— In Accordance with Previously Established Succession Plan, COO Ken
Romanzi to Succeed Cantwell as CEO —
— Cantwell to Continue with B&G Foods as an M&A and Corporate Finance
Consultant —
PARSIPPANY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 29, 2019--
B&G Foods, Inc. (NYSE: BGS) announced today that Robert C. Cantwell, the
Company’s Chief Executive Officer has notified the Board of Directors
that he plans to retire on April 5, 2019. Mr. Cantwell’s retirement will
bring to a close a remarkable career of more than 35 years of continuous
service to B&G Foods, including approximately 23 years of leadership as
Executive Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer and more
than four years of leadership as President and Chief Executive Officer.
Following his retirement, it is expected that Mr. Cantwell, who turns 62
later this week, will continue to advise the Company on M&A and capital
markets transactions.
In accordance with a succession plan established in 2017, B&G Foods’
Board of Directors has appointed Kenneth G. Romanzi, age 59, who
currently serves as the Company’s Executive Vice President and Chief
Operating Officer, as the Company’s next President and Chief Executive
Officer, effective upon Mr. Cantwell’s retirement. At such time, Mr.
Romanzi will also replace Mr. Cantwell on the Board of Directors.
“Bob Cantwell has been a key member of our management team for more than
35 years. During Mr. Cantwell’s tenure, B&G Foods has completed more
than twenty acquisitions and grown from a small, regional pickle company
to a leading public food company with a diverse portfolio of iconic
brands. As Chief Executive Officer over the last four years,
Mr. Cantwell has transformed B&G Foods by completing six acquisitions,
including the Green Giant acquisition and the spices & seasonings
acquisition, the two largest acquisitions in company history, and the
Company’s net sales have approximately doubled during Mr. Cantwell’s
tenure as CEO,” said Stephen C. Sherrill, Chairman of the Board of
Directors. “Bob’s long list of accomplishments, including in mergers &
acquisitions, capital markets transactions, operational improvements and
cost reduction efforts, has helped lead to tremendous value creation for
B&G Foods’ stockholders over the years. Bob and his management team,
achieved this through hard work, passion and determination and most
importantly, with honesty and integrity. On behalf of our entire Board
of Directors, I express our sincere gratitude to Bob for his invaluable
and devoted service to B&G Foods, and for his innumerable contributions
to B&G Foods as President and Chief Executive Officer and before that as
Chief Financial Officer.”
“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as President and Chief
Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of B&G Foods over the last
35 years,” stated Mr. Cantwell. “I am very proud of the tremendous
growth we have achieved over that time and would like to thank my senior
leadership team and each and every employee of B&G Foods. We could not
have achieved this growth without their extraordinary efforts.”
Mr. Cantwell continued, “During the past year, Ken has demonstrated that
he has the experience and leadership skills to successfully lead B&G
Foods to its next phase of growth. Ken has been a terrific partner and I
am confident that he is the right person to guide B&G Foods into the
future. I look forward to continuing to work with Ken and B&G Foods’
strong M&A and capital markets transactions team, led by Chief Financial
Officer, Bruce Wacha and General Counsel, Scott Lerner, to help
B&G Foods achieve its long-term growth objectives.”
Commenting on his appointment, Mr. Romanzi stated, “I am truly honored
and humbled to follow Bob Cantwell as President and Chief Executive
Officer of B&G Foods. I am very appreciative of the tremendous support
that Bob and the Board of Directors have provided to me and the
confidence they have placed in me. I have learned a lot from Bob and the
other members of the B&G Foods management team over the past year and I
look forward to continuing B&G Foods’ mission of bringing delicious food
from our family to yours and creating stockholder value through
high-margin brands and a disciplined acquisition strategy, and by
returning a meaningful portion of our excess cash to our stockholders.”
