DENVER, COLORADO, US — With a background in the bakery mix market, Jonathan Aplin has a deep understanding of the importance product quality plays for flour customers.  As the new vice president of marketing for Ardent Mills LLC, Aplin said a commitment to product innovation at Ardent Mills made joining the company a “compelling opportunity.”

Aplin comes to Ardent Mills from Dawn Foods, where he spent more than six years leading global brand and communications.

“Working with Dawn gave me an appreciation for the importance of ingredient integrity, quality, service, and product innovation in driving customer growth,” he said. “It’s like any great recipe.  Consumer insights, coupled with great ingredients, great products and the services and technical skills to be able to support customers in their growth sounds like an enticing opportunity.”

A native of London, England, Aplin has been in the United States since 2012 when he matriculated at The Ohio State University in Columbus for a master’s in business administration. Married with two children, Aplin described himself as “firmly entrenched in the United States.”

Before joining Dawn Foods, Aplin was a senior strategy consultant at Interbrand, the world’s largest branding agency. There, he worked with cross-industry clients analyzing branding, reviewing strategies for bringing products to market, and developing end-to-end marketing campaigns. It was through his work at Interbrand Aplin said he was introduced to Dawn and he “developed a passion for business-to-business marketing.”

Aplin said he was drawn to Ardent Mills by “the opportunity to define and direct the marketing strategy for the organization and focus on driving growth over time.”

Innovation is central to the opportunity Aplin sees ahead at Ardent Mills.

“I see the marketing function at Ardent Mills as a compelling opportunity,” he said. “My team will build on existing strengths: analyze marketplace insights and use Ardent Mills’ scale of the operations to meet the needs of our customers in all the markets we serve. In addition, we want to meet those needs with the innovations we have through the Annex at Ardent Mills and our overarching innovation pipeline. Ardent Mills has a really compelling opportunity to leverage industry-leading insights to create even stronger relationships to serve our customers with new products, new ideas and new formulations that will help them grow their business.”

Angie Goldberg, chief growth officer at Ardent Mills, described Aplin as “a dynamic marketing executive and transformative leader who has implemented successful end-to-end marketing strategies in the ingredients space.”

Ardent Mills said the addition of Aplin was part of the company’s long-term strategic growth plan with an expectation he will “further strengthen customer experience and help expand Ardent Mills’ innovation pipeline.”

“Our ability to understand and predict trends, have strong consumer and market knowledge and build intimate relationships with our customers is more important than ever,” said Dan Dye, Ardent Mills, chief executive officer. “Jonathan’s leadership will be critical to further propelling long-term strategic growth. We are pleased to have him join our team.”