I've been a nerd since my first Hypercard stack in 1994. It was wild to see the birth of the Internet. BBSes, Netscape, 14.4 baud modems. Dominos Pizza Tracker was my very first project as a digital producer. Early Web 2.0 was fun: Facebook Apps (RIP), figuring out mobile, digital installations. I spent 3 years at Google playing with machine learning superpowers (be scared). I've got a couple failed startups. As SVP of Marketing at Liquid Death, I focus on day trading attention, hacking into hearts & minds and exploring new frontiers like Web3.  I also like long walks on the beach.

Dr. Andrew Abraham, M.D. is the founder and CEO of Orgain, the world leader in great-tasting, clean nutrition products. As a licensed doctor and entrepreneur with more than a decade of food science experience, Dr. Abraham is passionate about making nutritious products accessible to everyone and spreading the word about the power that good, clean nutrition has to change lives. While fighting an aggressive form of muscle cancer as a teenager, he began turning to nutrition as a first line of defense. While undergoing treatment and facing malnourishment, he began blending shakes at home using only organic, food-based ingredients to replace the low-quality, conventional nutritional shakes given to him by his doctors. Soon after, his health began to improve and the cancer went into remission. Years later, while seeing patients as a practicing physician, Dr. Abraham realized the quality of conventional nutritional shakes had barely improved since his diagnosis, which inspired him to found Orgain in 2009. Today, Orgain is continuing his mission of providing consumers with clean nutrition that features delicious taste and high-quality ingredients through a wide variety of product offerings including high protein shakes, protein powders and snack bars for adults and children. Orgain is on track to do well over $700M in revenue in 2022 and is the #1 organic ready-to-drink nutritional shake in the U.S. and the #1 line of plant-based protein powders, with limitless innovations on the horizon. In 2016, Dr. Abraham was named EY Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young. As an investor and advisor, he also supports several early-stage, high-growth food and beverage companies including Alpha Foods, Lemon Perfect, Catalina Crunch, Mary Ruth Organics, Cirkul, Nixie Sparkling Water, Eastern Standard Provisions, Tacombi, Choc Zero, Noka Organics, Uncle Matt’s Organic, Atlast Food, Wildgood, The Good Crisps Company, Clio Snacks, and many more.

Monisha Dabek, SVP and Chief Commercial Officer, USA, is an accomplished executive?and leader in the management consulting, sales, brand marketing,?innovation?and strategy arenas. “There?are?equal parts magic and value creation in finding the authentic connection point between consumers and brands. Whether building upon history and recognition or?making a difference in a consumer’s life through innovation,?there is?nothing more exciting?than bringing a brand to life."   Monisha leads Ocean Spray’s Sales, Marketing, Innovation, Consumer?Insights?and Public Relations?in the U.S. region, with oversight and management of the profit and loss (P&L) for these critical areas.? “What a unique and exciting opportunity—to bring this team together to collaboratively and strategically?drive?growth?and prosperity for our family farmer-owners, ensuring the iconic Ocean Spray brand and cooperative continue to be vibrant for the next century.”   She comes to us from Danone, where she most recently created and led the Enterprise Strategy & Innovation team. Her prior roles?with Danone?were centered in the brand marketing organization, spanning leadership positions in Plant Based?Food & Beverage (Silk,?SoDelicious), RTD Coffee (International Delight & Stok), and other portfolio brands. In addition to her time with Danone, she has worked for a variety of?well-known industry leaders, including Accenture, PepsiCo, and WhiteWave Foods.?   Throughout her career, Monisha has led cross functional teams, managed P&L’s, and driven successful communications and innovation efforts for new brand launches and restages. She?also has developed?extensive sales expertise?through her?customer facing and HQ?leadership?roles, as well as experience across?DSD & Warehouse, and?multi-temperature?supply chain networks.

Romitha Mally is the founder of Mally Collective, a boutique investment bank focused on the consumer sector and specializing in M&A, IPO advisory, and private capital raises. Romitha has over 25 years of Wall Street experience across Investment Banking and Equity Research and was previously a Vice Chairman at UBS. Mally’s passion is to work with founder led companies to help articulate their vision and stories in strategic sales or IPOs. Mally has led several billion dollar+ transactions such as the sale of Orgain to Nestle, Vital Proteins to Nestle, Bai Brands to Dr.Pepper, Dollar Shave Club to Unilever, SheaMoisture to Unilever, and Blue Buffalo to General Mills, These sales were completed at industry leading valuations. Mally also led the IPO’s for Blue Buffalo and elf cosmetics and advised on the recent Vita Coco IPO.

