Hickory Farms Names New CMO and COO

Toledo, Ohio – June 16, 2016 – Hickory Farms, LLC, America’s most famous holiday food gift brand, today announced that Judy Ransford has been named the company’s new Chief Marketing Officer and Matt James the company’s new Chief Operating Officer.

"I am excited to have Matt and Judy join the Hickory Farms team,” said Diane Pearse, CEO and President. “I have worked with them both and know their skills and experiences will help make us a strong competitor in the food gifting retail space."

Prior to joining Hickory Farms, in 2015 Ransford founded the ecommerce fashion brand 5 Junes, a site established to fill a gap in the apparel market for tween girls. From 2008 to 2014, she held a number of key leadership roles at Redbox including Vice President of Digital Marketing, Vice President Customer Programs and Vice President Core Growth Strategy. Other positions included head of Marketing for the catalog marketing brand United Ad Label (an RR Donnelley company), and 10 years as a consultant in Strategy and Technology at Marakon Associates and Accenture.

Prior to joining Hickory Farms, James joined Redbox in 2011 where he held multiple leadership positions, including Senior Vice President of Operations and Merchandising, Vice President of Inventory & Logistics and Director and Senior Director of Strategy & Analytics. Throughout his tenure at Redbox, James was passionate about building teams and processes to solve complex problems. Alongside that, he brought structure and new processes to clarify operations and leveraged data to drive fast and effective decision making. He also focused on driving revenue growth and cost efficiency through better merchandising strategy and execution, optimizing the Redbox kiosk footprint and negotiating improved terms with strategic suppliers. Before joining Redbox, James worked in strategy consulting at Bain & Company and Marakon Associates.

Michael Holton, who served as CMO, has transitioned out of Hickory Farms. The company would like to thank Michael for his 14 years of contributions and wishes him well in his future endeavors. 

About Hickory Farms, LLC.

For more than 60 years, Hickory Farms has been enriching family holiday celebrations with the highest quality, best tasting specialty food gifts. The company's award-winning signature products and eco-friendly gift boxes can be found online, in catalogs, at leading supermarkets year round and in shopping malls throughout the Christmas holiday season. For more information, please visit www.hickoryfarms.com.