DEAN NOBLE is the Chief Operating Officer for Gordon Food Service, a privately held and family-managed foodservice distribution company with operations in the US and Canada.
Dean has more than 40 years of experience in the foodservice industry. In the 1980s, Dean worked for Judson Foods, a small food service operation in Moncton, New Brunswick, as Manager of Marketing and Procurement. In 1988, he joined Clover Group, a division of Sobeys Inc., to develop a center-of-the-plate program overseeing the start-up of a private label program. In 1990, he was promoted to Director of Sales and Marketing for Clover Atlantic and, the following year, moved to Toronto to oversee Marketing and Procurement for the foodservice operations of Sobeys in Canada.
In 1994, Dean was appointed General Manager of Burgess Wholesale (Newmarket, Ontario), a foodservice division of Sobeys. In 1997, he moved to Sobeys’ head office to represent foodservice on the SAP implementation team.
Dean joined SERCA’s Foodservice (a division of Sobeys) in Vancouver as Director of Sales and Marketing in 1999, and two years later, was appointed Vice President of Sales and Marketing of SERCA Foodservice. Gordon Food Service purchased SERCA Foodservice in 2002, and the name changed to Neptune Food Service Inc.
In 2004, Dean was named President of Neptune Food Service. In 2009, Neptune Food Service was changed to Gordon Food Service (GFS British Columbia) to celebrate a unified identity across Canada. In 2011, Dean was appointed Vice President of Broadline Distribution for GFS Canada and relocated to Toronto, Ontario. In August 2013, Dean moved into the role of President of Gordon Food Service Canada role and was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Gordon Food Service (North America) in November 2018.
Dean is a Board Member of Mainroad Contracting in Vancouver, British Columbia and Vice Chair DMA, Chicago, IL. He is a past Committee Member of Friends of We Care, British Columbia and with United Way of the Lower Mainland, Vancouver, British Columbia.