Dawn Food Products, Inc. has named 20-year veteran Stevens J. Sainte-Rose as the company’s chief HR & transformation officer, effective immediately. Sainte-Rose joins Dawn’s global leadership team and reports directly to chief executive officers Carrie Jones-Barber and Serhat Unsal.

To support its continued growth and a focus on customers’ evolving needs, Dawn has positioned itself at the forefront of industry transformation. Sainte-Rose’s appointment will be an integral part of this transformation.

Alongside his broad responsibilities for organizational design, leadership development and the creation and stewardship of a people-centric environment, Sainte-Rose has been tasked with leadership oversight of current and future business transformation efforts to ensure Dawn maintains its industry-leading position. He will focus on accelerating change at Dawn, building the business capabilities to move the company’s business priorities forward. 

“Throughout our nearly 100-year history, our people have been our secret ingredient to success in Dawn becoming a market leader in the bakery industry,’’ said Jones-Barber. “With more than 20 years of diverse international and business transformation experience, Stevens is an instrumental addition to our global business and executive team. His deep-seated values and leadership skills will be a tremendous resource for all of Dawn as we continue to transform our business and inspire bakery success every day. Serhat and I are excited to have Stevens join the Dawn team and look forward to working closely with him.”

Sainte-Rose comes to Dawn Foods from Walgreens Boots Alliance Corporation, where he served as the chief human resources officer for the Walgreens division. In this role, he supported Walgreens’ Retail Pharmacy business in the United States and led all aspects of HR for the 250,000-person division. Previously, Sainte-Rose spent a decade at The Coca-Cola Company across multiple global roles, his last three years as senior VP of Coca-Cola International. He also served in HR roles at Aramark Corporation, Pier 1 Imports, Burger King and Millennium Hotels & Resorts.

“Dawn Foods has a longstanding history as a bakery industry leader with a passion for its business, people and customers,” said Sainte-Rose. "With a respected, industry-leading brand and the long-term vision to continue to deliver its passion for bakery across a global stage, I look forward to working together with the executive team and am tremendously excited about helping build an even stronger Dawn brand for our people and customers.”

Throughout his career, Sainte-Rose has consistently demonstrated an ability to adapt and drive organizational change. As business transformation includes a strong view on people, culture and capabilities, Sainte-Rose will lead a global team across the company’s international footprint.