Topco Names Goers as VP of National Brands

James “Jim” Goers has joined Topco Associates as vice president of national brands, and will have overall responsibility for Topco’s National Brands program.

Goers will report to Randy Skoda, Topco’s executive VP. “Jim brings a tremendous amount of experience and energy to his new position,” Skoda said. “We look forward to leveraging Jim’s significant industry experience and relationships to work with our manufacturer partners and Topco’s member-owners to drive value and significantly increase the scope and breadth of Topco’s National Brands program.”

Goers’ career has spanned more than two decades with Fortune 100 companies in the consumer product industry with broad-based experience in customer development, marketing and supply chain. Most recently, Goers was with Hostess Brands Inc. in a strategy role and served as senior VP and northwest business unit general manager. At Hostess, he was responsible for developing and leading the company's bread and snack cake business across 10 western states.

Prior to Hostess, Goers spent more than 10 years at Kraft Foods Inc., where he held a number of increasingly responsible positions, including senior director of customer logistics and Denver regional VP. He began his career at Frito-Lay Inc., where he spent more than 10 years in various sales and marketing positions, including zone sales leader in Albuquerque, N.M., and as a national account manager in Dallas.

Goers holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Skokie, Ill.-based Topco Associates LLC is an $11.3 billion, privately held company that provides aggregation, innovation and knowledge management solutions for leading food industry member-owners and customers.