Steve Barber, president and CEO of Portland’s Barber Foods, is retiring after 31 years with the company.
Bruce Wagner, who is currently Barber’s COO and came to the company in 2007 from W.R. Grace and Co., will become the new president and CEO, according to a company press release. Steve Barber joined the family company in 1977, and became president in 1985 and CEO in 1990 after stints in the sales and manufacturing departments. He is the son of company founder Gus Barber, who retired in 2002 as chairman of the board of directors and died in November at the age of 87.
Steve Barber and his siblings remain owners of the independent family business, founded in 1955. Barber Foods, which employs roughly 800 people in Portland, is the third-largest branded frozen prepared poultry company in the country, according to the press release.