B&G Foods selects Keller as next president and CEO

Parsippany-based B&G Foods Inc. announced May 11 that effective June 14, 2021, Kenneth “Casey” Keller will serve as its next president and chief executive officer, succeeding Interim President and CEO David Wenner, who will remain a director of the company and will work closely with Keller to ensure a seamless transition.

Keller will also be elected to B&G Foods’ board of directors.

Most recently, Keller served as president and CEO of JDE Peet’s NV, a $7 billion global coffee and tea company with more than 20,000 employees based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He led the merger of Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE) and Peet’s Coffee Inc. and the successful initial public offering of the combined company in May 2020.

Keller also served as global president of the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., a subsidiary of Mars Inc., where he was responsible for delivering sales and profit growth across the global gum, mints and candy business. He joined Wrigley in 2011 as president of Wrigley North America and later assumed responsibility for Wrigley Americas.

He was president of Alberto Culver USA from 2008 until the company’s acquisition by Unilever in 2011, and also worked at the H.J. Heinz Co. in both the United States and Europe. He began his consumer goods career with Procter & Gamble.

Keller earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University and served for four years as an officer in the U.S. Navy before receiving his Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.