VALHALLA, N.Y. — Peter B. Wilson Jr. has been named president and chief executive officer of the Balance Bar Co., a maker of nutrition and energy bars.

“Peter has demonstrated that he has the skills, vision and passion to lead his management team to significantly grow Balance Bar while adhering to the essential nutritional standards the company was founded upon,” said Hendrik J. Hartong III, chairman of Balance Bar and senior managing partner of Brynwood Partners, the private equity group that acquired Balance Bar in 2009.

Prior to joining Balance Bar, Mr. Wilson was chief operating officer of DeMets Candy Co., another Brynwood Partners company. While there he improved the company’s operations, customer relations and manufacturing output of such products as Turtles, Flipz, Treasures and TrueNorth.

Earlier, he was vice-president of paper procurement and supply chain at Quebecor World. He also held sales, marketing and general management positions at International Paper.

He received a bachelor’s degree in economics at Hobart College of Geneva in New York.

“Balance Bar has tremendous name recognition as an early innovator in the nutritional energy bar category,” Mr. Wilson said. “The success of the brand will continue to come from delivering convenient, great-tasting and balanced nutrition. People want to better understand the results they get from what they eat, and we want to help them make the right nutritional choices. Our core consumers recognize that nutritional excesses — of any kind — are not keys to better health. Balance Bar is one way to restore nutritional stability in their fast-paced lives.”