Citizens Pet, parent company of Unconditional, Plato, and Furry Republic pet food brands, announced six executive appointments and a 40,000-square-foot expansion of its Fresno facility, bringing its total footprint to over 125,000 square feet to support manufacturing and operational capacity growth.
- Six executives hired across commercial strategy, marketing, supply chain, engineering, and advisory roles
- 40,000 sq ft facility expansion in Fresno brings total company footprint to 125,000+ square feet
- New leadership includes: Peter Christiani (Chief Commercial Officer), Adriaan Zimmerman (Chief Marketing and Digital Officer), Doug Siegal (SVP Pet Specialty), Jagdeep Basi (VP Supply Chain), Jim Abbas (VP Engineering and AI), and Julie Barron (Adviser)
- Executive backgrounds include experience from Portland Pet Food Co., Red Bull, Stella & Chewy's, Clorox, and Kraft Foods
- Expansion focus: Manufacturing automation, AI adoption, and operational optimization across the portfolio
Citizens Pet, the parent company of the Unconditional, Plato and Furry Republic pet food and treat brands, announced six leadership appointments and a 40,000-square-foot expansion of its Fresno, California, U.S., facility.
The expansion brings the company’s total Fresno footprint to more than 125,000 square feet and adds manufacturing and operational capacity, according to the company. The new hires work in commercial strategy, marketing, supply chain and engineering.
Peter Christiani joined as chief commercial officer. He will lead commercial strategy and growth across the Citizens Pet portfolio, focusing on retail partnerships and the pet channel. He most recently served as executive vice president of omnichannel growth at Portland Pet Food Co., where the company said he helped expand the brand to national distribution. He previously held commercial and marketing roles at Red Bull.
Adriaan Zimmerman was named chief marketing and digital officer. He will oversee marketing and digital strategy across the portfolio. He co-founded and served as CEO of health and wellness brand Ned, was a founding partner of BroBible and served as executive director at The LADbible Group.
Doug Siegal was named senior vice president of pet specialty. He has 20 years of pet industry experience in sales strategy, distributor management and retail expansion. He spent 17 years at Stella & Chewy’s before serving as vice president of sales and operations at Fabdog and chief revenue officer at Humbl Pet Food.
Jagdeep Basi was named vice president of supply chain and business operations. She will oversee supply chain management and business operations across the portfolio. She has supply chain strategy experience in food ingredients, consumer products and pet products, and previously held leadership positions at Sensient Technologies Corp., OFI, Foster Farms and The Clorox Co.
Jim Abbas was named vice president of engineering and AI. He will lead manufacturing automation, process optimization and AI adoption across the company. His background includes electrical engineering, industrial automation and robotics.
Julie Barron joined the company as an adviser. She has more than 30 years of consumer packaged goods experience. She previously served as CEO of Solid Gold Pet, where she led the company through its sale, and founded and led Simply Protein for Pets. Earlier in her career, she held leadership roles at Waggin’ Train and Kraft Foods.
“Citizens Pet is entering an exciting phase of growth. Investing in the right people and infrastructure is critical to our long-term vision,” said Avrum Elmakis, chairman and CEO of Citizens Pet. “These leaders bring the expertise needed to strengthen our commercial strategy, build our brands and enhance our operations. Together with our expanded Fresno footprint, they position us to keep scaling the business and pursue new opportunities across the pet industry.”
