Supply Chain & Merchandising

Talking Rain announces the addition of John Peirano as Chief Marketing Officer who joins recent hire Marcus Smith as Chief Financial Officer, and recently promoted Michael Lowes as Chief Operating Officer.

Cole Haan will open its Innovation & Sports Lifestyle Design Center at its global headquarters in Greenland, New Hampshire, enabling the brand to aggressively expand its offering of ZeroGrand products for men and women.

The partnership with FLOCERT will provide a system to verify the Cocoa Life supply chain, completing the Cocoa Life verification framework alongside the Harvard University research team evaluating the program impact on the ground, announced in June 2014.

Mars Chocolate North America announces that all 10 of its manufacturing facilities are now certified landfill-free, representing a significant milestone in achieving Mars goal of zero-waste-to-landfill by 2015.

The new candidate comes most recently from J. Crew and Saks Incorporated, and will focus on Avon's turnaround including driving sustainable and profitable growth.

The acquisition is expected to provide the company greater scale and strategic balance to its current portfolio while positioning it for continued growth.

Flowers Foods announced two executive transitions in the company's manufacturing leadership, effective immediately: Michael Beaty will retire in spring of 2015 and will serve as EVP until then. Robert Benton, Jr. will serve as SVP and chief manufacturing officer.

General Mills will close a cereal plant and a yogurt factory - eliminating up to 600 jobs - in an effort to cut costs and offset the sluggish U.S. demand for cereal and other packaged foods.