Wixon, a manufacturer of seasonings, flavors, and technologies for the food and beverage industry, announced the appointment of Michael Walters as Vice President of Sales & Marketing.
With more than 30 years experience in sales, marketing, and management in the food industry for both the national and international marketplace, Walters will assume responsibility of sales and marketing strategies for Wixon.
“Mike was extremely successful in growing the market share of the companies he served,” said Wixon President Peter Gottsacker. “With Mike’s industry experience and proven track record, we are pleased to have him onboard as we move ahead in expertise, innovative product offerings, and sales. We look forward to his success as he further builds on our customer partnerships.”
The position was formerly held by Wixon principal Chuck Ehemann, who is taking a year’s sabbatical.
“My goals complement Chuck’s, which are to continue to grow the sales success Wixon has had over the past five years, and to further increase Wixon’s presence with our customers and the marketplace in general,” Walters said. “I plan to move ahead with improving the sales organization and the sales processing systems to ensure significant and measureable improvements in the productivity of our sales efforts.”
“Long term, we really want to build a performance-based environment through talent development and mentoring systems. Also, we plan to further evolve the cross-functional teams that are supporting our three key divisions, Consumer, Industrial, and Protein,” he said.
Prior to joining Wixon, Walters was with Spicetec Flavors & Seasonings, as Director of Sales & Business Development and Griffith Laboratories as Vice President of Sales. He began his career with Campbell Soup Co. as an account manager, and rose to National Sales Director.
“My past experience in developing go-to-market strategies are building blocks for my team as we forward Wixon’s customer-driven focus,” he said.
Walters is a member of IFT and IFMA. He is a graduate of Grand Valley State University and has done post-graduate work at Benedictine University. Walters and his wife, Debra, have two adult sons. They will be relocating to the Milwaukee area from Chicago.
Founded in 1907, Wixon is a fully integrated meat, food, and beverage ingredient leader providing flavor technologies, custom-ground spices, blended seasonings, protein expertise, foodservice and menu solutions, and consumer products and packaging. Wixon’s brand promise of Service Driven Culinary Science gives customers the added benefit of food technology enhanced by the creativity of culinary arts. With its advanced scientific and culinary capabilities combined with a passion for service, Wixon drives innovation and provides solutions for its customers. Besides custom flavor formulations, Wixon offers R&D, product development, packaging options, inventory management, and just-in-time delivery. Located in St. Francis, Wis., a suburb of Milwaukee, Wixon is FSSC 22000 Certified and QAI Organic Certified. More information on Wixon or any of its products may be obtained at www.wixon.com or by calling (800) 841-5304.
