Baker’s Pride Names VP of Sales and Marketing

Baker’s Pride Inc. a Burlington, Iowa-based commercial bakery and manufacturer of private label and proprietary-brand bread, cookie, brownie and cake-style doughnut products, has appointed Louis Mastriano to the newly created position of VP of sales and marketing.

Mastriano, an award-winning sales and marketing executive with more than 25 years of experience at Kraft North America, will develop and manage Baker’s Pride marketing programs to drive sales of fresh and in-store baked goods and more healthful snack options to retailers. Additionally, he brings extensive P&L leadership and strategic thinking to the company, and will spearhead growth with the direct and broker sales organizations.

Before joining Baker’s Pride, Mastriano held senior executive roles within the Desserts and Snacks division and other business units at Northfield, Ill.-based Kraft Foods. He also held regional sales positions across the United States. His most recent position was that of senior director of in-store merchandising at Kraft North America, in which capacity he had overall responsibility for aligning brand, marketing and sales strategies with consumer insights to drive revenue growth for such well-known brands as Maxwell House Coffee, Jell-O, Kool-Aid, Crystal Light and Capri Sun.

Throughout his career, Mastriano has developed and executed measurable sales and marketing strategies for businesses within the dry grocery, frozen and refrigerated categories. His special area of expertise is creating and implementing promotions and in-store merchandising partnerships with major retail stores. Of particular note, Mastriano managed multimillion-dollar trade budgets at Kraft that generated billions of dollars in promoted sales revenue.

“The demonstrated leadership, management and industry knowledge that Lou has amassed during his career will be put to immediate use at Bakers Pride,” noted Ron Danko Sr., CEO of Baker’s Pride and former VP of bakery at Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegmans. “Lou’s ability to effectively position products in the marketplace will be an integral part of our long-term growth strategy.”

Mastriano is a member of the National Frozen and Refrigerated Association, the In Store Marketing Institute and the Beverage Council.

Baker’s Pride, a division of New York-based Amincor Inc., consists of three entities: The South Street Bakery, The Jefferson Street Bakery and the Mt. Pleasant Street Bakery.