Mr. Romanzi joined B&G Foods in December 2017 as Executive Vice
President and Chief Operating Officer. Prior to that, Mr. Romanzi served
as president, fresh foods at WhiteWave Foods Corp., from March 2016 to
October 2017, where he led Earthbound Farm Organic. Prior to joining
WhiteWave, Mr. Romanzi, served as senior vice president and chief
operating officer, global brands of Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. from
2013 to 2015, and as senior vice president and chief operating officer
of Ocean Spray’s North American food and beverage business from 2004 to
2013. Before that, Mr. Romanzi served as president, U.S. toys division
of Hasbro Inc.; president and chief executive officer of Ultimate Juice
Company, a premium juice company whose brands included the Naked Juice
brand; and president and chief executive officer of Balducci’s Direct, a
gourmet food catalog business. Mr. Romanzi also served in positions of
increasing responsibility at Nabisco, Inc., including president of
Nabisco Refrigerated Foods and senior vice president sales &
distribution of Nabisco Biscuit Company, and served at Cadbury
Schweppes, as vice president, marketing and strategic planning, North
America. Mr. Romanzi began his career in marketing at Frito-Lay, Inc.
About B&G Foods, Inc.
Based in Parsippany, New Jersey, B&G Foods and its subsidiaries
manufacture, sell and distribute high-quality, branded shelf-stable and
frozen foods across the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. With
B&G Foods’ diverse portfolio of more than 50 brands you know and love,
including Back to Nature, B&G, B&M, Cream of Wheat,
Green Giant, Las Palmas, Le Sueur, Mama Mary’s,
Maple Grove Farms, Mrs. Dash, New York Style,
Ortega, Polaner, SnackWell’s, Spice Islands
and Victoria, there’s a little something for everyone. For more
information about B&G Foods and its brands, please visit www.bgfoods.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release that are not statements of
historical or current fact constitute “forward-looking statements.” The
forward-looking statements contained in this press release include,
without limitation, statements related to B&G Foods’ prospects for
future growth, the creation of stockholder value through high-margin
brands, the Company’s disciplined acquisition strategy, and the
Company’s plan to return a meaningful portion of the Company’s excess
cash to its stockholders. Such forward-looking statements involve
known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other unknown factors that
could cause the actual results of B&G Foods to be materially different
from the historical results or from any future results expressed or
implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition to
statements that explicitly describe such risks and uncertainties,
readers are urged to consider statements labeled with the terms
“believes,” “belief,” “expects,” “projects,” “intends,” “anticipates” or
“plans” to be uncertain and forward-looking. Factors that may
affect actual results include, without limitation: the Company’s
substantial leverage; the effects of rising costs for the Company’s raw
materials, packaging and ingredients; crude oil prices and their impact
on distribution, packaging and energy costs; the Company’s ability to
successfully implement sales price increases and cost saving measures to
offset any cost increases; intense competition, changes in consumer
preferences, demand for the Company’s products and local economic and
market conditions; the Company’s continued ability to promote brand
equity successfully, to anticipate and respond to new consumer trends,
to develop new products and markets, to broaden brand portfolios in
order to compete effectively with lower priced products and in markets
that are consolidating at the retail and manufacturing levels and to
improve productivity; the risks associated with the expansion of the
Company’s business; the Company’s possible inability to identify new
acquisitions or to integrate recent or future acquisitions or the
Company’s failure to realize anticipated revenue enhancements, cost
savings or other synergies; tax reform and legislation, including the
effects of the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act; the Company’s ability to
access the credit markets and the Company’s borrowing costs and credit
ratings, which may be influenced by credit markets generally and the
credit ratings of the Company’s competitors; unanticipated expenses,
including, without limitation, litigation or legal settlement expenses;
the effects of currency movements of the Canadian dollar and the Mexican
peso as compared to the U.S. dollar; the effects of international trade
disputes, tariffs, quotas, and other import or export restrictions on
our international procurement, sales and operations; future impairments
of the Company’s goodwill and intangible assets; the Company’s ability
to successfully implement a new enterprise resource planning (ERP)
system; the Company’s ability to protect information systems against, or
effectively respond to, a cybersecurity incident or other disruption;
the Company’s sustainability initiatives and changes to environmental
laws and regulations; and other factors that affect the food industry
generally. The forward-looking statements contained herein are also
subject generally to other risks and uncertainties that are described
from time to time in B&G Foods’ filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including under Item 1A, “Risk Factors” in the Company’s
most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in its subsequent reports on
Forms 10-Q and 8-K. Investors are cautioned not to place undue
reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of
the date they are made. B&G Foods undertakes no obligation to
publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190129005860/en/
Source: B&G Foods, Inc.
Investor Relations:
ICR, Inc.
Dara Dierks
866-211-8151
Media Relations:
ICR, Inc.
Matt Lindberg
203-682-8214
