Mt. Olive Pickle reorganizes leadership
By From staff reports
Published in News on May 13, 2015 1:46 PM
MOUNT OLIVE -- Rapid growth in the Mt. Olive Pickle Co. is playing a role in changes in the company's organizational structure and management team.
Bill Bryan, has served as the president and CEO for the past 25 years, has been elected as the executive chairman of the company, serving as the chairman of the board of directors as well as a senior executive active in its daily management.
Bryan is a native of the area and has been employed by Mt. Olive for 30 years.
Bobby Frye has been elected to succeed Bryan as the company's president and CEO
Frye currently is the executive vice president and has directed the company's sales and marketing efforts from its national sales office in Gastonia for 24 years.
Frye is a 34-year, third-generation employee of Mt. Olive. His grandmother and father both served in the company's sales organization. Frye will relocate to the Wayne County area and will continue to report to Bryan.
"These organizational changes strengthen our management depth in Mount Olive, promote the continued development of leadership in our sales team and allow for better coordination of our sales, marketing and production activities to meet the expectations of our expanding customer base," Bryan said.
Faison Hester, currently the non-executive chairman of the board (meaning he is not an employee of the company), has been elected to serve as the vice chairman and lead director of the board of directors.
Hester will continue to lead the independent directors of the company in providing oversight and counsel to the company's management team.
He is the chief financial officer of M.B. Haynes of Asheville and has served on the Mt. Olive Pickle board of directors since 1997.
Dr. Fletcher Arritt, an associate professor in the North Carolina State University Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences, has accepted an offer to join the company's management team in May as the vice president of technical services.
Arritt received his B.S. in biology and his M.S. and Ph.D. in food science and technology at Virginia Tech.
Arritt is a recognized FDA process authority for acidified foods. In the national sales office, Greg Smith has been appointed as the company's director of sales strategy and category management and Harry Barr has been appointed as the director of sales.
Smith has 15 years and Barr nine years of service with the company. Smith and Barr will report to Frye.