Hostess Brands Inc. on October 26 announced the appointment of John Stewart to the position of executive vice president and chief financial officer. Most recently, John was executive vice president and CFO for Dr. Pepper Snapple (DPS), a $5.5 billion publicly traded beverage company. At DPS, John lead the separation of the business from its United Kingdom parent, Cadbury, and the successful spin off of DPS onto the New York Stock Exchange in 2008.
Prior to DPS, John was SVP and CFO for Diageo PLC’s $4 billion North America unit. Before assuming the North America CFO role, John had international CFO roles in Diageo’s drinks business. He also spent several years at Diageo’s Pillsbury unit, where he held positions of increasing importance in marketing, finance, operational control & accounting, and in general management in the United States and Australia, culminating in his appointment as SVP of strategy and business development for Pillsbury.
Hostess Brands Inc. is one of the nation’s largest commercial bakers and distributors of fresh-baked bread and sweet goods, sold under various brand names, including Wonder, Merita, Home Pride, Nature’s Pride, Hostess, Drake’s and Dolly Madison. The company is headquartered in Dallas. The company has approximately 20,000 employees, operates 36 bakeries, approximately 6,000 delivery routes, approximately 600 distribution centers and approximately 600 bakery outlet stores throughout the county. Hostess Brands distributes national bread and cake brands throughout the United States through a national direct store delivery system serving more than 50,000 customers every day.
