May 29/Elgin, Ill./Business Wire -- John B. Sanfilippo & Son (JBSS) announced that Robert J. Sarlls has been named vice president of Strategy and Business Development for the company.

In this newly created role, Sarlls will be responsible for working with the senior management team in further developing and refining the company's business strategy and supporting its execution. In addition, he will work with the company's business leaders in pursuing and securing new business opportunities, both domestically and internationally, including providing critical leadership in any future acquisitions, joint ventures or strategic alliances.

Sarlls brings a wealth of food industry experience and leadership to JBSS, having specialized exclusively on the food industry for more than 10 years. He provided financial and strategic advisory as well as investment banking and corporate finance services to the industry both domestically and internationally during that time.

Sarlls has worked extensively with large global and growing, mid-sized food companies, primarily with privately held and/or family-operated businesses across all major industry sectors, ranging from production agriculture to branded and non-branded food manufacturers, food distributors and food retailers.

"I am excited to have Rob join our senior management team," noted Jeffrey Sanfilippo, chief executive officer of JBSS. "The company is at a pivotal point in its history where we are focusing more on expansion and growth, both in the U.S. and globally. Rob's 10+ years of experience in providing strategic and financial advisory services exclusively to food and agribusiness companies adds diversity to our management team and provides our company with substantial resources and a unique outside perspective to help us define and execute our long term strategies. Rob will be working directly with the company's division leaders, and I am looking to him to provide them with critical insight and support in growing the sales and profitability of our business going forward."

Sarlls stated, "This is a tremendous opportunity for me to utilize my broad and extensive food & agribusiness experience from the financial and advisory side to work exclusively and directly with JBSS as it looks to leverage its strong market position as the industry leader in nuts to grow both domestically and globally. JBSS has been a leader in the nut and snack food sector for decades, and its innovative approach to changing tastes and new trends has been exemplary."

Most recently, Sarlls was a director for RBC Capital Markets, the investment banking arm of the Royal Bank of Canada, where he provided advisory and financing services to mid-sized food companies and private equity firms. Prior to his time with RBC, he was a founder of Strategic Food Capital Partners, a merchant banking firm that provided advisory services to $1 billion+ private equity firms with specific interests in the food industry.

The bulk of Sarlls' food-related experience was as a vice president with Rabobank, one of the world's largest financial institutions focused on food and agribusiness. At Rabobank, he was a domestic and Latin American M&A specialist, structured finance officer and senior credit officer.

From the June 8, 2009, Prepared Foods E-dition