Dawn Foods names SVP North America
Kristi Kangas will lead the company's U.S. and Canadian manufacturing operations.
Dawn Foods, a bakery manufacturing and distribution business, announced the hire of Kristi Kangas as SVP of North America manufacturing operations, reporting to John Schmitz, COO. In this role, Kangas will lead Dawn’s North America manufacturing network, overseeing approximately 1,000 team members across four manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and Canada, with responsibility for quality, safety, engineering, and continuous improvement.
Kangas brings more than 25 years of operations and manufacturing leadership experience across the food and agriculture industries, with expertise in multi-plant operations, supply chain optimization, capital planning, and large-scale transformation. She joins Dawn from Griffith Foods, where she served as VP of manufacturing and supply chain, North America, leading more than 1,400 employees across five facilities in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
Previously, Kangas held senior executive roles including COO at Darigold, president and COO at Readington Farms, and senior manufacturing leadership positions at Land O’Lakes, Cargill, Frito-Lay, and Kraft Foods. Across her career, she has led complex manufacturing environments, driven operational excellence initiatives, and guided organizations through periods of significant change while maintaining a strong focus on safety, quality, and team member engagement.
In her new role at Dawn, Kangas will shape and execute the long-term strategy for North America manufacturing operations, with a focus on automation, standardization, continuous improvement, and cost-effective growth aligned with Dawn’s broader commercial priorities.
“Kristi is a proven manufacturing leader with a track record of driving operational excellence in complex, multi-site environments,” says John Schmitz, COO, Americas. “Her depth of experience in food manufacturing, her hands-on leadership style, and her passion for building strong teams make her an outstanding addition to Dawn’s North America Leadership Team.”
Kangas says she was drawn to Dawn by its family-owned heritage, strong values, and people-first culture. “I’m a manufacturing junkie at heart, and Dawn offers a unique opportunity to focus deeply on operations while making a meaningful impact,” Kangas says. “The combination of a family-owned, multi-generation company with a global footprint and strong North America presence really resonated with me. I was inspired by the people I met during the interview process and excited by the opportunity to both strengthen what’s already working well and help move the organization forward strategically.”
Originally from Ohio, Kangas has built her career across nine states, growing through increasingly complex manufacturing roles in food and ingredient companies. Outside of work, she enjoys staying active, spending time outdoors with her dog, and cheering on her favorite college football team, she says.
Kangas holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Trine University and an MBA in Strategy and Organizational Behavior from the University of Chicago. She also serves on industry and community boards.
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