SHEBOYGAN FALLS, Wis. – Nick Meriggioli, former president of Oscar Mayer, was named president of Johnsonville Sausage effective April 1, according tolocal news reports.

Meriggioli succeeds Ralph Stayer, the son of Johnsonville's founders, who is retiring. He joined the company in 1987 and spent seven years as executive vice president and president of Madison, Wis.-based Oscar Mayer. Meriggioli will become the first Johnsonville CEO who is not a Stayer family member. The Stayers founded Johnsonville in 1945.