How McNamee leads Bake Fresh with trust, resilience

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How McNamee leads Bake Fresh with trust, resilience

3 Apr 2026

Annie Hollon

Annie Hollon is a journalist, copywriter and social media strategist from the Dallas, Texas area. She found a love for magazine writing during her time at the University of Alabama where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, double majoring in public relations and English. Beyond writing, you can find her expanding her library, attempting to teach herself the guitar and trying new hobbies.

KANSAS CITY, MO — In the entrepreneurial culture of Chesapeake, VA-based Bake Fresh, president and CEO Brandy Lee McNamee has always leaned into her propensity to take action. She’s in the room for the initiatives that are most important to her, and she has never been afraid to be an “only,” whether that was a woman at the table in a male-dominated industry or the only operations director among the c-suite crowd at the Kellogg School.

“I’ve always tried to change, adapt, do more and learn how to think differently when I need to,” she said. “And I’ve always done that in the spirit of getting better or helping my Bake Fresh family improve.”

Today, change management involves implementing a new ERP system across the entire Bake Fresh network to integrate all operational and financial metrics.

“This was an opportunity to enable managers and other leaders to make better informed decisions because we’ll have true data-driven reporting,” McNamee said. “I anticipated a bit of a struggle in terms of adapting to change, but everyone has made huge strides to get where we need to be. And everyone is sharing in the pain of change and the learning that we gain from it.”

That’s the power of empowerment, and it requires trust. Obviously, McNamee can’t be in every plant every day, so trust is a huge factor in the day-to-day operation.

“Trust becomes especially important on the fresh side of the business,” she said. “They’re making day-to-day decisions on hitting 100 percent fill rates, and that sometimes means they have to think outside the box. That can’t happen without a high level of trust in both directions. Then we can integrate our goals and plans with reality and tie it all back to the success of the organization.”

"I feel like it’s in my DNA … I am Bake Fresh as much as Bake Fresh is me.” — Brandy Lee McNamee | president and CEO | Bake Fresh

As 2026 begins with a host of new challenges, from increased tariff uncertainty to MAHA-driven consumer guidance, McNamee is ready to face it all head-on. The key to resiliency in the face of adversity, she said, is meeting conflict with curiosity.

“These are big challenges, but you know, that’s what I love,” she said. “When we have these big things put in front of us, we have to rewrite the playbook. The rules are different now, so we all have to change what we’re doing … and move fast. What does that mean? For me, it means, ‘Let’s go. Let’s figure it out.’”

In a baker’s heart, curiosity, loyalty and humility meld together and create an unbreakable bond. McNamee may not have expected to spend three decades at Bake Fresh, but the time has taught her more than she ever could have dreamed.

“It’s pretty humbling to sit in this role, when every big milestone in my life has happened while I’ve been here,” she said. “It’s integrated with who I am, and I feel like it’s in my DNA … I am Bake Fresh as much as Bake Fresh is me.”

This story has been adapted from the February | Q1 2026 issue of Commercial Baking. Read the full story in the digital edition here.

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