Dawn Foods hired Kristi Kangas as Senior Vice President of North America Manufacturing Operations, reporting to John Schmitz, Chief Operating Officer. In this role, Kangas will lead Dawn’s North America manufacturing network, overseeing approximately 1,000 team members across four manufacturing facilities in the United States and Canada. She is responsible for quality, safety, engineering, and continuous improvement, Dawn Foods details. 

Kangas brings more than 25 years of operations and manufacturing leadership experience across the food and agriculture industries, with deep expertise in multi-plant operations, supply chain optimization, capital planning, and large-scale transformation. She joins Dawn from Griffith Foods, where she served as Vice President of Manufacturing & Supply Chain, North America, leading more than 1,400 employees across five facilities in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. 
Previously, Kangas held senior executive roles including Chief Operating Officer at Darigold, President & COO at Readington Farms, and senior manufacturing leadership positions at Land O’Lakes, Cargill, Frito-Lay, and Kraft Foods. In her new role at Dawn, Kangas will work on the long-term strategy for North America Manufacturing Operations, with a focus on automation, standardization, continuous improvement, and cost-effective growth aligned with Dawn’s broader commercial priorities. 

Kangas holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Trine University and an MBA in Strategy and Organizational Behavior from the University of Chicago.

Kangas said she was drawn to Dawn by its family-owned heritage, strong values, and people-first culture. “I’m a manufacturing junkie at heart, and Dawn offers a unique opportunity to focus deeply on operations while making a meaningful impact,” Kangas said. “The combination of a family-owned, multi-generation company with a global footprint and strong North America presence really resonated with me. I was inspired by the people I met during the interview process and excited by the opportunity to both strengthen what’s already working well and help move the organization forward strategically.”

Photo: Dawn Foods