(PRESS RELEASE) PITTSBURGH, PA – PetGuard, a pet health brand that has been producing holistic pet products since 1979, has announced that four business and operations executives have been hired for key roles. The brand has brought on veterans from the pet industry who will be focusing their attention on expanding PetGuard’s presence in the pet specialty channel.
Bill Shaner, managing partner and CEO, is responsible for leading the newly reorganized and revitalized company. Shaner is the former CEO of Save-A-Lot food stores, a $4 billion supermarket chain. He previously held senior executive positions at Kroger and Supervalu, as well as providing management advisory services to retailers, consumer packaged goods companies and investment firms.
Anthony Scarpino will be serving as chief financial officer. Scarpino has a consulting background in operational and strategic management and holds a B.A. from Hamilton College and a MBA from Louisiana State University. He comes to PetGuard from Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, purveyor of the Rachel Ray Nutrish brand. Prior to that, Scarpino held operations management positions with Kraft Heinz and H. J. Heinz and served as a consultant at an international management advisory firm.
Dave Fedorchak has been named vice president of procurement and product development. He also hails from Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, which was acquired by J. M. Smucker Co. in 2018. Fedorchak brings a wealth of consumer-packaged goods development experience to the management team, having earned a B.S. in Food Science from Penn State and a M.S., also in food science, from Kansas State. He previously served as senior buyer and project management at H. J. Heinz, as well as food scientist and food technologist at Unilever.
Cameron Palmer will take on inventory management, distribution and logistics responsibilities in his new role as vice president of supply chain. Palmer is also an alumnus of Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, where he served as contract manufacturing manager for the Rachel Ray Nutrish brand. He previously held positions at Ainsworth as continuous improvement specialist and supply chain analyst. Palmer holds a B.S. in Information Science from Penn State.
“We’re confident that we’ve brought together an exceptional leadership team,” said Shaner. “Our retail experience and broad industry knowledge of pet nutrition puts us in an excellent position to take our brand to the next level and grow our national presence.”