Ben Mand is the CEO of Harmless Harvest, a pioneer in U.S. refrigerated premium coconut water and plant-based dairy products. Harmless has been built on a fundamental belief in “constructive capitalism” – an ecosystem-based approach to business that integrates all the stakeholders to deliver better products and outcomes for all. During his time at the helm of the company, which more than doubled its business in four years, Ben has successfully transformed Harmless Harvest from a brand solely focused on coconut water to a leader in premium functional beverages and plant-based dairy. After only three years, new beverage and plant-based dairy products represent well over 20% of the company’s sales. Under Ben’s leadership, Harmless Harvest has radically streamlined its supply chain, reducing manufacturing costs in Thailand and the U.S. by 50% per unit, ultimately transforming an unprofitable business into a durable and scalable company. Ben’s commitment to the company’s mission-led objectives has resulted in over $1 million invested in Fair For Life and community support initiatives, a transition to regenerative organic agricultural practices, conversion to 100% rPET bottles, and bringing Harmless Harvest dramatically closer to its goal of 100% zero-waste. Over the past 20 years, Ben has garnered extensive experience building and leading responsible businesses. Ben’s career started in the late 90’s when he took a sabbatical from consulting to volunteer at an organic coffee farm in Costa Rica, where he discovered a passion for the food he grew by working closely with local farmers. Since then, Ben has worked in various brand marketing and innovation roles at leading companies including General Mills, Johnson & Johnson, and Interbrand. He has made an impact as a change agent, driving improvements in health, sustainability, and social impact while delivering consistent sales and profit growth. Prior to joining Harmless Harvest, Ben oversaw all marketing, innovation and creative strategy for Plum Organics, a leading organic baby food brand. Under Ben’s tenure, the brand quickly accelerated from #3 to #1 in the category. Ben is a seasoned speaker and has been featured at industry events including SXSW, Natural Products Expo and Advertising Week, speaking about everything from socially-minded business practices to marketing with empathy.

Kathy Guzmán Galloway is a girl mom, entrepreneur, mentor, investor, strategist and 20 year veteran of the CPG world. She is the CEO at kgalloway consulting, helping startups to Fortune 500 brands drive growth with strategy and innovation. As the principal strategist, she facilitates strategic thought leadership for clients who are often too busy running their business to find ‘thinking time’ to grow their business. She operates in her zone of genius as a strategist and facilitator, helping organize data and thoughts into insights, and insights into action. In 2022, she joined SKU, the CPG startup accelerator, as Curriculum Director, where she leads the 12 week training program and personally teaches on Purpose, Mission, and Innovation. Additionally, she leads SKU Elevate, the track focused on underrepresented Black and Brown founders, as the Program Director. To fulfill her personal goal to empower ambitious women to excel on their own terms, she’s the creator and host of the Fork in the Road podcast which educates and inspires women to make big moves in their careers. She’s an afro-Latinx Jersey girl living in Texas, proud daughter of Dominican Republic immigrants, who loves cooking, beaches and 90’s merengue.

George joined Whole Foods Market in February 2018 and has a wealth of beverage knowledge experience and expertise. As the Global Category Merchant of Beverage, he oversees the strategic and operational execution of shelf stable beverage products in Whole Foods Market stores across the nation.

Matt's passion for farming and his steadfast commitment to the organic life led Matt to create Uncle Matt's Organic, Inc. in 1999, one of the fastest growing organic juice and fresh fruit brands in the U.S. Prior to that, Matt managed his own juice brokerage business that exported juice to Europe and the Middle East. A seventh generation Floridian, Matt's citrus roots date back four generations to his great grandfather who farmed without the use of harmful pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. Today, Matt, also known as "Uncle Matt", manages over 1,000 acres of organic citrus along with his father and other family members. Fully integrated from farming to manufacturing to marketing, he also serves as a consultant for farmers wishing to convert to organics.

