Milling & Baking News - May 9, 2017 - 19

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counsel, will be chief legal counsel.
* Robert L. Benton Jr., currently
senior vice-president and chief manufacturing officer, will be chief supply
chain officer.
* A. Ryals McMullian Jr., currently
vice-president of mergers and acquisitions and deputy general counsel, will
be chief strategy officer.
* Tonja W. Taylor, currently senior
vice-president of human resources,
will be chief human resources officer.
Flowers said it is in the process of
searching for a chief marketing officer.
Project Centennial update
In June 2016, Flowers launched Project Centennial, a program designed
to evaluate opportunities within the
company to streamline operations,
drive efficiencies and invest in strategic capabilities. Following the review,
Flowers has identified four primary

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strategic initiatives it plans to undertake beginning in fiscal 2017 with full
execution expected by fiscal 2021. The
strategic initiatives are:
* Reinvigorate the core business -
"Invest in the growth and innovation of
our core brands, streamline our brand
and product portfolio, improve trade
promotion management and strengthen our partnership with distributors so
they can grow their businesses."
* Capitalize on product adjacencies - "Greater focus on growing segments of the bakery category, such as
food service, in-store bakery, impulse
items and healthy snacking."
*Reduce costs to fuel growth -
"Reduce complexity and better leverage scale to lower costs."
* Develop leading capabilities -
"Invest in capabilities to become a
more centralized and analytics-focused company." MBN

Jeff Thomas named president,
c.e.o. of Miller Milling
BLOOMINGTON, MINN. - Miller
Milling Co. has announced Jeffrey D.
Thomas has been promoted to president and chief executive officer. Mr.
Thomas, who currently is Miller Milling's vice-president of operations, will
take the top post at the Bloomingtonbased milling company effective June 1.
As president and c.e.o., Mr. Thomas
succeeds Kazuyoshi (Kaz) Watanabe,
who has headed Miller Milling
for five years, since the business was acquired by Nisshin
Seifun Group. Mr. Watanabe
will return to Japan and serve
as an executive at Nisshin and
as a member of the Miller Milling board of directors. With Mr. Thomas
Watanabe's departure from the
United States, Akihiko Imanishi will
join Miller Milling from Nisshin in
Japan as a senior vice-president. Mr.
Imanishi joined Nisshin Flour Milling
in 1993 and is currently general manager of overseas business at the company.
Announcing the succession, Nisshin
expressed appreciation for Mr. Watanabe's leadership in the United States
and continued service at Nisshin and
called Mr. Thomas a "very strong leader."
Nisshin said the transition occurs with
Miller Milling "in a strong position."
"Jeff has a track record of strong
leadership both inside and outside
of the company," Miller Milling said.
"This, combined with his industry
knowledge and institutional tenure
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makes Jeff uniquely qualified to lead
Miller Milling into the future."
Mr. Thomas joined Miller Milling in
May 2014 when the company acquired
four flour mills - in Saginaw, Texas;
Oakland, Calif.; Los Angeles; and New
Prague, Minn. - in connection with the
formation of Ardent Mills by ConAgra
Mills, Cargill and CHS, Inc. At the time,
Mr. Thomas was the manager of the
ConAgra mill at Saginaw.
A 1994 graduate of Kansas
State University with a degree in
milling science from the Department of Grain Science and Industry, Mr. Thomas spent 16 years in
milling operations at ConAgra.
He held positions at ConAgra
Mills in Alton, Ill.; Denver; Macon, Ga.; Oakland; Sherman, Texas; and
Saginaw. He had been plant manager of
Saginaw since 2010. He was promoted
to vice-president of operations and relocated to Bloomington in October 2015.
Miller Milling, the fourth largest flour
milling company in the United States,
has been owned by Nisshin for five
years. In addition to the four mills acquired in 2014, Miller Milling operates
mills in Fresno, Calif., and Winchester,
Va. Miller Milling has 107,600 cwts of
combined flour milling and durum milling daily production capacity. The company currently is expanding the Saginaw
mill with an addition that will increase
capacity by 10,000 cwts. The project is expected to be completed in 2019. MBN

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Milling
& Baking News XMay 9, 2017 / 19

http://www.dakotablenders.net http://www.bakingbusiness.com http://www.world-grain.com

Milling & Baking News - May 9, 2017

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