Asima Syed joined Mission Foods, a division of Gruma S.A. de C.V. in 1998. In addition to leading all marketing activities for Mission Foods, she was also responsible in 2002/2003 for leading the National Account Sales Team. Syed is a member of the Executive Committee, which ran the company in the absence of a CEO for more than a year in 2001/2002. She has been responsible for dynamic growth through strong Mission and Guerrero brand marketing including new product development, advertising, promotion and rejuvenated packaging for both the General Market and Hispanic targets and the highly successful new low carb tortillas.
One of the highlights of her achievements at Mission Foods is the alliance with the Walt Disney Company to create, build and operate the Mission Tortilla Factory at Disney's California Adventure, the new theme park which opened in February, 2001. Thus far over 2 million guests have sampled a fresh warm tortilla and learned about its history and varied uses.
In addition to her accomplishments at Mission , Syed has worked at key CPG companies such as Procter and Gamble and Frito-Lay, on key businesses like Dawn, Cascade, Tide, and the single serve business at Frito-Lay.
Prior to her 18 years in marketing, Syed was a pilot in the United States Air Force for over 7 years, serving on KC-135 tanker aircraft and E-3A AWACS surveillance aircraft. As an aircraft commander, she was responsible for conducting missions of national importance throughout the world, including Iceland , Okinawa , Panama , and Saudi Arabia , where she was awarded two Air Medals for service during the Iran/Iraq war.
An adopted Texan, Syed graduated from Texas Tech with a B.A. in Math/Pre-Med, prior to entering the Air Force. She resides in Coppell, Texas.
