Todd Southerland, a veteran commercial banking executive, appointed to strategic advisor for private investment firm with diversified interests in industry sectors to include agri-foods and real estate development.

January 09, 2024 07:07 AM Eastern Standard Time

JACKSON, Miss. Jamas Capital Management (“Jamas” or the “Company”), a private investment firm established in 2004 with a focus on strategic investments across a wide spectrum of industries to include poultry processing, real estate, and opportunistic and specialty situations (i.e., deeply distressed, turnarounds, restructuring, and arbitrage), is pleased to announce that Mr. Todd Southerland has been appointed to Jamas as Strategic Advisor – Agri-Foods.

Mr. Southerland will assist Jamas in refining and executing the firm’s agri-foods portfolio company’s strategies that maximize return on investment for Gemstone Foods, a Jamas portfolio company founded 10 years ago, providing poultry and further processing services to the poultry industry, as well as foodservice and retail. He will also be instrumental in identifying potential agri-foods and related business opportunities for future expansion to include acquisitions.

Mr. Southerland serves as Executive Vice President of growth and sustainability at Florida Beef, Inc., which operates beef processing facilities focused on mature grassfed cattle. Prior to joining Florida Beef, Mr. Southerland spent more than twenty years in the banking industry with a sole focus on agribusiness, including leadership positions with Truist/SunTrust, Wells Fargo, and John Hancock. In these roles, he functioned as a key resource to agri-foods clients in understanding and analyzing trends and market conditions within the sector and structuring solutions to help clients realize long-term goals and achieve smart growth.

Mr. Southerland holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Vanderbilt University and has studied international trade and finance at the London School of Economics. He has also completed executive education programs in agribusiness and related fields at Harvard Business School and the Kellogg School of Management.

Mr. Southerland commented, “Jamas has a track record of building industry leading companies across a number of sectors and is committed to building its agri-foods business, where it has established a solid foundation in poultry processing having founded Gemstone Foods in 2013. Since its founding, Gemstone Foods has made remarkable progress in becoming a significant player in the poultry further processing industry. I look forward to contributing to this continued success as Jamas evaluates opportunities for future growth across the agribusiness landscape.”

“Mr. Southerland’s impressive background in corporate finance helping businesses in the agri-foods sector, in particular the poultry sector, make and execute key strategic initiatives, aligns well with Jamas’ commitment to building an industry leading poultry company and potentially expanding into other protein sectors. We are excited to have him on our team and are confident he will add tremendous value to our future success,” said Ben O. Turnage, CEO of Jamas.

About Jamas Capital Management

JAMAS Capital Management, LLC (“JAMAS”) was founded in 2004 by Ben O. Turnage and is a private investment management firm with a focus on strategic investments including providing capital to support principal investments and transactions across a wide spectrum of industries. Transactions range from start-ups to mature businesses whether deeply distressed, ground floor sponsorship or growth financing. Jamas as the sponsor focuses on developing the most efficient capital and operational structure needed to drive value creation.

Headquartered in Jackson, Mississippi with dedicated professionals in Atlanta and Birmingham, Jamas manages business interest across the southern United States. For company updates and to learn more about Jamas, visit www.jamascapital.com.

About Gemstone Foods

Founded in 2013 and based in Decatur, Alabama, Gemstone Foods is a mid-size private investor-owned poultry further processing company. Since its inception, the company has expanded to three facilities offering services to include portioning, front-half, and dark meat deboning, IQF, par-fry, marination, and packaging for ready to cook poultry. The company provides industry leading customer service, food safety and quality products/services. Its strategy is to continue to grow both organically and through acquisition of additional processing plants and other value-added businesses as well as expanding into new customer channels. For company updates and to learn more about Gemstone, visit www.gemstonefoods.com.

Contacts

Liz Bicknese
404.695.9736
lbicknese@jamas.us