Blount Ups William Bigelow to Chief Innovation Officer

Blount Fine Foods, a Fall River, Mass.-based manufacturer of fresh prepared soups and side dishes, has promoted William Bigelow to chief innovation officer as part of its investment in product innovation and developing leaders from within the company.

In his expanded role, Bigelow will serve the customer and sales team by translating national and global trends and consumer insight into opportunities to create valuable new products. He will also use the product and innovation process to contribute to maintaining food safety and continued operational success.

In addition to product-based R&D, Bigelow will continue to have responsibilities in business development, pricing, forecasting and customer service, and will take on the additional responsibilities of packaging innovation and leading a future acquisition search to include relevant and opportunistic products, geographies and brands.

“William has been a valued executive in this company for several years,” said Bob Sewall, EVP of sales and marketing for Blount. “He has an excellent rapport with our customers, who know him well, trust his insights and look to him for innovative thinking.”

Bigelow will continue to represent the customer’s interests and expectations within Blount as part of maintaining the company’s premium positioning in the marketplace. He will also advance and expand the building of necessary structures and systems to responsibly accelerate the bringing of products to market.