Global bakery manufacturer and ingredients distributor Dawn Foods has announced changes to its executive leadership team. Jennifer Cloherty joins Dawn as chief financial officer, succeeding Karl Brown who moves into an advisory role for Dawn. In addition, Chief Digital Officer Bob Howland will expand his role to lead Dawn's global digital and IT organizations.

"Jennifer is an exceptional financial leader with great long-term vision, and I am proud to have her join the Dawn Leadership Team," said Chief Executive Officer Carrie Jones-Barber. "I am confident she will continue to build and develop the wonderful talent we have within our financial organization and partner with our leaders to drive the strategic, operational, and financial performance of our global business."

Cloherty joins Dawn with 27 years of global business experience in roles of increasing responsibility, complexity, and scale. She most recently served as CFO for Kellogg North America, where she was also the executive sponsor for the Kellogg African American Resource Group and the Kellogg Veterans Group. Prior to Kellogg, Cloherty held financial leadership roles with Aptiv, Owens Corning, and GE. She spent 19 years with GE and held numerous operational and commercial finance roles across the United States and Europe.

Brown, who joined Dawn in 2000, has held a variety of financial and commercial leadership roles and was heavily involved in the development and significant growth of Dawn's international business. For the past five years, he has also led the global IT team.

"I thank Karl for his incredible leadership, counsel, and friendship over the years and look forward to continuing to work with him in his new role with Dawn," added Jones-Barber.

Brown will work together with Cloherty over the next few months as she onboards into the organization.


Transforming Dawn's Information Technology

Howland, who has been with Dawn since 2019, will lead the development and implementation of Dawn's long-term digital and information technology strategy to ensure Dawn continues to provide best-in-class solutions for its teams and customers.

"Bob has done a tremendous job transforming our business through best-in-class digital solutions that benefit both our Team Members and our customers," Jones-Barber said. "Our digital and IT teams already work closely together on technology infrastructure and cyber security projects, which are critical to help protect our systems and data. Bringing together these two organizations under Bob's leadership further strengthens our team and aligns with our strategic ambitions for the business."