Last updated on June 13th, 2024 at 12:05 pm
Chaska, Minn.-based pickle and condiments company M.A. Gedney Co. has named Barry M. Spector president, the company announced July 26.
Spector started his career at Acme Foods, a family-owned meat snack manufacturing company in Baltimore, Md. He successfully sold the company to GoodMark Foods, maker of Slim Jims, now a division of ConAgra Foods. After the sale, he put together and managed a $200 million co-pack meat snack agreement with Frito-Lay, Frito-Lay’s first such agreement in the meat snack field.
Subsequently, Spector held CEO positions within several industries, including snack foods, information technology and a venture capital group. He also served as a business strategy and marketing consultant to Frito-Lay, Havatampa Corp., GoodMark Foods Inc. and Southland Corp.
He was recruited to Ferris Baker Watts, Inc. in Baltimore to start a consumer investment banking advisory group. He continued to carry out merger and acquisition transactions, provide corporate advisory to major public corporations, and assist in capital-raising for Ferris Baker Watts until Ferris was acquired by Royal Bank of Canada in June 2008.
He has served on the boards of Rymer Foods, La Parisienne Bakery and the University of Maryland’s William Smith Graduate School of Business and Management-Dingman Center. Spector also was an officer and board member of the Baltimore-Washington YPO chapter. Currently he serves on the boards of Saval Foods and EMD Sales Co. In January 2006, Spector moved from Baltimore to Santa Barbara, Calif., and serves as vice chairman of the board of the Santa Barbara County Food Bank. He also served as Chapter Chairman of WPO (World President’s Org) in Santa Barbara and on the board of Food Industry Network of YPO/WPO. Spector also currently serves as an advisor on M&A, capital raising and restructuring transactions to the investment banking firm FocalPoint Partners based in Los Angeles.
