JACKSON, MICH. — Ahmet Hepdogan has been appointed vice president of procurement, North America, at Dawn Foods. The company also promoted Josh Bruketta to vice president, people, North America.

Mr. Hepdogan will lead the company’s regional procurement team, work cross-functionally on global procurement solutions and oversee strategic material and service planning. Succeeding the current VP of procurement, John Wolf, Mr. Hepdogan will join the Dawn North America leadership team and report to John Schmitz, president of Dawn Foods North America. Mr. Hepdogan joins Dawn from Ferrara, an affiliate of Ferrero International, where he was chief procurement officer. Prior to Ferrara, he also held roles in strategic procurement at Aryzta (Aspire Bakeries) and US Foods.

“Ahmet has a successful history leading world-class procurement organizations across the food and beverage industry with a focus on building relationships and delivering strategic plans,” Mr. Schmitz said. “He is an effective leader and advocate for the digitization of procurement, which aligns with our continued transformation agenda focused on supporting our business and customers around the world.”

Mr. Bruketta has been director within the people department since 2021, when he first joined the company. Under his new role, Mr. Bruketta will continue to “drive Dawn’s people-first culture,” according to the company.

“Josh has been instrumental in driving significant change in the areas of retention, recruitment and more for our commercial and distribution business,” Mr. Schmitz said. “He will continue to work closely with our global people partners to position Dawn as an employer of choice and to elevate the team member experience. I appreciate his counsel and expertise and look forward to seeing him continue to drive our organization forward."