Jim Thomas is an accomplished Senior Executive with more than 25 years of demonstrated success spanning the food service and manufacturing industries. Leveraging extensive experience as an innovative industry leader, Jim is a skilled architect in the areas of executive and talent development, corporate and functional strategies, supply chain, sourcing, supply & demand management, and quality assurance.
Throughout his career, Jim has held many leadership positions including Senior Vice President Supply Management & Purchasing with Darden, a company for which Jim played a number of key roles during his 15-year tenure. At Darden, Jim was challenged to build a scalable multi-brand restaurant supply chain unique in North American casual dining with a focus on a culture of achievement. While acting as leader of sourcing, supply management, and total quality with $3B in spend under management for as many as eight operating companies, Jim led the company to outperform industry peers in KPIs of safety, service, cost, quality, and growth. He saved $25M in product cost delivered annually for each of ten years, transformed the supply chain while cutting $60M in permanent costs, Jim also served a VP and Senior Director of Supply Management as well as Director of Restaurant Distribution Services for the company. Previously, Jim held the titles of Vice President with Oberweis Dairy, Logistics Performance Manager with McCain Foods, and Sales Operations Manager along with various logistics and distribution roles with the Frito Lay division of PepsiCo.
Jim holds an MBA in Business Administration and Management from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in Operations Management from Penn State University. Additionally, he completed the Director Education & Corporate Governance Certification from UCLA. As a seasoned board member, Jim has served on a number of BODs.