DENVER, COLORADO, U.S. — Troy Anderson has been named vice-president of operations at Ardent Mills. He succeeds Brad Allen, who retired in May.

In his new role, Anderson will seek to center operations on the people-focused pillar of Ardent Mills. Additionally, Ardent said Anderson will work to change the structure of operations to intentionally align similar mills (in size and configuration) to share best practices and partner for customer success.

Anderson joined Ardent Mills in May 2014 as senior director of operations. Earlier, he was vice-president of operations at Horizon Milling for four years. He also served as a regional operations manager for the company. He began his career with Cargill in 1992, holding a variety of plant operations positions, including regional operations leader, plant manager, project manager, assistant plant manager, head miller and production supervisor.

He received a bachelor’s degree in milling science and management from Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, U.S.

“We are making significant changes to our leadership team in order to position Ardent Mills to deliver on our strategic growth plan,” said Daniel P. Dye, chief executive officer of Ardent Mills. “Brad was instrumental in building a solid operations team. With his retirement, we wanted to bring in a new leader that understood our past and also understands our long-term vision. Troy is that person. He is a significant driver in aligning our critical operations structure with the rest of the organization.”

Ardent Mills also announced that Mark Kruger has been promoted to vice-president of human resources and employment law. Kruger will work closely with Anderson to make strategic decisions in the best interests of team members and the business, Ardent said.

Kruger most recently was labor and employment law counsel at Ardent since 2014. Earlier, he spent 17 years at Cargill as the company’s senior in-house labor and employment attorney. He began his career as an associate at Gray Plant Mooty.

He received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Gustavus Adolphus College and a juris doctorate degree in law from the University of Minnesota.