T. Marzetti Company Names Tanya Berman Retail President

WESTERVILLE, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 7, 2025--

T. Marzetti Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lancaster Colony Corporation (Nasdaq: LANC), is pleased to announce the appointment of Tanya Berman to President of its retail business unit, effective April 21, 2025. In this role, Ms. Berman will lead sales, marketing, and innovation for T. Marzetti’s portfolio of retail brands and licensed products.

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Ms. Berman has 25 years of experience in general management and marketing, demonstrating a strong record of driving growth across many categories in the food and consumer packaged goods industries. Most recently, she served as a Senior Vice President at Mondelez, leading the company’s U.S. portfolio of cookie and cracker brands. Prior to that, she held several leadership roles at Mars Wrigley including Vice President of the Chocolate Business Unit and Senior Brand Director of M&Ms. Her experience also includes roles with Bayer Consumer Care and Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products. Ms. Berman has a bachelor’s degree from Barnard College and an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business.

“Tanya is a strong addition to our executive leadership team and a great fit to lead our retail business,” said Dave Ciesinski, President and CEO of Lancaster Colony. “She has tremendous experience with iconic brands, and I am confident in her ability to grow both our owned and licensed brands as we continue to deliver on our company’s growth strategy.”

About T. Marzetti Company:

T. Marzetti Company manufactures and sells specialty food products. Our retail brands include Marzetti ® dressings and dips, New York Bakery™ garlic breads, and Sister Schubert’s ® dinner rolls, in addition to exclusive license agreements for Olive Garden ® dressings, Chick-fil-A ® sauces and dressings, Buffalo Wild Wings ® sauces, Arby’s ® sauces, Subway ® sauces, and Texas Roadhouse ® steak sauces and frozen rolls. Our foodservice business supplies sauces, dressings, breads, and pasta to many of the top restaurant chains in the United States.

At T. Marzetti, our mission is to make every meal better through high-quality, flavorful food. Led by our purpose, to nourish growth with all that we do, our 3,900 team members are dedicated to creating great tasting food and cultivating deep and lasting relationships.

Tanya Berman will join T. Marzetti as President of Retail effective April 21, 2025.

A U.S.-Russian dual national imprisoned in Russia on treason charges was freed Thursday in a prisoner exchange with Washington, the woman's lawyer and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

Ksenia Karelina, also identified in the media as Ksenia Khavana, is “on a plane back home to the United States,” Rubio said in a post on X. She was arrested in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg in February 2024 and convicted of treason later that year on charges stemming from a donation of about $52 to a charity aiding Ukraine.

The U.S. authorities have called the case against her “absolutely ludicrous.”

Karelina, a former ballet dancer, reportedly obtained U.S. citizenship after marrying an American and moving to Los Angeles. She was arrested when she returned to Russia to visit her family last year.

Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, accused her of “proactively" collecting money for a Ukrainian organization that was supplying gear to Kyiv's forces. The First Department, a Russian rights group, said the charges stemmed from a $51.80 donation to a U.S. charity aiding Ukraine.

Karelina’s lawyer Mikhail Mushailov said on Instagram that she was flying to the U.S. from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where the exchange took place. It was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, citing a statement from CIA director John Ratcliffe, who it said was on hand for the exchange at an airport in Abu Dhabi.

“Today, President Trump brought home another wrongfully detained American from Russia,” Ratcliffe said. “I’m proud of the CIA officers who worked tirelessly to support this effort, and we appreciate the Government of U.A.E. for enabling the exchange.”

The CIA could not be immediately reached for comment in the early hours of Thursday.

The WSJ said that the U.S. in exchange freed Arthur Petrov, a dual German-Russian citizen, who was arrested in 2023 in Cyprus at the request of the U.S. for allegedly exporting sensitive microelectronics. There was no immediate confirmation from the Russian or U.S. authorities.

Abu Dhabi was earlier the scene of another high-profile prisoner swap between Russia and the United States. In December 2022, American basketball star Brittney Griner was traded for the notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

The UAE has been a mediator in prisoner swaps between Russia and Ukraine, while the skyscraper-studded city of Dubai has become home to many Russians and Ukrainian who fled there after the start of Moscow’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

FILE - Ksenia Karelina, also known as Khavana sits in a glass cage in a court room in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024.(AP Photo/File)