive vice president and chief customer officer, will transition to president of Specialty and remain an executive vice president of B&G Foods. Schum joined B&G Foods in 2018 and has served in roles of increasing responsibility over that time, including as vice president of U.S. retail sales and her current position. Prior to that, she served as executive vice president of sales and marketing and then chief operating officer of Schuman Cheese. Schum started her career in finance at Nabisco and spent 24 years at Nabisco and Kraft Foods in leadership roles of increasing responsibility, first in finance for five years, then in sales for 19 years, most recently serving as area vice president – east.

  Kristen Thompson, currently director of marketing for Green Giant, has been promoted to president of Frozen & Vegetables and has been appointed as a senior vice president of B&G Foods. Thompson joined B&G Foods in June 2019 as a director of marketing for Ortega. Most recently before joining B&G Foods, she served as marketing director of Birds Eye Vegetables at Conagra Brands and Pinnacle Foods.

  B&G Foods has initiated an external search for the president of Meals and expects to announce that appointment by the end of August.

  Other senior leadership promotions

  Gary Benedict, currently vice president of revenue growth management, will be promoted to senior vice president of commercial operations. Benedict joined B&G Foods in 2019. Most recently before joining B&G Foods, he served in sales management roles at Campbell Soup Company and WhiteWave Foods. Benedict has also served in sales management roles at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories and Johnson & Johnson.

  Rick Drummond, currently vice president of quality assurance and research & development, will be promoted to senior vice president of quality assurance and research & development. Drummond, who has more than 30 years of consumer packaged goods experience, focusing on quality and R&D, joined B&G Foods in March 2016. Before joining B&G Foods, he served in management level positions at Pepperidge Farm, Pinnacle Foods, Mondelēz, Kraft Foods and Nabisco.

  Tessie Gallagher, currently vice president of sales, will be promoted to senior vice president of Field Sales. Gallagher joined B&G Foods in 2017. She has more than 25 years of sales management experience at companies including, Primzie Crispbreads, Kraft Foods, PepsiCo-Frito Lay, and PepsiCo-Quaker Oats.

  Marty Schoch, currently vice president of procurement, will be promoted to senior vice president of supply chain. Schoch joined B&G Foods in 2008. Prior to B&G Foods, he worked at The Manischewitz Company in various supply chain roles with increasing responsibility.

  Bruce Wacha, executive vice president of finance and chief financial officer; Eric Hart, executive vice president of human resources and chief human resources officer; and Scott Lerner, executive vice president, general counsel, secretary and chief compliance officer, will each continue to serve in their current roles.

  Senior leadership retirement

  B&G Foods also announced that Erich Fritz, executive vice president and chief supply chain officer has chosen to retire from the company effective October 1, 2022.

  Commenting on Fritz’s retirement, Keller said in the announcement, “On behalf of our entire company, I want to thank Erich for his contributions to B&G Foods’ success over the past three years as our Chief Supply Chain Officer. Erich did an admirable job leading our supply chain efforts despite the unprecedented challenges facing our industry during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing industry-wide supply chain challenges and input cost inflation. Most importantly, Erich was instrumental in our efforts to keep our dedicated employees safe and healthy. All of us at B&G Foods wish Erich the best in his retirement.”