KANSAS CITY — Promotions at Flowers Foods and new hires at Miller Milling and Oats Overnight headline key personnel moves taking place across the food industry. The moves include:

Lee Varnedoe and Jamie Wilson have been promoted at Flowers Foods, Inc., Thomasville, Ga. Both men have been named vice president of division sales. Mr. Varnedoe has been with Flowers for the past seven years, most recently as vice president of regional accounts — Southwest region. He earlier was director of regional accounts for the Southwest region and market manager for the Kroger — Dallas and Houston divisions. Mr. Wilson has been with Flowers’ for nearly 11 years, most recently as general manager. He earlier was vice president of key accounts and vice president of sales for the Toledo, Ohio, area. Prior to Flowers he was a regional vice president and market unit general manager at Hostess Brands, Inc. He also has worked as a regional sales manager for Grupo Bimbo SAB de CV and George Weston Bakeries. 

Michael Shaw has joined Ontario-based Wonderbrands as plant manager. Prior to Wonderbrands, Mr. Shaw worked at Weston Foods as a plant manager and corporate project engineer. He also spent more than 23 years at Maplehurst Bakeries, LLC, a subsidiary of Weston, where he held several positions, including maintenance manager, engineering project manager, production manager and manufacturing manager.

Carter Wands has been named manager of technical sales and innovation at Miller Milling Co., Bloomington, Minn. He is also a Milling and Baking division chair elect at the Cereal & Grains Association as well as a strategic planning committee member, a young professional committee chairman and a product development competition committee member at the American Society of Baking. Prior to Miller Milling Co., Mr. Wands was a technical sales manager of varietal solutions at Bay State Milling Co. and a technical sales representative of cakes/sweet goods and West Coast bread at AB Mauri North America. He also worked at Manildra Group as a bakery/mill technologist, product development technologist and technical sales manager of retail. Mr. Wands received a bachelor’s degree in bakery science and milling science from Kansas State University.

Matthew Jordan has been named director of research and development at Oats Overnight, Tempe, Ariz. He was previously the vice president of technical operations at Doughnut Peddler and the director of product development at Nature’s Bakery. Mr. Jordan also spent more than 13 years at Conagra Brands, holding a wide variety of positions, including production supervisor, maintenance supervisor II, process engineer, senior process engineer, manager of commercialization and manager of product development. Another company Mr. Jordan held multiple positions at was Dole Fresh Vegetables, where he worked as a production lead, a packaging machine operator, a packaging technician and a packaging lead. Mr. Jordan received a bachelor of science degree in industrial electronics from Bob Jones University and a master of business administration degree from Bellevue University.

Allan M. Kaplan has been promoted to chief financial officer at Bell Flavors & Fragrances, Northbrook, Ill. In his new role, Mr. Kaplan will manage Bell’s finance and accounting departments to ensure they adhere to corporate accounting policies and procedures. He also will be a member of the company’s executive management committee. Mr. Kaplan has been with Bell for more than 10 years, most recently as vice president of finance. Mr. Kaplan received a bachelor of science degree in accountancy from DePaul University.

Cristalle Keane has been promoted to vice president of sweet and dairy and flavor creation and application at Bell Flavors & Fragrances, Northbrook, Ill. In her new role, Ms. Keane will continue to lead the flavorist team and drive business development and innovation in sweet and dairy flavor applications. Ms. Keane has been with Bell for 23 years, managing the company’s flavorists as well as establishing a solid analytical and sensory driven duplication process. She is also a certified flavorist. Ms. Keane received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Elmhurst University.

Chris Warsow has been promoted to vice president of savory and culinary, flavor creation, and application and delivery systems at Bell Flavors & Fragrances, Northbrook, Ill. In his new role, Mr. Warsow will create strategies for continued growth within Bell’s savory, culinary and delivery systems platforms. He is also an executive corporate chef and member of the Research Chefs Association. Mr. Warsow has been with Bell for more than 15 years, most recently as the director of culinary application, savory flavor development and delivery systems, and is considered instrumental in launching the company’s Technology and Innovation Center. Mr. Warsow received a bachelor of science degree and a master of science degree, both in food science, from Michigan State University.

Mike Barron has been promoted to vice president of information technology at Bell Flavors & Fragrances, Northbrook, Ill. In his new role, Mr. Barron will lead all aspects of Bell’s corporate information systems and technology programs. Mr. Barron was previously the senior director of information technology at Bell and has been heavily involved in the company’s strategic planning to guarantee effective information technology operations worldwide. Mr. Barron received a bachelor of business administration degree from Illinois State University.