Kirk Trofholz is Chief Executive Officer of Nielsen-Massey Vanillas. A seasoned food industry executive, he joined the company in March 2017. Kirk brings more than three decades of expertise to bear as he advances the company's growth strategies building upon its 110-year-old foundation as the world's leading purveyor of high quality pure and natural vanilla products and pure flavor extracts.

Before joining Nielsen-Massey, Kirk was President US Bakery Products for Dawn Food Products, where he oversaw the restructuring of an $800 million business, resulting in in $20 million of annual savings and increased operating income.

Prior to joining Dawn Food Products, Kirk served as President and CEO of Barilla North America, Inc., where he was responsible for the Barilla business in the US, Canada and a joint venture with Herdez in Mexico. During that time, sales doubled to over $500 million and EBITDA grew from breakeven to 18%.

Kirk began his career at Procter & Gamble, rising to increasingly responsible positions over the course of 20 years at the company. At P&G, Kirk developed and managed the Retail Services Organization; an in-house sales broker for P&G brands. This 2,000-person team managed the retail work with all US retailers and sold the P&G brands to smaller customers. His P&G experience also included the management of multi-functional customer teams with retailers and managing sales teams that sold P&G brands.

Kirk is a graduate of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Kirk and his wife have four adult children and are in the process of relocating to Lake Bluff, Illinois. He is an avid sports fan and golfer, enjoys rock and roll, and is closely involved in Special Olympics.