BELOIT, WIS. — Brian Stevenson has joined Kerry as business development director – bakery. Mr. Stevenson who has held executive positions in the grain and baking industries, most recently was general manager of B. Stevenson Associates, a consulting firm.

Mr. Stevenson, whose responsibilities will center on business development within the baking ingredients and systems portfolio of Kerry, will office in Kansas City. He will join Kerry, which is based in Beloit, effective March 31.

A graduate of the University of Missouri, Columbia, with a degree in agricultural economics, Mr. Stevenson began his career in 1976 with Cook Industries, Inc. and also spent time at Archer Daniels Midland Co. He worked at Tradigrain in Memphis, Tenn., for nearly 15 years, much of that as a vice-president and senior trader. He joined Farmland Industries, Inc., in 1993 and left the grain business for Interstate Bakeries Corp. in 1996.

At I.B.C., Mr. Stevenson was senior vice-president, director of purchasing and had a wide range of corporate responsibilities. He left I.B.C. and established the B. Stevenson consulting business in 2005.

Kerry is part of Kerry Group P.L.C., headquartered in Tralee, Ireland. The parent is a major food ingredient and flavor supplier to the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. The company also has a food processing and marketing business. Established in Ireland in 1972, Kerry has grown into a global business with annual sales in excess of €5 billion ($7 billion) and a market capitalization of about $10 billion. The company said its ingredient and flavor portfolio encompasses 10,000 food and beverage products, supplied to food processing and food service customers in more than 120 different countries. From its Beloit headquarters, Kerry Americas supplies customers in the United States, Canada and Latin America.