People Moves: Bob’s Red Mill Makes Trey Winthrop CEO; Mindy Grossman Leaves WW International

Adrianne DeLuca

 

Bob’s Red Mill Moves Trey Winthrop Into The Role of CEO

Organic and gluten-free food company Bob’s Red Mill announced late last month that its current CFO Trey Winthrop, will assume the role of s CEO, effective the first quarter of 2022. Winthrop succeeds Dennis Vaughn, who is retiring after serving as CEO for the last three years.

“No one knows the business better than Trey,” Bob’s Red Mill founder and president, Bob Moore, said in a statement. “We’re grateful to Dennis for his years of service and dedication to the company. Appointing Trey to fill the CEO role has long been our strategy for succession. He’s the ideal person to advance our mission and lead us to continued success in the years to come.”

Winthrop has worked for Oregon-based the company for almost two decades, first serving as its Director of Corporate Finance, then the company’s VP of Finance before assuming the CFO role. Before Winthrop takes over next year, the company’s former SVP of sales, Robert Agnew, retired earlier this year, will serve as acting CEO and chairman of the board of directors.

The employee-owned company produces a wide range of product lines ranging from baking mixes to protein powder and soup starters. During Winthrop tenure he has helped expand the brand into new categories including snacks and convenience with its snack bar lines and on-the-go breakfast cereal cups, the company said.

In the six years Winthrop has served on Bob Red Mill’s executive team, he has also been incremental to growing the company’s operations and advocated for the creation of new positions such as Director of Innovation, Sustainability Manager and DEI Specialist.

“It’s a true honor to be chosen to lead this company on behalf of my fellow employee owners,” Winthrop said in a statement. “There’s so much opportunity ahead. I’m focused on expanding our business and supporting our employees so we can all continue to prosper together.”

Mindy Grossman Steps Down From WW International

Mindy Grossman, president and CEO of WW International (formerly Weight Watchers), announced that she will be stepping down from her position during the first quarter of 2022. She is currently working with the company’s Board of Directors to find a new leader for the company.

Grossman previously served as Global Vice President of Nike and continues to serve on the board of multiple companies. She joined WW in 2017 and led the company’s evolution to a digitally-focused health and wellness company. In 2018, Grossman spearheaded Weight Watchers’s rebrand to WW international and reconfigured the company into a science-based weight loss platform built on a digital-first subscription model.

“Mindy has been a bold marketing visionary, partner and friend. She has transformed the brand to the WW of today – one that represents the many dimensions of weight loss and wellness,” said Oprah Winfrey, the company’s largest single shareholder, in a press release. “It has been an honor to work alongside Mindy, and learn from her. I am grateful for her passion, vision and deep impact on WW.”

Through the rebrand and strategy shift, WW has become the leading weight loss program for the past 11 years, according to U.S. News & World Report. Over the two years following her departure, Grossman will receive payments of two times her base pay — about $2.47 million — according to a separation agreement. Grossman did not provide an update on her next career move.

Kodiak Adds New CMO Position for Cory Bayers

Utah-based food company Kodiak added a new position to its executive team this week. Filling the new role as Chief Marketing Officer is Cory Bayers, the former Head of Global Marketing at apparel company Patagonia. The announcement comes four months after the better-for-you baking mix brand was acquired by private equity firm L Catterton.

Bayers has over two decades of marketing experience for a variety of outdoor-focused lifestyle brands, having previously held similar positions at apparel companies such as Lululemon and Helly Hansen. This new role at Kodiak marks Bayer’s first venture into the food industry.

“We believed it was time to bring in someone with deep experience building lifestyle brands like Lululemon and Patagonia to help us take Kodiak to new heights,” Kodiak CEO Joel Clark said. “We believed bringing in someone from one of the strongest lifestyle brands out there was an out of the box way to think about brand building in food. Look at your pantry. Tell me how many food brands in there are lifestyle brands you aspire to. We see a huge opportunity to bring a more aspirational approach to food.”

In this new position, Bayers will lead the company’s creative initiatives to grow consumer engagement, mainly on social media. His other responsibilities include guiding strategy development, brand positioning, content creation and partner collaborations, according to a press release.

“He has an amazing way of thinking about brand building that is different than what we typically see, not only just in food but in marketing in general,” Clark noted. “Cory thinks about building communities around brands in a deeper way than we’ve experienced in the past. He wants to build an authentic brand that adds real value to consumers beyond the products we sell to them.”

Maxine’s Heavenly Expands Team With Two New Positions

Los Angeles-based cookie company Maxine’s Heavenly has expanded its team with the appointment of two CPG veterans to newly created positions. Joseph Salvatore has been named the company’s new Director of Supply Chain & Operations, while Samuel Neumann has been appointed as Senior National Director of Sales.

“I cannot think of two more qualified and exciting candidates to help drive our organization’s next phase of hyper-growth,” CEO Robert Petrarca said in a press release. “Both bring a passion for the brand along with tremendous industry expertise. With the addition of Sam and Joseph, we plan to continue to shake up the baking category and lead the charge on the future of snacking.”

Salvatore joins the company after spending the past decade scaling operations for fast-growth companies such as Magic Spoon, TIO Gazpacho and Exo Protein. Salvatore is also an expert in sustainable supply chains, having built a direct and fair trade cocoa supply chain in Madagascar, and will use this expertise in his new role to drive Maxine’s sustainability goals.

Neumman joins Maxine’s team after almost a decade at Mondelez International, where he held various sales and marketing positions, most recently managing its U.S Costco business. In his new role, Neumman will be a sales leader “creating strategic growth plans, building strong retailer partnerships, and unlocking sustainable growth within the snacking category,” according to a press release.

Other Notable People Moves:

  • Boulder-based snack company Quinn announced the addition of co-founder and CEO of Once Upon a Farm John Foraker and the former President of the Snacks Operating Unit at General Mills Michele Meyer to its Board of Directors.
  • Cell-cultured meat company Upside Foods brought co-founder, president and Chief Technical Officer of self-driving car company Cruise Kyle Vogt onto its Board of Directors.
  • Allergy-friendly cookie and baking mix maker Partake Foods added Chang Britt, former President of Pepperidge Farms, as its independent board director.
  • Egglife Foods named CPG veteran and former Coca-Cola executive Shellie Davis as the company’s new CFO.
  • Plant-based food startup Next Gen Foods brought on former Impossible Foods executive Rachel Konrad as the company’s first independent board member.
  • Whole Earth Brands CFO Andy Rusie has left the better-for-you global food company to pursue opportunities outside the CPG industry.