Hostess Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ: TWNK, TWNKW) (“Hostess Brands” or the “Company”), has announced it has strengthened the Company’s executive leadership team with Tom Peterson, executive vice president and chief financial officer, transitioning to the newly created role of executive vice president, strategy and M&A. In connection with Mr. Peterson’s transition, consumer packaged goods industry veteran Brian Purcell will join the Company as executive vice president, chief financial officer, both roles effective January 6, 2020. Mr. Purcell joins Hostess Brands with over 20 years of finance, accounting and consumer packaged goods experience in leading growth-oriented organizations such as Rawlings Sporting Goods, PepsiCo and Argosy Gaming Company.

“We are excited to further enhance and expand our executive leadership team as we position ourselves for the next phase of our organizational development and growth. We are fortunate to have a person of Tom’s experience in corporate development and capital markets with Hostess Brands to lead this effort. His efforts will be instrumental as we leverage our sustainable, scalable, profitable operating model and additional platform development to drive long-term financial performance,” commented Andy Callahan, Hostess Brands’ president and chief executive officer. “Brian is an incredibly talented finance executive with strong accounting, financial planning and analysis expertise with a broad depth of knowledge in the consumer packaged goods industry. Brian’s strong focus on results and operational and business acumen fit well with the Hostess Brands’ culture. We look forward to his future contributions as we build upon our growth potential.”

Most recently Mr. Purcell served as chief financial officer of Rawlings Sporting Goods, where he was responsible for all finance, accounting and IT functions. During his tenure beginning in 2016, he worked with the executive team to develop turnaround strategy that revitalized profit and revenue growth over a three-year period. Prior to this, for nearly ten years, Mr. Purcell held both field and corporate senior and executive finance leadership roles at PepsiCo across multiple segments of its businesses, culminating in a regional chief financial officer position for a multi-billion dollar business in North America. Earlier in his career, Mr. Purcell worked in finance at Argosy Gaming Company, a publicly traded owner and operator of casinos in the central United States with approximately $1 billion in revenue and through the time it was acquired by PENN National Gaming.

The Company also reiterated its financial outlook for the full year ending December 31, 2019, previously provided on November 6, 2019.