Greyston Foundation Inc. directors have turned to the community development organization”™s for-profit bakery business in Yonkers for its new president and CEO.
The 32-year-old Yonkers-based nonprofit on Tuesday announced that Michael Brady, president and CEO of Greyston Bakery since 2012, will replace Steven A. Brown in the foundation”™s top leadership post. Brown resigned in November to pursue new endeavors after 10 years at Greyston.
- Michael Brady
Brady was a board member of Greyston Foundation before being named to lead its bakery business on Alexander Street on the Yonkers waterfront. Under his leadership, the bakery, a social enterprise that gives opportunities for hard-to-employ Yonkers residents with its open-door hiring and job advancement practices, increased revenues by more than 50 percent and was recognized as New York’s first benefit corporation, a Greyston spokesman said.
Brady is credited with developing Greyston Bakery”™s national distribution deal with Whole Foods Market for its brownies and cookies, a high-quality contract baking capability, and a strengthened 25-year relationship with Ben & Jerry’s, the Vermont ice cream maker that uses Greyston brownies in its products, and its parent corporation Unilever.
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Brady previously was a partner with BAO Fermented Food and Drink in New York City, where he oversaw the development of the country’s first incubator dedicated to organic food production and distribution, according to Greyston. He is a business adviser to the American Sustainable Business Council.
“Mike has been a remarkable leader of Greyston Bakery,” said Deborah Stewart, chairwoman of the Greyston Foundation board, in the announcement. “We look forward to him bringing that same passion to the entirety of Greyston, raising the bar for all of our programs to maximize our positive impact on the people who need it most.”
Brady in a statement said he is “honored to have the opportunity to build on our heritage as a pioneering social enterprise. The momentum behind socially minded and sustainable business practices has never been stronger and this could not be happening at a more critical time as we search for answers to the challenges of joblessness and poverty, which are preventing good people from leading lives of self-sufficiency. I look forward to working with the outstanding team at Greyston to address these problems and to set an example for other like-minded organizations to follow.”
Greyston operates an integrated network of programs that provide jobs, workforce development, child care, housing, after-school programs and community gardens that serve more than 5,000 community members annually.
