General MillselectedKen Powellas vice president. He will be responsible for General Mills' Meals, Pillsbury USA, Baking Products and the Bakeries & Foodservice divisions. Prior to this promotion, Powell was the chief executive officer of Cereal Partners Worldwide (CPW), General Mills' joint venture with Nestle. GM appointedIan Friendlychief executive officer of CPW. Previously, Friendly was president of the Big G cereal division.Peter Capellwas chosen to fill this position. Formerly, Capell was president of General Mills Snacks Unlimited division. This title is now held byKim Nelson.
The Auburn, ME-based Pepsi bottling operation of Seltzer and Rydholm, Inc. will be sold to the Pepsi Bottling Group this fall. The business includes a production, distribution and sales facility in Auburn and distribution centers in Portland and Augusta, ME.
The Sara Lee Bakery Group is ending production of non-branded fresh bread in the Dallas, Houston and San Antonio areas and will instead concentrate on producing Sara Lee, Earth Grains, IronKids, Rainbo, Grant's Farm and other branded fresh breads, buns, rolls and bagels. Branded-bread production will be consolidated into the Dallas bakery. Production will cease this month in the Houston bakery and by year's end in San Antonio. The company will continue to serve its non-branded bread customers in other areas.
Ronald Brewer joined POSS Design Limited as the director of global sales and marketing. Brewer was previously vice president of sales for Wilden Pump & Engineering LLC. At the same time, POSS Design has named PRIME Equipment Group, Inc. of Columbus, OH, as its U.S.-based full service representative.
The H.J. Heinz Co. named Kenneth Keller chairman and chief executive officer of Heinz Italy and president of Heinz Southern Europe. The company also appointed Fernando Pocaterra as chief operating officer of Heinz Italy.