THOMASVILLE, GA. — The board of directors at Flowers Foods Inc. is set to shrink this spring with the exit of two members.

In a Feb. 23 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Flowers said former chief executive officer George Deese on Feb. 17 notified the board that he plans to retire at the end of his current term at the company’s 2026 annual shareholders meeting. Also, Edward Casey on Feb. 18 informed the board that he will maintain his committee memberships through the annual meeting but won’t stand for re-election. The meeting is typically held in late May.

“Messrs. Deese and Casey’s decisions not to stand for re-election were not due to any disagreement with the board or the company,” Thomasville-based Flowers said in the SEC filing. “The size of the board will be reduced from 11 to 9 members immediately upon the conclusion of the 2026 annual meeting.”

Deese will be retiring after 61 years of service at Flowers, the company said. He has served on the board since 2004, including as chairman from January 2006 to May 2023, and was Flowers’ CEO from January 2004 to May 2013. Before that, he was president and chief operating officer from May 2002 to January 2004 and president and chief operating officer of Flowers Bakeries, the company’s core business division, from 1983 to May 2002. Deese joined Flowers in 1964.

On the Flowers board since 2020, Casey serves as chairman of the board at Neumo, a government software and payments firm. Previously, he was executive chairman of J&J Worldwide Services Inc., which provides support services to US Department of Defense military bases and government facilities.

The board change will mark the second recent departure of a longtime Flowers director.Melvin Stith— the longest-serving director along with Deese — stepped down from the bread and baked foods company’s board in late 2025. Filling the vacancy left by Stith wasSterling Spainhour, chief legal officer of energy provider Southern Co., who was elected to Flowers’ board effective Oct. 1.