Kelly Prior tapped as new Litehouse president

SANDPOINT — Litehouse has a new, but familiar face as its new president.

Kelly Prior, who had been serving as interim president since early Novem-ber 2018, was tapped to lead the Sand-point-based company by the board Monday. The appointment is immediately effective. Prior had been serving as the interim president since the retirement of former president and CEO Jim Frank. At the time, Prior was serving as the company’s chief financial officer and as executive vice president.

“During this dynamic period of transformation we are seeing in the consumer packaged goods space, there is no better individual to lead the go-forward strategy for Litehouse,” said Allen Wright, vice chairman of the board of directors. “Kelly is a proven leader with business vision and a unique ability to bring people together. We are excited to watch Litehouse continue to innovate while maintaining its quality excellence and best-in-class service under Kelly’s leadership.”

Prior, 46, joined Litehouse in 2002 and became CFO by 2005. In 2010 Prior was appointed executive vice president of the company and took on the role of interim president in 2018. During his tenure at Litehouse, Prior has led a number of major initiatives within the company, most notably overseeing strategic facility and equipment investments to position Litehouse for continued growth across all of its business channels. Prior was also instrumental in orchestrating the process of taking Litehouse from a family-owned business to a 100-percent employee-owned company.

“Over the past 56 years, Litehouse has built a phenomenal business through best-in-class service and a commitment to excellence,” Prior said in a press release about his appointment. “I could not be more honored to have been chosen to lead such a great company and be the representative for our incredible employee owners.

“I am extremely excited to work closely with our team to continue setting the bar for the CPG industry and writing the next chapter in our company’s rich history.”

Along with being appointed the company’s president, Prior will be joining the company’s board of directors. This move will ensure alignment between the company’s overall mission and the day-to-day execution of its strategic priorities.

The company, which added nearly 58,000 square feet of manufacturing across its facilities in 2017 to support overall business growth, saw a nearly 18-percent increase in net sales last year and its share price increased nearly 15 percent over the previous year. Among the expansion project was a $6.2 million, 26,000-square-foot expansion of the company’s Ella Avenue facility, which saw the addition of a new cooler, shipping and receiving center, loading docks, updated employee break rooms and facilities and a 4,000-square-foot wastewater treatment facility. The new cooler added roughly 1,350 new refrigerated pallet locations as well as approximately 150 freezer pallet locations.

Litehouse, Inc., the top refrigerated salad dressing brand in the combined U.S. and Canada, started in the Hope restaurant of the Hawkins family over 50 years ago. Since that time, it has become a leader in refrigerated salad dressings, dips, cheese and other innovative consumer packaged goods, manufacturing these delicious products at its five U.S. facilities based in Michigan, Utah and Idaho. Litehouse offers its diverse portfolio of products through general retail, e-commerce, foodservice, deli, member stores, and value-added goods where Litehouse products are featured in meal and salad kits.

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