Costley to Lead International Multifoods Corp.

Gary E. Costley, dean of Wake Forest University’s Babcock Graduate School of Management, has been elected by the board of directors of International Multifoods Corp. to serve as the corporation’s board chairman, president and chief executive officer.

He will be leaving his position as dean of the Babcock School in December. Wake Forest provost David G. Brown will recommend the appointment of an acting dean in the next several days.

Minneapolis-based Multifoods operates in three businesses: food service distribution in the United States; bakery products in the United States and Canada; and bakery and agricultural products in Venezuela.

Costley joined Wake Forest as MBA school dean in May 1995, after working 25 years for the Kellogg Co. He retired in 1994 as executive vice president of Kellogg Co., area director (president) of Kellogg North America, president and chairman of Kellogg U.S.A., and chairman of Kellogg Canada.

At Wake Forest, Costley has sustained many of the programs initiated by his predecessor, John B. McKinnon. Those initiatives have included opening an evening MBA program in Charlotte in fall 1995, increasing the Babcock School’s global emphasis, heightening its national visibility, and building a strong leadership team in the school.

“Since his arrival, Gary Costley has been especially supportive of the fullest possible coordination between the programs of the Babcock School and Wake Forest’s other schools,” observed Wake Forest’s provost.

U.S. News & World Report has ranked the Babcock School 42nd among the nation’s accredited business schools.

Costley said he is leaving Wake Forest with mixed emotions. “I am sad to be leaving a great university as I return to the corporate world,” he said.

“As Wake Forest and the Babcock School move forward to embrace new opportunities, I’m confident both will continue the march toward excellence,” Costley continued. “I look forward to remaining involved as a friend to the university.”

The Babcock School offers full-time, evening and executive programs at Wake Forest’s Reynolda campus. The full-time program has 234 students; evening, 248; and executive, 109. The school’s evening program in Charlotte has 66 students.

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