Dawn Foods Appoints Procurement, People VPs

Dawn Foods, a manufacturer and distributor of baking ingredients, has announced two additions to its North America leadership team. Ahmet Hepdogan joins the company as vice president of Procurement in North America, and Josh Bruketta has been promoted to vice president of People in North America.

Hepdogan succeeds John Wolf who will retire from the Jackson, Mich.-based company in March 2023. In his role, Dawn says that Hepdogan will lead the regional procurement team, work on strategic contract strategies and global sourcing solutions, and more. Prior to Dawn, he served as chief procurement officer for Ferrara, a sweet snack business and affiliate of Ferrero International.

In his new role, Bruketta will oversee talent management and development, change management, and more. He has worked with Dawn Foods since last year and previously served as a director within the People department. Bruketta and Hepdogan will both report to John Schmitz, president of Dawn Foods North America.

"[Hepdogan] is an effective leader and advocate for the digitization of procurement, which aligns with our continued transformation agenda focused on supporting our business and customers around the world," said Schmitz. “[Bruketta] will continue to work closely with our global people partners to position Dawn as an employer of choice and to elevate the team member experience. I appreciate his counsel and expertise and look forward to seeing him continue to drive our organization forward."

Dawn Foods has more than 4,000 team members globally and provides bakery products and ingredients to more than 50,000 customers located in over 100 countries.