KANSAS CITY, Mo., Jan. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Italian Pasta Company , the largest producer of dry pasta in North America, announced that Jack Kelly, who joined the company in November as chief operating officer, has assumed the positions of president and chief executive officer, as planned. He succeeds Jim Fogarty, a managing director at Alvarez & Marsal who has served as the company's president and CEO since September 2005.
AIPC also announced that Paul Geist, who most recently served as the company's vice president and corporate controller, has been named executive vice president and chief financial officer.
"Jack has hit the ground running in the two months since he arrived. The planned leadership transition not only has been seamless, but even faster than originally anticipated," said Bill Patterson, chairman of the AIPC board of directors. "Jack has quickly focused his energies on getting to know our people and the company, as well as identifying key initiatives that will further improve our operations and enhance the branded and private label opportunities in our retail, foodservice and ingredient businesses. We are looking forward to a new chapter under Jack's skillful leadership and in partnership with the strong management team we now have in place."
"The solid foundation put in place under the leadership of Jim Fogarty and the board has enabled us to reach a number of important milestones," added Mr. Kelly. "Our talented team will be able to build on our accomplishments to date, continuing to innovate and identify ways to add even more value to our customers. On behalf of the board and all employees of AIPC, I want to thank Jim and his firm, Alvarez & Marsal, for their valuable contribution in helping to create strong liquidity and a sound foundation for growth."
Prior to joining AIPC, Mr. Kelly, a 30-plus-year food industry executive, led several private companies, including San Antonio Farms and Fiorucci Foods and held senior positions at Haagen-Dazs and Kraft Foods.
Mr. Geist, who joined AIPC in October 2004, was most recently vice president/controller for Potbelly Sandwich Works, a privately-owned restaurant company. In addition, Mr. Geist has held several senior management positions, including that of CFO, at Houlihan's Restaurant Group, Inc. and Westar Energy. He became AIPC's principal accounting officer in August 2006. "Paul has shown tremendous leadership during our restatement process," said Mr. Kelly. "With his extensive background in finance and accounting, Paul has proven that he is the right person to lead our finance team as we complete our restatement process and move our business forward."
American Italian Pasta Company, as previously announced, is in the final phase of a restatement of certain historical financial statements. The process will be completed pending the final review by the company's independent registered public accounting firm.
The Company also announced that Mr. Kelly has been appointed to the Board of Directors and that Robert Niehaus will resign from the board effective January 31. "We welcome Jack to the board and we thank Bob Niehaus for his tremendous dedication and service to our board," added Mr. Patterson. "AIPC has made significant strides over the past few years and has in place a strong management team and outstanding board of directors to lead it forward from here," said Mr. Niehaus.
With these changes, the AIPC board of directors will be comprised of Mr. Kelly and 9 independent directors, three of whom have been added in the past two years.
ABOUT AIPC
Founded in 1988 and based in Kansas City, Missouri, American Italian Pasta Company is the largest producer of dry pasta in North America. The Company has four plants that are located in Excelsior Springs, Missouri; Columbia, South Carolina; Tolleson, Arizona and Verolanuova, Italy. The Company has approximately 600 employees located in the United States and Italy.
When used in this release, the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," and "expect" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of identifying these statements. The statements by the Company regarding its management and board changes and restatement are forward-looking. Actual results or events could differ materially. The differences could be caused by a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the review of its financial statements, a review and/or audit of the Company's financial statements by its independent registered public accounting firm, the SEC staff review and the conclusions reached regarding financial reporting. The Company will not update any forward- looking statements in this press release to reflect future events.
