MINNEAPOLIS -- General Mills Bakeries & Foodservice has appointed Ann Simonds to vice president and general manager of Bakery Channels. In her new position, Simonds will oversee all of the Bakery Channels businesses, which include Supermarket Bakery, Bakery Ingredients, Fresh Bread Solutions, SuperCenter and Club Channels, Convenient Solutions and Wholesale Sweet Goods.
"I look forward to continuing the longstanding tradition of product innovation, brand leadership and collaborative selling to bring total product and service solutions to our customers," [image-nocss] said Simonds. "Baking is one of the treasured classic categories of General Mills' business and a source of great pride for our company. I'm thrilled to be a part of our baking tradition, bringing continued innovation to our heritage products."
Simonds' most recent position was vice president and marketing director for General Mills Bakeries & Foodservice. From 2001 to spring 2005, Simonds was vice president of marketing for General Mills Big G cereals division, where she had responsibility for the teams who manage the Cheerios, Chex and Total franchises and the General Mills WIC business.
Her accomplishments include strong growth behind the Cheerios franchise, award-winning advertising, strong multicultural marketing stewardship and vigorous and impactful leadership of General Mills brands.
Prior to joining the Big G cereals division, Simonds held marketing manager assignments on Yoplait and Cheerios prior to being promoted to director of Gold Medal Baking in 1997. Simonds joined General Mills in 1995.
Before joining Minneapolis-based General Mills, Simonds held various brand management positions at Johnson & Johnson, including a three-year assignment in London.
General Mills Bakeries & Foodservice division sells a variety of products into the retail and wholesale bakery channels, including bakery flour, dry baking mixes, bread concentrates and frozen products including cinnamon rolls, croissants, puff pastry, danish and other sweet goods. It also markets dry baking mixes and bakery flour in the foodservice, restaurant and wholesale bakery channels. The division also sells General Mills branded cereal, yogurt, snacks and more in convenience stores and vending machines, as well as a variety of commercial and noncommercial foodservice outlets.
The division generates more than $1.7 billion in sales, the company said.
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