Sweet treat maker Hostess Brands, Inc., Kansas City, Mo., announced April 12 that its board of directors has named consumer packaged goods executive Andrew “Andy” Callahan president and CEO, effective May 7. Callahan will replace C. Dean Metropoulos, executive chairman, who has been serving as interim president and CEO since March 31. Metropoulos will remain executive chairman of the board. Callahan was also appointed a director on the company’s board of directors.
Callahan joins Hostess with more than 23 years of executive leadership experience serving in key consumer packaged goods industry roles at Tyson Foods, Inc., The Hillshire Brands Co., Sara Lee Corp. and Kraft Foods, Inc.
“We are delighted to welcome Andy to the Hostess team," Metropoulos commented. "He is a very accomplished consumer packaged goods executive with strong experience in leading brands and we welcome his leadership, brand and innovation expertise as we continue to further build our distribution and market share in the sweet baked goods category. We believe Andy has the right combination of entrepreneurial and strategic leadership and people management skills to lead Hostess into our next phase of growth and build value for our stockholders.”
Callahan previously served as Tyson Foods’ president of retail packaged brands, managing its retail consumer brands, including Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Sara Lee, Aidells and Ball Park. He was also president of Tyson's North American Foodservice and International units and responsible for Tyson Pet Products, which makes True Chews brand dog treats.
Before that, he served as president of retail for Hillshire Brands during which time the company completed an initial public offering and then was later acquired by Tyson Foods. He has served as chief customer officer for Sara Lee Corp. North America, was president of Sara Lee Foodservice Division, and general manager of Jimmy Dean. Prior to Sara Lee, he spent 13 years at Kraft Foods.