With 20 years of CPG experience and a genuine adoration for growing and scaling brands, Jessica's expertise lies in the strategic planning and execution required to achieve rapid revenue growth and brand adoption. She has extensive experience leading sales strategy, implementation, business development, innovation, and has a sharp eye for compelling branding and packaging design. Jessica leads sales strategy at Pop & Bottle, creator of organic + dairy free RTD lattes. Since joining in 2019, she has secured national multi-channel distribution, driving triple digit YoY growth and elevating Pop & Bottle to a category leader status. She is also an industry advisor for Silverwood Partners Investment Bank and Mentor for The Founder Institute. Previously, she was founding team member and VP of Sales at Suja Juice, the #1 cold pressed juice brand in the US. Prior to that, she worked as a natural food/beverage broker for both Presence Marketing and Dynamic Presence, for the marketing team at Clif Bar, and as a In-Store Specialist + Product Educator Lead for Trader Joe's.

David Klavsons is a retail and consumer products executive with more than 30 years of senior-level experience in transforming and optimizing business performance, growth and innovation with industry leading food and beverage companies. Currently he serves as CEO of King Juice Company, Inc., maker of Calypso Lemonade.  Prior to joining King Juice Company, Inc., Klavsons held executive level positions at Glanbia Performance Nutrition, Hess Corporation, Kraft, Nabisco and PepsiCo. Most recently, he was president of Glanbia Performance Nutrition, North America where he oversaw a portfolio of brands including Isopure, Optimum Nutrition, BSN, and thinkThin. He was responsible for all aspects of the business and successfully drove growth through revamped marketing programs, accelerated innovation, and acquisition integration. Klavsons also spent time in the convenience retail channel, serving in several leadership roles for Hess Corporation’s convenience store business including executive vice president of operations and chief marketing officer. He’s accomplished in business turnarounds, driving profitable top-line growth, managing multiple productions sites and leading sales and supply chain to increase shareholder value. ?  David holds a B.S. in engineering from Clarkson University and completed an Executive Program at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Master Distiller Morgan McLachlan grew up in the Canadian Pacific Northwest, where she spent many afternoons exploring the forest, forging what would become a lifelong relationship with plants. After moving to Los Angeles at 19 and working in the film industry as a Camera Operator throughout her 20s, she returned to her metaphorical roots and began distilling anything she could get her hands on–grapes, tomatoes, cantaloupes, and eventually botanicals. She co-founded The Spirit Guild in 2012, a DTLA-based distillery that specializes in making a variety of spirits from California’s diverse flora and abundant agriculture. While Morgan appreciates distilling tradition, she considers herself a “PUNK ROCK DISTILLER,” experimenting with any and all local agriculture. It’s this duality of convention and innovation that led her to co-found AMASS.

Eliza Ganesh is the CEO and Co-Founder of Sunwink, a Superfood Beverage Company. She started Sunwink after using superfoods to help manage an autoimmune disease diagnosis. She is committed to reshaping the beverage industry, pushing the boundaries on what it means to build both a clean-label and delicious drink brand. She is also passionate about increasing female leadership in the beverage space. Eliza received her MBA from Harvard Business School.

Orion Melehan is the co-founder and CEO of LifeAid Beverage Company, a fast-growing producer of natural performance beverages.  A beverage outsider with a big idea, Orion put his life savings into LifeAid with his friend and co-founder Dr. Aaron Hinde in 2011 - while the economy was still in crisis.  In the 11 years since, the two have grown LifeAid into an international brand using a novel route-to-market approach - selling to thousands of independent gyms and leveraging ecommerce via digital marketing before entering brick-and-mortar.  Their products are now sold in tens of thousands of retailers including Whole Foods, Sprouts, Walmart, CVS, Kroger, Safeway, Circle K, Target, Amazon with distribution to over 22 countries.  They have 500,000+ engaged social media followers, and have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, San Jose Mercury News and BevNet.  Today LifeAid continues to innovate with their newly launched FitAid Energy line, the first naturally sweetened performance energy drink for both energy and sports recovery.  Positioned as Energy 3.0, Orion will tell you that LifeAid continues to disrupt the incumbent sports and energy drink segments with their brand of better-for-you performance beverages.    Orion and his family live in the mountains of Santa Cruz, CA where he was also born and raised.  He and his neighbors battled the CZU fire in 2020 and helped save dozens of structures. He believes that the Santa Cruz free thinking lifestyle and wealth of outdoor recreational activities continues to be part of the fabric of the company.  Orion graduated from UC Santa Barbara and prior to launching LifeAid had his own practice as a Certified Financial Planner®?. In his personal time, he enjoys DJing, hiking, traveling, personal development, CrossFit®? and golf.

