Milling & Baking News - February 23, 2021 - 38

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Schwan's elevates Julie Francis
to fill newly created COO role
BLOOMINGTON, MINN. - Schwan's
Co. has added the newly created role of
chief operating officer to its executive
team. Dimitrios Smyrnios, chief executive officer, has promoted Julie Francis
to this role and added Brian Schiegg to
fill her position as president of Schwan's
Consumer Brands Inc.
Ms. Francis joined the company in 2018
as president of Schwan's
Consumer Brands, the subsidiary that sells and distributes its branded foods
to grocery and club stores.
As COO, Ms. Francis will
continue to report to Mr.
Smyrnios and serve on Francis
the company's executive
leadership team. She will lead the management teams for various Schwan's Co.
subsidiaries, including Schwan's Consumer Brands, Schwan's Food Service
Inc. and SFC Global Supply Chain Inc.
Prior to Schwan's, Ms. Francis was
senior vice president of commercial and
category development for total beverage

alcohol at Constellation Brands. Earlier,
she was a director at Nottingham Spirk
and chief commercial officer at The CocaCola Co.
" Since joining our company, Julie's
deep industry and operational experience
has helped deliver outstanding results for
our business and customers, " Mr. Smyrnios said. " She is a values-based leader
who possesses a great energy for achieving operational excellence, serving our
customers, driving profitable growth and
leading people. Julie's passion for leading
people and teams has had a positive impact on the business and our company's
culture. I am excited to see Julie take on
this expanded role within Schwan's. "
Mr. Schiegg joined Schwan's as president of Schwan's Consumer Brands with more than
two decades of global experience in the consumer and
packaged goods industry.
Most recently he was COO
and president of Ocean
Spray International Services, Schiegg

Phil Battaglia named COO at
Mary's Gone Crackers
RENO, NEV. - Phil Battaglia has been promoted to chief operating officer at Mary's
Gone Crackers, a maker of gluten-free, nonGMO, organic and plant-based crackers.
In his new role, Mr. Battaglia will oversee
day-to-day operations across departments
and develop the brand's business strategy to
support sustainable growth.
Mr. Battaglia most recently was director of sales finance at Mary's Gone Crackers since December 2016. While at the
company he has helped develop strategy

plans, support financial goals, and track
performance metrics. Among many notable contributions, Mr. Battaglia implemented a gross-to-net forecasting model,
an excel-based trade system, a demand
forecast process and a standard cost model for COGS during his tenure.
Prior to Mary's Gone Crackers he spent
six years at Diamond Foods in various
roles, including director of sales finance,
senior manager of trade and sales finance, and sales financial analyst. Earlier,

AB Mauri North America promotes
Troy Boutte to VP of innovation
ST. LOUIS - Troy Boutte, PhD, was
promoted to vice president of innovation and bakery ingredients at AB Mauri
North America.
Dr. Boutte joined AB Mauri as director
of innovation in 2019. In that role, he led
the bakery and fermentation science laboratory at bakingHUB in St. Louis's Cortex
Innovation Community.
In his new role as vice president, Dr.
Boutte will oversee the development and
implementation of new products, as well
38 / February 23, 2021

Milling & Baking News

as lead the baking ingredient innovation
team.
" Since joining our team, Troy has
played a key role leading our innovation efforts to meet the evolving needs of our customers and
today's consumers, " said Brent
Fenton, president, AB Mauri North
America. " He brings tremendous Boutte
experience and a proven track record to this critical position, and we're excited he's leading these efforts in finding

leading all US sales, global business
units, marketing, planning, manufacturing, global ingredients and supply chain
operations. In addition, he spent part of
his career working at Mars Inc.
" Throughout his career, Brian has successfully delivered profitable growth
across multiple geographies and categories, and I look forward to working closely with him as we continue our efforts to
bring delicious foods to families everywhere and deliver the best service possible to our customers, " Ms. Francis said.
In his new role, Mr. Schiegg will be responsible for driving growth with brands
including Red Baron, Tony's and Freschetta pizza, Mrs. Smith's and Edwards
desserts, and Bibigo, Pagoda, Minh and
Kahiki Asian foods. He also will report to
Ms. Francis and serve on the company's
executive leadership team.
" As a company, we are truly fortunate
to have both of these outstanding leaders
on our team, " Mr. Smyrnios said. " Their
extensive knowledge and expertise in
the food industry, strong customer focus
and outstanding leadership will help us
strengthen our operations, bring elevated
service to our customers, and achieve our
growth objectives. " MBN
he was a recruiting manager at Robert
Half Finance and Accounting. He began
his career as a finance manager at The
Clorox Co.
He received a bachelor's degree in finance from San Diego State University.
" As an essential, nutrient-packed good,
our brand has experienced massive growth
throughout the pandemic, " said Tetsuya
Fujisaki, chief strategy officer. " Thanks to
our dedicated and skilled team members
like Battaglia, we've been able to thrive
during these unprecedented times. As an
experienced and efficient leader, Battaglia
will support our brand's fundamental business initiatives and anticipated growth. " MBN
solutions to the challenges bakers face. "
He has spent more than 25 years in
the food industry. Prior to joining AB
Mauri, Dr. Boutte spent 8 years at DuPont Danisco as the principal scientist
and group manager for the bakery, sales and application group.
Before that, he spent 12 years as a
director of bakery and emulsifier
ingredients and senior scientist at
Caravan Ingredients.
He received bachelor's and
master's degrees in human nutrition from Louisiana State University and a doctorate in food science from
Washington State University. MBN
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Milling & Baking News - February 23, 2021

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