David Vermylen

David has more than 40 years’ experience in food & beverage and CPG. David began his career at General Foods where he spent fourteen years in a variety of brand management positions. In 1988 he joined a small consulting firm and in 1991 was hired by a private equity client to be VP of Marketing, and eventually CEO, of Mother’s Cookies a West Coast based cookie company. In 1995, he joined Brother’s Gourmet Coffee as Chairman, President & CEO. In 1996 his former private equity client acquired the Keebler Company in a leveraged buyout for $450 million. David joined the company as President of Keebler Brands, the company’s main operating unit. The company was taken public in 1998 and sold to the Kellogg Company in 2001 for $4.5 billion at which time David became Keebler’s CEO. In late 2002 he left Kellogg and, with a few former Keebler executives, formed TreeHouse LLC as a vehicle to make acquisitions in the food industry. In 2005 they invested in and led the public spinoff of a $700 million private label division of Dean Foods. From 2005 through 2011 he was President & COO of TreeHouse Foods, retiring in 2011 but remaining with the company as a Director and a Senior Advisor focused on strategy and acquisitions. TreeHouse is currently a leader in private label manufacturing with annual revenue of approximately $5.5 billion.