Heidi Traore has been a passionate member of the US natural products industry since the late 1980s and currently serves as supplier relationship development manager for National Co+op Grocers (NCG), a business services and purchasing co-op with $2.5 billion in annual sales serving 148 US retail food co-op members. An established sales and marketing professional, Heidi worked with NCG’s category management team on solidifying a fact based business approach through targeted bi-annual business planning events that have enhanced business relationships and created efficiencies for her organization and its partners. Under her leadership, NCG promotional program revenue grew 69% over a four-year period. Through collaborations within cooperative supply chains, Heidi has been instrumental in bringing exclusive products produced by co-ops or made with cooperatively sourced ingredients to market at retail food co-ops. Most recently she is working to establish a supplier diversity system that will seek to diversify NCG’s supply chain.

Nat Noone has worked in the consumer packaged goods industry for the past 28 years. He began his career in CPG while attending Boston University, with a small juice company from Maine called Fresh Samantha which was purchased by Odwalla, and later purchased by Coca-Cola. Within his 15-year stretch working with the company, Nat was promoted over 14 times and gained a fully rounded understanding of the industry. He opened their DSD operations in three regions and became Director of the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest, and Northern California regions, responsible for the company’s operations and sales in each market. He was later promoted to Director of Sales from the Coke towers in Atlanta where he oversaw all of the company’s distributors and warehouse programs. During this time, he led the sales relationships with Club, Mass, Drug, Convenience and Alternative channels. In 2010, Nat founded Greenshoots Distribution where he built out a national refrigerated DSD network, helping brands build availability in both Whole Foods and other top prestige accounts across the country. He exited Greenshoots in 2014 and went on to Advise multiple start-ups on building out their Sales and Distribution strategies. Throughout his career he was consuming about 12-14 Diet Cokes a day, which sparked his realization that there was a void in the market for a truly better-for-you soda. So, he started Wave Soda in 2017. Today Wave is available Nationally and disrupting the old guard of CSDs.

Prior to co-founding BDS Analytics, Liz Stahura spent her career in the market research space, working for Leisure Trends and NPD Group, some of the leading names in retail sales tracking, consumer insights and data analytics. Seeing the opportunity in a then-nascent cannabis industry, Liz co-founded BDS Analytics in 2015 with Roy Bingham. BDS Analytics is now active across the US and globally, and is the go-to source for data, analytics and advisory services to any organization interested in engaging with the cannabis industry. After a brief hiatus from day-to-day operations, Liz has recently rejoined BDSA as COO. Liz is a frequent presenter and well-regarded cannabinoid industry expert.

Garland Hill wants to usher brands into the world of mobile advertising. As a seasoned marketing professional, he helps global advertisers reach consumers using TikTok’s burgeoning advertising platform. Prior to joining TikTok, Garland led multiple teams focused on a broad spectrum of CPG and Retail clients for Facebook. Before that he ran Global Product Marketing at Bazaarvoice, a NASDAQ listed SaaS technology company. Additionally, Garland spent five years at General Mills, as a traditional brand marketer managing P&L’s across iconic brands such as Pillsbury, Green Giant and Progresso. He started his career in technology as a consultant at Accenture, helping his clients usher in a new digital era. While his career has been steady in its upward climb, Garland is also a pro at downhill skiing. He lives in Austin with his wife, two daughters, and their dog Rose.

Pauline Idogho is the Founder/CEO of Mocktail Club, a line of premium crafted ready-to-drink non-alcoholic cocktails inspired by her quest to find sophisticated and better-for-you alternatives to alcohol. Prior to founding the company, Pauline had a 15-year career in investment banking, international development and renewable energy finance and has closed over $7 billion worth of transactions. Companies she has worked for include the International Finance Corporation (the private arm of the World Bank), Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo and the AES Corp. She has lived, worked and traveled in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, which helped to inspire the rich and sophisticated flavor profiles of the Mocktail Club line. One percent of Mocktail Club’s sales go to support clean water access globally through the organization Water for People. Pauline is a board member for Water for People. Pauline is also the Treasurer and head of the Finance Committee of the Adult Non-Alcoholic Beverage Association (ANBA). Pauline is originally from Nigeria and moved to the UK when she was younger. She holds a Bachelors in Economics from Howard University and MBA in Finance from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Kathryn Peters has served SPINS for 15 years across numerous key areas of the growing business. Her commitment to and passion for retail inspires her work developing and sustaining valuable relationships across the ecosystem. Kathryn’s insight into helping retailers and brands succeed with SPINS is informed by her previous vice president roles in merchandising and marketing at Ahold and BI-LO, LLC. as well as years of category management and sales experience with retailers during her time with Ralston Purina.

