Perdue Farms appoints three new senior vice presidents
Company expands its executive team with leaders in strategy, procurement, and research.
USA – Perdue Farms has announced the addition of three executives to its senior leadership team as part of its efforts to strengthen strategy, supply chain, and product development.
The food and agriculture company has named Kim Poe as senior vice president of strategy and corporate development, Sal Gala as senior vice president of procurement, and Brice Westring as senior vice president of research and development.
Chief executive officer Kevin McAdams said the new executives bring experience across multiple areas of leadership and reflect the company’s focus on transformation and future growth.
Roles and responsibilities
Poe will oversee Perdue’s long-term strategy and enterprise growth plans, with a focus on sustainable expansion and innovation, and she will report directly to McAdams.
Her background includes two decades in senior roles involving strategy, operations, and business transformation in the consumer goods, retail, and manufacturing sectors.
Before joining Perdue, she worked as vice president of business excellence and global project management at Kidde Global Solutions and previously held positions at Carrier, Georgia-Pacific, and Academy Sports & Outdoors.
She also worked at McKinsey & Company advising food and beverage firms on growth and marketing strategies, and she started her career as a systems test engineer at Dell Computers.
Poe holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Gala will head the procurement division, reporting to Gregg Uecker, chief supply chain and operations officer, and will focus on supplier partnerships and process improvements.
He has served in senior supply chain and procurement positions at McCormick, Mars, and Goodyear, managing sourcing and operations internationally.
Gala earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Universidad Simón Bolívar in Venezuela and later completed an MBA in Supply Chain and Corporate Finance at Penn State University.
Westring is taking charge of research and development, reporting to chief commercial officer Todd Tillemans, and will concentrate on advancing product innovation within the protein category.
Most recently, he served as vice president of R&D for North America at Mondelez International, where he managed operations tied to more than US$9 billion (US$9,000,000,000) in sales.
Prior to that, Westring spent over 20 years at Procter & Gamble in senior research and development roles, working across categories on consumer-focused innovation.
He holds a Master of Science in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University of Virginia and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Connecticut.
The company said the appointments are intended to position Perdue Farms for its next century of operations in the food and agriculture sector.
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