THOMASVILLE, Ga. — Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE: FLO), producer of Nature’s Own, Dave’s Killer Bread, Wonder, Tastykake, and other bakery foods, today announced that Heeth Varnedoe, senior vice president of DSD Regions/Sales, has been promoted to chief transformation officer (CTO), a newly created role at the company, effective January 4, 2021.
As CTO, Varnedoe will be responsible for overseeing the implementation of key, cross-functional initiatives that advance Flowers’ long-term strategic plans. One area of immediate focus for Varnedoe is Flowers’ digital and enterprise resource planning initiative. This is a newly launched, multi-year effort to transform the company’s organizational capabilities, implement new technologies, and make data-driven decisions. Varnedoe will report to Ryals McMullian, president and chief executive officer.
“The creation of a transformation office puts fresh emphasis on transparency, collaboration, and new ways of working at Flowers and allows us to ensure that initiatives are effectively meeting their planned operating and financial goals,” McMullian said. “Heeth was a clear choice for this important position. Not only has he demonstrated strong leadership managing our portfolio optimization work, but he’s also been a champion of the evolutionary steps our company has been taking over the past few years and has a deep understanding and experience of Flowers’ sales and operations.”
Varnedoe joined Flowers Foods in 1990, holding a number of management positions, including president of the company’s bakery in Jacksonville, Florida. He left Flowers in 2000 to pursue other business interests and rejoined in 2012 as vice president of national accounts. In 2016, he was promoted to president of the company’s Phoenix, Arizona bakery and was named to his current role in 2017.
About Flowers Foods
Headquartered in Thomasville, Ga., Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE: FLO) is one of the largest producers of packaged bakery foods in the United States with 2019 sales of $4.1 billion. Flowers operates bakeries across the country that produce a wide range of bakery products. Among the company’s top brands are Nature’s Own, Dave’s Killer Bread, Wonder, and Tastykake. Learn more at www.flowersfoods.com.
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Forward-Looking Statements
Statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements relate to current expectations regarding our future financial condition, performance and results of operations and the ultimate impact of the novel strain of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on our business, results of operations and financial condition, planned capital expenditures, long-term objectives of management, supply and demand, pricing trends and market forces, and integration plans and expected benefits of transactions and are often identified by the use of words and phrases such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “will,” “would,” “is likely to,” “is expected to” or “will continue,” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those projected. Other factors that may cause actual results to differ from the forward-looking statements contained in this release and that may affect the company’s prospects in general include, but are not limited to, (a) the ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and measures taken in response thereto, including, among other things, temporary or ongoing bakery closures, on our business, results of operations and financial condition, which are highly uncertain and are difficult to predict, (b) general economic and business conditions and the competitive conditions in the baked foods industry, including promotional and price competition, (c) changes in consumer demand for our products, including changes in consumer behavior, trends and preferences, including health and whole grain trends, and the movement toward more inexpensive store-branded products, (d) the success of productivity improvements and new product introductions, (e) a significant reduction in business with any of our major customers including a reduction from adverse developments in any of our customer’s business, (f) fluctuations in commodity pricing, (g) energy and raw material costs and availability and hedging and counterparty risk, (h) our ability to fully integrate recent acquisitions into our business, (i) our ability to achieve cash flow from capital expenditures and acquisitions and the availability of new acquisitions that build shareholder value, (j) our ability to successfully implement our business strategies, including those strategies the company has initiated under Project Centennial, which may involve, among other things, the deployment of new systems and technology and an enhanced organizational structure; (k) our ability to integrate recent acquisitions or the acquisition or disposition of assets at presently targeted values, (l) consolidation within the baking industry and related industries, (m) disruptions in our direct-store delivery system, including litigation or an adverse ruling from a court or regulatory or government body that could affect the independent contractor classification of our independent distributors, (n) increasing legal complexity and legal proceedings that we are or may become subject to, (o) product recalls or safety concerns related to our products, and (p) the failure of our information technology systems to perform adequately, including any interruptions, intrusions or security breaches of such systems or risks associated with the planned implementation of a new enterprise resource planning system. The foregoing list of important factors does not include all such factors, nor necessarily present them in order of importance. In addition, you should consult other public disclosures made by the company, including the risk factors included in our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and disclosures made in other filings with the SEC and company press releases, for other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected by the company. We caution you not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as they speak only as of the date made and are inherently uncertain. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise or update such statements, except as required by law.
