Hires: Orgain, FreshBev Land Food & Beverage Vets as Top Execs

Orgain-Strawberry-copy-466x1024Boosting their leadership ranks with proven veterans of the food and beverage industry, protein shake company Orgain and FreshBev, maker of cold-pressed, high pressure processed RIPE Craft Bar Juice cocktail blends and Project Fresh juices, recently announced top-level moves intended to mold the strategic vision of each company.

Orgain, which also sells a line of protein powders, has tapped Carter Elenz as president and named Kristen Deshaies as chief marketing officer of the company. Both Elenz and Deshaies have held executive roles at dairy foods giant Stonyfield Farm as well as Seventh Generation, which markets environmentally-safe household products.

Elenz, who has also worked with Garden Burger and the Quaker Oats Co., most recently held positions at U.S. Cellular as an executive vice president, and as the interim chief marketing and sales officer of Aseptia Inc. and Wright Foods, Inc. In 2010, Elenz joined functional beverage company Sensia as CEO and later transitioned to an advisory role with the company, where he also sits on the board of directors.

Deshaies cut her teeth in the CPG industry with an eight-year stretch as a brand manager at Ben & Jerry’s before joining Seventh Generation in 2007, moving her way up the ranks to become senior director of marketing at the company. In 2011, Deshaies joined Stonyfield Farm, working her way to become vice president of marketing before leaving the company in July, 2013.

“Carter and Kristen both demonstrated a critical understanding of how to continue the momentum Orgain has built in terms of sales strategy, product marketing, and brand building for our ready-to-drink protein shake and powder categories,” Dr. Andrew Abraham, founder of Orgain, said in a statement.

On the cold-pressed side of the refrigerated shelf, FreshBev has been rolling with its RIPE and Project Fresh lines and recently enlisted Philippe Roederer as president to help manage growth. Roederer came to FreshBev in July as a 24-year veteran of the beverage industry beginning at Clicquot Inc. in 1991, where he spent nine years and helped develop Veuve Clicquot into the number two Champagne brand in the U.S.  He later worked with private Equity firm Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst to help restructure and sell Mumm and Perrier-Jouet Champagne, before joining Voss USA as CEO in 2002, later becoming President, Voss Americas in 2006.

RIPE Bar Juice

Roederer later joined Remy Cointreau USA as senior vice president of marketing, and after leaving the company in 2013, began a string of consulting gigs with Ilegal Mezcal , New World Spirits, and Soul Cycle, which operates a chain of health clubs.

Roederer “will work closely with founders Michel Boissy and Ryan Guimond  in growing Freshbev’s distribution from select East Coast markets to a national scale,” according to a statement from the company. Based on that goal, FreshBev identified a number of “immediate objectives” for Roederer, who is expected to leverage he experience in high-end beverages to develop a refrigerated on- and off- premise distributor network for RIPE, “with a strong focus on high volume independents and regional restaurant and hotel groups,” as well as the creation and launch of new sales, communication and marketing brand platforms.