Phillips Foods Inc. and Seafood Restaurants announced today that Steve Phillips will assume the role of president along with his current title of CEO.

Phillips’s vision for future growth involves creating business unit teams to develop strategic plans for each channel of business: foodservice, club stores, retail, and national accounts. These teams will be cross-functional with representation from each department.

“In the past, key decisions have been made from the top-down. Through the development of these strategic business units, we hope to inspire more bottom-up decision making, creating a true balance”, Phillips says.

Phillips Foods Inc. has restructured corporate positions in Baltimore promoting three key executives. Effective immediately, Dean Flowers assumes the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Tom Heine assumes the position of Senior Vice President- Foodservice, Retail and Club Stores; and John Knorr assumes the position of Senior Vice President-National Accounts, Restaurant and Franchise Operations.

Flowers will be responsible for all administrative functions of Phillips’ operations, including, finance, legal, human resources and information systems while focusing on strategic financial and operational planning both short and long term. Flowers has also been charged with leveraging and coordinating Phillips’ administrative support functions to achieve sales and financial objectives of the new business units.

As Senior Vice President- Foodservice, Retail and Club Stores, Tom Heine has been charged with directing development of the nationwide sales force and broker network for all retail and club accounts, in addition to his previous management of foodservice accounts. Heine will be responsible for the sales success of Phillips full product line on a national scale, increasing profitability across all divisions.

John Knorr, appointed to the position of Senior Vice President-National Accounts, Restaurants and Franchise Operations for Phillips Foods Inc. and Seafood Restaurants, will focus on restaurant development, franchise expansion and national account sales. Knorr’s success will rely on his already impressive ability for understanding new market opportunities and building strong partnerships.

“The goal of this reorganization is to truly empower our people to step up, take on added responsibility, and make key decisions in regards to the future growth of the company”, Phillips says.