Western Foods, a division of Western Milling, announced that it has named Alex T. Balafoutis as its new executive vice president, effective January 7, 2019.

Balafoutis was previously VP of sales for the Rice Business Unit at PGP International, Inc. a division of Associated British Foods. Balafoutis has 35 years of extensive experience with PGP in rice, rice flour, premix, extruded cereal and snack business, conducting sales in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. He is the previous chairman of the USA Rice Millers Association, current chairman of the USA Rice Federation’s Technical Working Group and serves on various committees with the USA Rice Federation and the California Rice Commission.

Miguel Reyna, WF’s president and chief executive officer added, “We are delighted to have Alex as the latest member of our team as we are in a substantial growth phase for our rice and ancient grain flour business, with the recent opening of our new dedicated gluten-free rice mill in Pine Bluff, AR.”