NASHVILLE, TENN. — Food industry veteran Andrew Boyer has joined wholesale bakery Crown Bakeries as chief commercial officer.

Boyer comes to Crown from Phoenix-based commercial baker Café Valley Bakery, where he spent more than five years as vice president of sales. As chief commercial officer at Crown, he will lead the Nashville-based company’s sales, marketing and customer engagement functions in serving the foodservice, retail and consumer packaged food channels.

“We are thrilled to welcome Andrew to the Crown Bakeries leadership team,” said Yianny Caparos, chief executive officer of Crown Bakeries. “His wealth of experience in the baking industry and his process-driven approach align perfectly with our current growth phase. His leadership will help us strengthen customer relationships and drive strategic innovation across our product portfolio.”

Crown noted that Boyer brings more than 30 years of sales leadership and business development experience from across the food industry, including expertise in the bakery, frozen, dry grocery and private label categories.

Before his previous post as Café Valley Bakery’s vice president of sales, Boyer was director of sales at The Pictsweet Co., director of the Walmart/Sam’s Club sales team for Maple Leaf Foods’ frozen bakery unit, leader of the Walmart business development team at private label beverage maker Cliffstar Corp., region manager for in-store solutions at Sara Lee Foods, and strategic account manager at Rich Products Corp., among other roles.

“I am honored to join Crown Bakeries and be part of a team renowned for delivering exceptional products and service to our valued customers,” Boyer said. “Crown’s commitment to quality, innovation and customer success is truly inspiring, and I look forward to contributing to the company’s continued growth and excellence in the commercial baking industry.”

The hiring of Boyer, announced March 27, comes nearly two months after a flurry of top leadership changes at Crown Bakeries. In late January, founder and CEO Cordia Harrington became the company’s co-chair, resulting in the promotion of Caparos from president to CEO. In turn, chief operating officer Doug Bame was elevated to president, and Scott Shelley, senior vice president of operations, was promoted to COO. Crown also named Kandy Grenier, vice president of human resources, as chief people officer.