Andrew P. Callahan has been named president and chief executive officer of Hostess Brands, Inc., effective May 7. He will replace C. Dean Metropoulos, who has been serving as interim president and c.e.o. since March 31. The company’s former president and c.e.o., William D. Toler, retired at the end of March.

Mr. Callahan most recently was president of North American Foodservice and International at Tyson Foods, Inc. and earlier was president of Retail Packaged Brands. Prior to that, he was president of retail for Hillshire Brands during which time the company completed an initial public offering and then was subsequently acquired by Tyson Foods. He also was chief customer officer for Sara Lee Corporation North America, president of Sara Lee Foodservice Division, and general manager of Jimmy Dean. Prior to Sara Lee, he spent 13 years at Kraft Foods in roles of increasing responsibility in marketing, sales and general management.

Before beginning his corporate career, Mr. Callahan spent seven years in the U.S. Navy as a flight officer.

He received a bachelor’s of science degree in mechanical engineering from the United States Naval Academy and a master’s degree in business administration from the Florida Institute of Technology.

“We are delighted to welcome Andy to the Hostess team,” Mr. Metropoulos said. “He is a very accomplished consumer packaged goods executive with strong experience in leading brands, and we welcome his leadership, brand and innovation expertise as we continue to further build our distribution and market share in the sweet baked goods category. We believe Andy has the right combination of entrepreneurial and strategic leadership and people management skills to lead Hostess into our next phase of growth and build value for our stockholders.”