Bland Farms LLC, based in Glennville, GA, has named Jeff Bailey as its new chief executive officer. Bailey had been chief legal counsel and director of administration since 2012. Troy Bland, formerly director of operations, has assumed the newly created position of chief operating officer.

Owner and President Delbert Bland was quick to note that he and former CEO Bryce Edmonson, who joined Bland in 2012, will remain active in the business as senior vice president of business development.Jeff Bailey

The moves represent an organizational transition mapped out by Bland and Edmonson.

“Bryce is not going anywhere, he’s just going to step back a little bit and help me do some business expansion,” Delbert Bland said. “But the day-to-day is going to be handled by Jeff Bailey and the operations are going to be handled by Troy, so the two of them are basically going to run the company.Troy Bland

“We’re excited about it,” Bland continued. “The company’s doing great, things have been going good and we’re continuously growing and I feel like we’ve got a lot going on for the future.”

Troy Bland’s promotion marks the third generation of Bland family members to hold an executive level role at the company, founded by the late Raymond Bland.

“Jeff Bailey has been onboard four years as our attorney and also overseeing human resources, he’s always worked in produce in the legal side of it,” Bland said. “With the regulations and rules involved, the legal side is such a major part of everything we do. Troy’s really come on, he’s accepted responsibility and matured a lot and done a great job.”

Even though Delbert Bland is the organization’s most familiar face, “I never have run the company day-to-day,” he said. “I’ve always felt like I was more of an asset trying to promote and generate sales and not get in the day-to-day of what’s going on. I’ve always liked to have someone else do that, I’m not good at that. You need to hire people better than you are to get the job done.

“We’ve evolved into a very successful sweet onion program that’s been strong for years and our sweet potato program is coming strong -- we’re probably going to double our acreage by next year,” Bland added. “Neither me nor Bryce is going anywhere.”