Edward Don & Company, America’s leading independently-owned foodservice equipment and supplies distributor, announced yesterday the appointment of Steve Don, 36, as president and chief operating officer. The firm, with 1,200 employees nationwide, last year posted $400 million in sales.

Don is the third generation of family members to head the company. He worked his way up since 1992 from sales representative, district sales manager, operations manager, and vice president of business development to executive vice president in charge of sales and marketing. In his new position, he adds operations to his responsibilities at the 80-year-old firm with 70,000 clients in every state and 20 foreign countries.

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Robert E. Don, continues as chairman and chief executive officer, posts he has held since 1979.

Over the years, Steve Don spearheaded the development of the company’s new enterprise-wide computer systems, sales force automation, expansion to California, and, last year, the launching of don.com. This new e-commerce site is the linchpin of a fully integrated system that connects Don’s six coast-to-coast distribution centers — in Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Fort Lauderdale, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles — to a centralized enterprise system and to customer desktops.

Don, who grew up in suburban Highland Park and now lives there with his wife and son, holds a BS from Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA in marketing and finance from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

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