Top Women In Store Brands 2024: Paula Klassen, TreeHouse Foods
For more than a decade, Store Brands and Women Impacting Storebrand Excellence (WISE) have teamed to honor women across the private label industry who have had and continue to have a major impact in the store brand segment.
From supply chain to sales, marketing, finance, and more, members of the Class of 2024 each play a vital role in moving store brands forward amid new and ongoing challenges that include rising prices, capacity issues with manufacturers, and evolving demand from consumers.
Meet this year's Top Women In Store Brands honorees.
Paula Klassen
TreeHouse Foods
Lifetime Achievement Award
For nearly 18 years, Paula Klassen has played a pivotal role in ensuring the highest standards of safety and quality at TreeHouse Foods.
First joining the private label product supplier in 2007 as director of Food Safety and Quality Assurance, Klassen today serves as vice president of Food Safety & Quality at TreeHouse. The 2024 Top Women In Store Brands Lifetime Achievement honoree is responsible for building capabilities with her team and across the company’s operations.
“I am beyond grateful and honored to receive this recognition,” said Klassen. Having been in the store brands food safety & quality space for so many years, it’s been exciting to see the growth of store brand products and offerings. I hope that I’ve contributed just a tiny bit to increasing consumers’ appreciation for, and confidence in, the quality and safety of store brands.”
Over the past year, Klassen implemented advanced systems and statistical process controls that have significantly reduced quality incidents and consumer complaints. Her focus on predictive quality management has empowered operators to make timely adjustments, ensuring that TreeHouse Foods continues to deliver safe and high-quality products to its customers.
Her leadership style is hands-on and collaborative. She spends much of her time in TreeHouse’s manufacturing facilities, coaching site leaders and hourly employees to embrace a culture of quality. Her ability to inspire teams has been instrumental in embedding robust quality standards across the company, where employees are encouraged to proactively address potential issues before production even begins.
In addition to her internal contributions, Klassen has partnered with regulatory agencies to ensure TreeHouse Foods consistently meets or exceeds regulatory requirements. Her dedication to continuous improvement and excellence has strengthened TreeHouse Foods’ reputation in the industry as a trusted provider of safe, high-quality private label products.
Klassen said many factors have contributed to her success over the years.
“The support system of my family, friends, and coworkers has certainly played a part in allowing me to be successful and focus on my career,” she said. “I enjoy building relationships at work, both with coworkers and customers. Gaining, and keeping, their trust is important to me. I stay humble and transparently admit when I don’t have the answers, but have the persistence to figure out the solution to a problem with science and data.”