May 20/Food Weekly Focus -- Mike Mitchell has been appointed president and chief executive officer of Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream Inc. Mitchell joins Dreyer's from Nestle USA and replaces retiring CEO Timothy F. Kahn. Dreyer's has been owned by Nestle SA since 2006.

Prior to taking the top job at Dreyer's, Mitchell had been the president of Sales for Nestle USA, where he was responsible for all retail sales for supermarkets, mass merchandising, discounters, club stores, drug stores and military since 2002. Under his leadership, the Nestle USA Sales team achieved seven consecutive years of exceeding sales growth targets.

Prior to that, Mitchell was president/general manager of the Beverage Division of Nestle USA, responsible for overseeing the entire beverage operation in the U.S., including the Coffee-mate, Nesquik, Nescafe and Juicy Juice brands. Mitchell joined the Nestle Beverage Division in 1991 as general manager of Club, Drug and Mass Merchandising Sales. He was promoted to divisional vice president, Grocery Sales, for the Western U.S., and then to vice president and general manager of Roast and Ground coffee, where he managed the marketing, promotions and manufacturing functions.

In 1995, Mitchell moved to Nestle FoodServices as senior vice president, Sales. In 1998, he added marketing responsibilities to his role as senior vice president, Sales and Marketing, and then in 2000, he became senior vice president of Marketing to create a stronger focus on strategic development and long-term growth.

Mitchell is originally from San Bruno, California. He holds a bachelor's degree in marketing from the University of Notre Dame.

From the May 26, 2009, Prepared Foods E-dition