Bill Shaner to Lead Pet Health Brand

Veteran retail grocery executive Bill Shaner has been named CEO of pet health brand PetGuard, heading up the executive team at the newly reorganized company.

Also managing partner of the Pittsburgh-based company, Shaner is the former CEO of hard-discount supermarket chain Save-A-Lot. He also has held senior executive positions at Kroger and Supervalu, and has provided management advisory services to retailers, consumer packaged goods companies and investment firms.

PetGuard, which has been producing all-natural holistic pet products since 1979, plans to expand its presence in the pet specialty channel.

“We’re confident that we’ve brought together an exceptional leadership team,” Shaner said. “Our retail experience and broad industry knowledge of pet nutrition puts us in an excellent position to take our brand to the next level and grow our national presence.”

That team also includes Anthony Scarpino as CFO. He comes to PetGuard from Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, purveyor of the Rachel Ray Nutrish brand. Prior to that, Scarpino held operations management positions with Kraft Heinz and H.J. Heinz, and was a consultant at an international management advisory firm.

Also on board is Dave Fedorchak as VP of procurement and product development. He’s another veteran of Ainsworth, which was acquired by J.M. Smucker Co. in 2018. He was previously senior buyer and project manager at Heinz, as well as a food scientist and technologist at Unilever.

Rounding out the executive appointments is Cameron Palmer, who will take on inventory management, distribution and logistics responsibilities in his new role as VP of supply chain. Also an Ainsworth alumnus, holding the role of contract manufacturing manager for the Rachel Ray Nutrish brand, he was previously continuous-improvement specialist and supply chain analyst at that company.