Former Convoy of Hope, O’Reilly exec joins Darr companies

A former executive at Convoy of Hope, AG Financial Solutions and O’Reilly Automotive Inc. (Nasdaq: ORLY) joined Bill Darr’s family of agribusinesses.

Jim Batten is now chief finance officer at International Dehydrated Foods, American Dehydrated Foods, IsoNova and Food Ingredients Technology Co., according to a news release issued recently by the companies.

IDF spokeswoman Andrea Turner said via email Batten started Sept. 1 in his role leading finances for the companies. She did not disclose who he replaced. A Bloomberg listing for IDF indicates Paul Fry previously held the job. Turner said Fry is still with the Darr family of companies, but declined to provide further details.

Batten, who could not be reached for comment by deadline this morning, has worked the last three years building his company Batten Enterprises, which offers financial and management consulting for businesses and nonprofits, according to his LinkedIn page.

Prior to that, he worked nearly five years as executive vice president at Convoy of Hope, 18 months as chief operations officer for AG Financial Solutions and 13 years as CFO of O’Reilly Automotive.

With headquarters at 3801 E. Sunshine St., Darr’s agribusinesses utilize proteins for production in premium pet foods or for human consumption. IDF operates a manufacturing plant in Monett.

IsoNova, a manufacturer of pet food products using egg proteins, also recently announced the promotion of John Tiedeman to vice president of business development. He joined the Darr family of companies in September 2014 after 13 years working for General Mills, according to a news release.

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