Ben Settle is a senior member of William Blair’s investment banking team and specializes in advising High-growth Consumer companies. He has completed over 30 M&A advisory and capital markets transactions for a range of clients across founder-led, sponsor/VC-backed and publicly traded corporates. Ben received his MBA from IE Business School based in Madrid, Spain. Previously, he graduated with a BS in Business from Miami University with a dual focus in marketing and entrepreneurship. Ben is an Eagle Scout, past Emergency Medical Technician and an active board member of the Chicago Academy of Sciences / Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.

Marcos Salazar is CEO of Adult Non-Alcoholic Beverage Association (ANBA), where he is working to build an adult non-alcoholic beverage ecosystem to serve beverage entrepreneurs and industry stakeholders who provide delicious non-alcoholic beer, wine, spirits and cocktails to enjoy in every social situation. For the past two decades he has been a serial entrepreneur, community-builder, and business coach creating companies, communities, and experiences to help people make their greatest impact in the world. His work sits at the intersection of social impact and consumer behavior, giving him a unique view into the insights, patterns, and trends that are reshaping the future of work, business, and lifestyle. In addition to ANBA, he is the Co-Founder + CEO of Be Social Change, a social enterprise on a mission to help people build fulfilling social impact careers through inspiring events and workshops, a diverse and supportive community, and expert career + business coaching.

Kate Wallman is a Managing Director at Encore Consumer Capital where she is responsible for deal origination and execution as well as portfolio company oversight. Encore Consumer Capital is a private equity firm focused on investing in food and consumer products manufacturing, marketing and distribution companies. Prior to joining Encore, she worked at Lineage Capital where she focused on investing in owner-managed businesses in the lower middle market. Kate received a BA in Economics from Boston College and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Kate lives in Marin with her husband and son. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, running, hiking, and exploring Northern California.

Jerry Reda is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Big Geyser Inc. one of the largest and most influential non-alcoholic beverage distributors in the United States. He is an extremely hard working, high energy and competitive individual who loves the beverage business 7/24. Since 1986 Big Geyser has been building brands and helping to shape beverage trends not only in New York but throughout the entire country. Big Geyser is extremely selective when vetting/adding brands to its unique and exclusive portfolio. Each day, Big Geyser relies heavily on technology to support its best-in-class brand building team who work hard to assist in the growth of brands such as Boylan’s, Brew Dr, C-4, Calypso, Celsius, Electrolit, Essentia, Hal’s NY, Hint, Lemon Perfect, OWYN, Poppi, Pop Culture, Sparkling Ice, Spindrift, Super Coffee, Tampico, and many others. Big Geyser is continually re-defining the beverage landscape in New York and quite possibly throughout the United States. Beverage trends often begin in New York and Big Geyser has the ability to put new brands on the map and take existing brands to the proverbial “next level. Many industry experts feel that Big Geyser’s portfolio is a glimpse into the future of the non-alcoholic beverage business throughout our country.

Jeremy Halpern is a partner and co-chairs and serves as the Director of Business Development for Nutter’s Emerging Companies Group. Jeremy’s practice focuses on emerging companies, private equity, venture capital and angel financing transactions, mergers and acquisitions, executive and team compensation matters, and general start-up support. Serving as the firm’s entrepreneur-in-residence, Jeremy often works on strategy and corporate development matters with companies, investors, and executives in technology, life sciences and the food and beverage industry. Jeremy is an active angel investor and is a member of the board of The Capital Network, a Boston based non-profit serving entrepreneurs seeking high growth capital. Jeremy serves on the Advisory Board and the Executive Education Committee of the MBI Health Program and on the Advisory Board of Pintley, a MassChallenge 2011 finalist company providing marketing solutions to the craft brewers and bars. He continues to serve as a mentor at MassChallenge and LearnLaunch, an expert advisor at the Innovation Hub at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and as a speaker, reviewer, judge or mentor for MIT HackingMedicine, HackingPediatrics, the Mass Tech Transfer Center, the Mass Life Science Center, M2D2, BranchFood and Startup Institute. Previously Jeremy served on the Board and Investment Committee of MassVentures, an early stage venture capital fund funding technology companies in Massachusetts. Jeremy taught entrepreneurial leadership at Tufts University for nine years and cofounded a company in the mobile technology synchronization space. Jeremy received his B.A., summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of California, Berkeley, and his J.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Muller brings over 15 years of experience in dynamic brand creation, marketing strategy, and e-commerce growth. She joined The GRO Agency as their Chief Strategy Officer in 2018. Her focus is on developing insights and impactful strategic direction that connects brands with consumers. She’s inspired by finding the intersection of data, storytelling, innovation, and visual identity. Her current passion is in democratizing creative resources for emerging CPG brands and shepherding meaningful CSR-driven marketing activations for enterprise clients. Over her career, she’s worked with such notable brands as Nestle, The Hershey Company, PepsiCo, Estee Lauder, and Samsung.

