WASHINGTON — The American Bakers Association here welcomed Allen Shiver, president of Flowers Foods, as incoming chairman during a conference call.

The call highlighted the group’s upcoming convention in March as well as ABA's International Baking Industry Expo scheduled for September. At that event, ABA hopes to unveil its Sustainability Scorecard, which it began working on last fall, in partnership with the Allied Trades of the Baking Industry. ABA officials said the purpose of the scorecard is to measure sustainability initiative results and put bakers and their suppliers on the same page.

Shiver said top-of-mind legislative issues include the Employee Free Choice Act and food safety.

In separate news, registration for the upcoming ABA Convention, scheduled for March 14th through 17th at the Boca Raton Resort & Club in Florida, has increased 5% over 2009. Thirty percent are first-time attendees, and a large number of registrants are high-ranking executives this year.

According to Karin Soyster, vice president of membership services for ABA, highlights from this year’s convention will include presentations from leaders including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush; Todd Jones, president of Publix Super Markets; and Rich Karlgaard, publisher of Forbes magazine.