Jelly Belly recently announced leadership changes to its sales department, naming a new chief sales and marketing officer, and a new v.p. of international sales.

Ryan Schader

Ryan Schader was named chief sales and marketing officer, and he will responsible for both global and domestic markets as well as for developing a comprehensive global brand presence. He reports to Bob Simpson, Jelly Belly's president and coo.

“This new role will help us accelerate our global and domestic business objectives, and better leverage our unique position in the marketplace,” says Simpson. “The business climate and the consumer demand for our products indicate it’s the perfect time to implement these organizational changes.”

Before this promotion, Schader was the executive v.p. of sales and marketing for the company’s U.S. business. Since joining Jelly Belly as a capital projects manager in 1993, he has assumed increasing responsibilities within the company.

Also taking on a new role is Michal Meissner, who was named Jelly Belly's new v.p. of international sales. He will be reporting to Schader.

Michal Meissner

Meissner will oversee sales and business development in international markets. Before joining the company, Meissner was the director of international sales at Summit Brands, a household cleaning products company, and had senior sales and business developments positions at Mars, Inc.

“With worldwide sales and marketing under the same management umbrella, the new team structure will integrate our teams more effectively,” Schader says. “Jelly Belly is a leader in flavor innovation, so efficiently leveraging knowledge from our employees around the world allows us to bring new and relevant products to market more quickly.”

Jelly Belly was founded in 1898 and is most famous for its jelly beans. It manufactures 130 flavors of jelly beans along with 90 other gourmet confections such as gummies, chocolates and seasonal sweets. The company distributes to more than 75 countries and has offices in the U.S., Germany and China.