Talking Leadership With Dawn Foods’ CEO

Passion for the baking industry came early to Carrie Jones-Barber, the CEO of Dawn Foods, who is featured in the latest Bake to the Future Podcast from the American Bakers Association (ABA).

As a young girl, Jones-Barber watched her grandfather, father and uncles work in leadership roles at the over 100-year-old family-owned bakery manufacturing and ingredients company. By around sixth grade she realized she wanted to pursue a similar type of work, “helping people to solve problems and customers to grow their businesses.”

Jones-Barber began her career in a different industry and then joined Dawn Foods in 1985. She worked in a wide variety of roles at the company, including serving as head of the international business, before becoming CEO in 2006. She has helmed the company through the extreme challenges of pandemic and supply chain bottlenecks. In this podcast, she relays her perspectives on leadership and baking industry trends.

“The pandemic threw so many things at us,” she said. “As a leadership team, we realized we needed to make decisions faster than we ever have.”

Jones-Barber was interviewed by Katie Juhl, ABA’s Director, Marketing and Communications, and Hailey Blumenreich, Marketing and Communications Manager.

Honing Decision Making Skills

Dawn Foods is a global leader in bakery, manufacturing and ingredients distribution. It serves over 50,000 customers in over 100 countries, and employs more than 4,000 people globally. The company has faced many challenges during the pandemic, and Jones-Barber said that in the wake of a quickly changing landscape the leadership team was forced to make decisions before all the facts were in.

“We realized we needed to make the best decisions we can,” she explained. “And then if we have to change them again, we're going to be flexible.”

Prioritizing Well-Being of Teams

Dawn Foods has placed a premium on the health and wellness of its teams as the pandemic emerged and progressed.

“We started immediately talking about physical health and keeping our team members safe,” she observed. “And then, within a few months, we said we need to start talking about the importance of mental health.”

Focusing on Mentorship

Jones-Barber is a big believer in mentoring and has helped launch a women’s leadership development program at the company that will hold its first big meeting in November.

“I’m super excited about this program,” she relayed. “It’s about continuing to drive careers forward and building up leadership skills.

Embracing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The company is prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts “to make sure people can bring their whole selves to work and feel welcomed.”

In one strategy, Dawn Foods has pursued inclusive leadership training, which began by opening the eyes of leaders on how they can adopt more inclusive approaches in the workplace.

Showing Empathy and Passion

An important part of leadership is showing empathy for others, Jones-Barber emphasized.

“We don't know what other people are going through, so we should try to put ourselves in their shoes,” she said.

Jones-Barber is also passionate about helping people to have fun and celebrate occasions of any size, which lines up well with the bakery industry’s mission and products, she observed.

Connecting and Communicating

Effective leadership isn’t possible without good communications, both within a company and across an industry.

On the internal side, Dawn Foods runs global town halls for its widespread teams, which were stepped up in frequency during the early stages of the pandemic.

Jones-Barber and her teams also prioritize opportunities to connect with the wider baking industry, and next year’s International Baking Industry Exposition (IBIE) in Las Vegas is a case in point.

“I love going to IBIE,” she said, citing opportunities to network with the industry, meet with internal teams, talk to customers, connect with vendors, and learn about new products and trends.

Positioning for the Future

It’s important to stay focused on the future and remain flexible, Jones-Barber said.

“We’re keeping our teams focused and telling them they’re doing a great job to get through all this with all the uncertainties,” she explained.