WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Lancaster Colony Corporation (Nasdaq: LANC) is pleased to announce the addition of Kristin Bird to its senior leadership team as President of T. Marzetti Company’s Foodservice Division. In her new role, Ms. Bird will be responsible for the overall management of the Foodservice Division including the development and implementation of all strategic initiatives for the company’s foodservice operations and all sales to national chain restaurant accounts and national foodservice distributors.
Lancaster Colony also announced today the retirement of Timothy A. Tate after 41 years of service with the company, including the past eight years as Senior Vice President of Foodservice.
Ms. Bird’s professional background includes 21 years in the food industry with leadership roles in marketing, brand management, sales, and foodservice channel development. Most recently, she held the position of General Manager for Basic American Foods accountable for the sales, marketing and profit of their foodservice division that encompassed a broad portfolio of branded products and national chain restaurant accounts in addition to divisions for global foodservice sales and industrial sales and partnerships. Prior to that, Ms. Bird spent 10 years with Tyson Foods including the role of Senior Vice President of Foodservice Channel Development responsible for leading strategy, marketing and category/portfolio management across foodservice. Ms. Bird earned a B.A. in Political Studies from Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada and completed her M.B.A. at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
David A. Ciesinski, Lancaster Colony’s President and CEO, commented, “I am thrilled to welcome Kristin to our senior leadership team. Her breadth of food industry experience and track record of accomplishments in foodservice provide a great fit for our organization. We look forward to the positive energy and strategic insights that Kristin will bring to our Foodservice Division in support of our continued growth.”
Mr. Ciesinski continued, “I would also like to thank Tim Tate for the countless contributions he made to our business over the past 41 years. His commitment and leadership were clearly instrumental to the historic growth and success of our Foodservice Division. I wish Tim all the best in his retirement.”
About the Company
Lancaster Colony Corporation is a manufacturer and marketer of specialty food products for the retail and foodservice channels.
Forward-Looking Statements
We desire to take advantage of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the “PSLRA”). This news release contains various “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the PSLRA and other applicable securities laws. Such statements can be identified by the use of the forward-looking words “anticipate,” “estimate,” “project,” “believe,” “intend,” “plan,” “expect,” “hope” or similar words. These statements discuss future expectations; contain projections regarding future developments, operations or financial conditions; or state other forward-looking information. Such statements are based upon assumptions and assessments made by us in light of our experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments; and other factors we believe to be appropriate. These forward-looking statements involve various important risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. Some of the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements include:
- dependence on key personnel;
- the ability to successfully implement our strategic initiatives;
- the ability to successfully grow recently acquired businesses;
- the extent to which recent and future business acquisitions are completed and acceptably integrated;
- fluctuations in the cost and availability of raw materials and packaging;
- the reaction of customers or consumers to the effect of price increases we may implement;
- the potential for loss of larger programs or key customer relationships;
- price and product competition;
- the possible occurrence of product recalls or other defective or mislabeled product costs; and
- risks related to other factors described under “Risk Factors” in other reports and statements filed by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including without limitation our Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q (available at www.sec.gov)
Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update such forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Management believes these forward-looking statements to be reasonable; however, you should not place undue reliance on such statements that are based on current expectations.