Bland Farms has appointed Cyndi Rogers as its director of marketing. Rogers brings more than 20 years of experience in marketing leadership, customer experience and experiential marketing to the grower, packer and shipper of Vidalia sweet onions.
In her new role, Rogers will lead overall marketing planning and execution across Bland Farms, Vidalia brands, and Sand Candy Produce. Her responsibilities include customer and retailer marketing programs, trade shows and events, marketing budget management, agency and vendor relationships and close alignment between the company’s sales and marketing teams.
Rogers says the opportunity starts with building on a company and family of brands that already have deep roots in the produce industry.
“Bland Farms has an incredible history, a well-respected name, great products and really good people,” Rogers says. “You’re not starting from scratch. You’re starting with a brand that already means something.”
Prior to joining Bland Farms, Rogers served as director of customer experience and brand at Great Dane in Savannah, Ga. There, she developed and led customer-experience programs including a voice of customer initiative and customer advisory board, while also overseeing brand consistency and strategic trade show, conference and event programs.
During more than a decade with Great Dane, Rogers held additional senior roles in experiential marketing, marketing enablement, shared services, marketing communications and operations.
Earlier in her career, she held marketing leadership positions with Dinex Emission and Alcoa Architectural Products.
Rogers earned an MBA from Georgia College & State University and a BBA in Economics and International Business from Georgia Southern University.
She has also completed executive education programs through the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business and Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management. She is fluent in Spanish.
“Cyndi has known our family and this community for years, so she understands there is a lot behind the Bland Farms name that you can’t learn from a brand book,” Troy Bland, CEO of Bland Farms, says.
“She knows the people, she understands how important our customer relationships are, and she also brings the outside experience to help us think differently about how we market the business. That combination made her a natural fit for where we’re headed.”
Rogers aims to align marketing closely with sales to deliver greater value to retail and food service partners.
“Great marketing should make it easier for our sales team to do their jobs, but it should also help our customers be more successful,” she says.
She plans to leverage customer insights, maintain consistent messaging, and showcase the people and heritage behind the brand to deepen connections across the industry.
“I want our customers to see marketing as another way Bland Farms brings value to the relationship, not simply as a way for us to promote ourselves,” she says.
