Simmons elevates Jacob Rogers to president of pet food unit
Bottom line
Simmons Foods has reshuffled leadership at its pet food division, moving Scott Salmon from president of Simmons Pet Food into a broader chief commercial officer role at Simmons Foods and naming Jacob Rogers president of Simmons Pet Food, effective immediately, according to trade coverage and company materials. Rogers joined Simmons Pet Food in February 2024 as senior vice president of pet food sales after prior leadership roles at Hain Celestial and Kellogg, while Salmon had led the pet food business since 2020 and also serves as chair of the Pet Food Institute for the 2025-2026 term. (simmonspetfood.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the move is notable because Simmons is a major force in North American wet pet food manufacturing, supplying private-label and contract products at scale. Leadership changes at that level can influence product commercialization, customer strategy, innovation priorities, and manufacturing partnerships across the pet food channel, especially as Simmons continues to position itself as a trusted wet food partner and invest in growth, operations, and technical leadership. (petfoodprocessing.net)
What to watch: Watch for whether Simmons ties the new structure to additional capacity, customer, or product-development moves in pet food over the next several quarters. (simmonspetfood.com)
Simmons Foods has made another senior leadership change in pet food, shifting Scott Salmon from president of Simmons Pet Food to chief commercial officer of Simmons Foods and elevating Jacob Rogers to president of Simmons Pet Food, effective immediately, according to industry reports and company information. The move places Rogers, who joined the company in early 2024 to lead pet food sales, at the top of one of the largest wet pet food manufacturing businesses in North America. (simmonspetfood.com)
The announcement fits a broader run of leadership transitions across Simmons’ business units in 2025. In January, Simmons named Johnny Bullington president of Simmons Prepared Foods. In April, Simmons Animal Nutrition appointed Derek Baucom as president, prompting Brian Burke’s promotion to senior vice president of operations at Simmons Pet Food. In June, the company announced that senior vice president of technical services Craig Bacon plans to retire in 2026, with Marcia Reeves named as his successor. Taken together, those moves suggest an active succession and growth-planning period across the family-owned company’s poultry, animal nutrition, and pet food operations. (simmonsfoods.com)
Rogers is a relatively recent addition to Simmons, but he arrived with a commercial background the company had already highlighted. When Simmons hired him in February 2024 as senior vice president of pet food sales, the company said he brought more than 25 years of leadership experience, most recently as senior vice president and head of US sales at Hain Celestial, with earlier experience at Kellogg. Simmons said at the time that Rogers would lead the pet food sales team and help grow the business. Company team pages still describe him as a people-focused commercial leader with experience in innovation, growth, and building high-performing teams. (simmonspetfood.com)
Salmon’s move upward comes after several years leading Simmons Pet Food through a focused wet food growth strategy. Trade reporting has described Simmons Pet Food as the largest private-label and contract manufacturer of wet pet food in North America, with operations in Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, and Ontario. Under Salmon, the company emphasized wet food expansion, automation, and operational centralization, including a previously reported decision to exit dry pet food and treats in favor of wet food growth. Salmon was also elected chair of the Pet Food Institute for the 2025-2026 term in October 2024, adding industry visibility to his commercial credentials. (simmonspetfood.com)
I didn’t find extensive outside expert commentary on this specific promotion, which is common for executive moves below the CEO level. But the available industry context points to why Simmons may have made the change now: the company has been balancing expansion, automation, portfolio focus, and leadership renewal across multiple units. Prior Simmons statements have stressed customer relationships, operational efficiency, and innovation, while recent appointments in operations, technical services, and adjacent business units reinforce that this is part of a broader organizational reset rather than a one-off personnel change. That’s an inference based on the pattern of company announcements and trade coverage. (simmonsfoods.com)
Why it matters: Simmons doesn’t sell directly into veterinary practice in the way a therapeutic diet company does, but its scale in private-label and contract wet food manufacturing makes leadership changes relevant to the veterinary channel. For veterinarians and industry professionals, executive shifts at a major manufacturer can affect how quickly products move from concept to shelf, how customers source wet food capacity, and how quality, technical services, and innovation investments are prioritized. In a market where pet parents continue to seek differentiated nutrition formats and where wet food remains a strategic growth category, decisions made by large manufacturers can ripple through brand partners, retailers, and supply chains that ultimately shape what clinicians see clients feeding at home. (petfoodprocessing.net)
What to watch: The next signals will likely be operational rather than symbolic, including whether Simmons updates its leadership pages, issues a formal corporate release, or pairs the promotion with new customer wins, capacity investments, or product innovation announcements in wet pet food. Given the company’s 2025 cadence of leadership changes, more role clarity and downstream appointments could follow. (simmonsfoods.com)