As a consultant since 1998, Bob Burke provides assistance in bringing natural, organic and specialty products to market across most classes of trade. This includes work in strategic planning, growth strategies, writing sales, marketing and business plans, budgeting, pricing, building distribution, broker selection and management, organizational development, strategic options, financing, branding, trade spending management and assistance around M&A, due diligence and venture strategy groups. He is also the co-author and co-publisher of the Natural Products Field Manual, Ninth Edition. Prior to consulting, Bob was with Stonyfield Farm Yogurt for 11 years as Vice President, Sales & Corporate Development and Vice President, Marketing & Sales. He has held marketing positions with Colombo, Inc. and Sperry Top-Sider. He received an MBA from Babson College.

BILL SIPPER is a food and beverage industry leader who has guided numerous brands from concept to commercialization to category leadership. He held senior and C Level positions at leading brands including Evian, Nantucket Nectars, Fresh Samantha/Odwalla, Naked Juice and Clearly Canadian. Bill’s strategic expertise and executional focus helped those brands succeed and can help your brand succeed, too.? Consulting closely with client leaders as they consider a sale or acquisition, Bill has supported several brands through the process. (Naked Juice was sold to Pepsico, Fresh Samantha/Odwalla was sold to Coca Cola, and Nantucket Nectars was sold to Ocean Spray). Bill has significant international experience, and works with clients in Asia, Europe, South America and the Middle East. He draws on this expertise to help international brands establish presence in the US and to help US brands expand internationally.? Bill is active in philanthropic causes: He served as president of Robert Kennedy Jr.’s clean water charity, Tear of the Clouds; was an advisor to The Walden Woods Project; and served on the Board of Directors of the National Osteoporosis Foundation.? Bill has been featured on Food Network’s “Unwrapped” and in the PBS documentary “The Water Wars.” He has been a featured speaker at Columbia University School of Business, The Bottled Water Congress (Torino, Italy), the Pan Arab Congress on Osteoporosis (Tunisia), and at virtually every major US food and beverage show, including Natural Products Expo, BevNet, Nosh Live and more. His articles have appeared in leading trade publications, and he is frequently quoted in media including The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and the New York Times.

Mike Schneider is a seasoned executive who lives at the collision of brand, experience and product. A long-time blogger and thought-leader, Schneider got his start drinking and evaluating craft beer and co-wrote Location Based Marketing for Dummies.

Since 2017 David has led marketing for Topo Chico at The Coca-Cola Company and has developed & implemented a methodical multi-year brand building plan that achieved #1 sub segment share in the U.S., won Ad Age America's Hottest Brands 2019 and was rolled out in Latam in 2020. He and his family recently got transferred to Atlanta, 8 months ago. He is a super fan of Formula 1 and in his free time he enjoys playing Golf, cooking with his family and traveling to have new experiences.

Brittany Jacobs is a Senior Account Executive at Instacart supporting Beverage brands. Her passion is elevating ad strategy to the next frontier. Prior to her time at Instacart, Brittany spent over 7 years at Pinterest in both National and Global roles supporting large scale CPG companies and before that spent 5 years at Hulu leading various operational teams.

As VP Emerging Brands for New Revenue Streams (NRS), Matt Hughes leads emerging brand commercial strategies across channels and routes to market, partners with NRS investment portfolio brands to accelerate growth and leads integration of investment brands upon acquisition. In addition, Matt is developing incremental growth platforms for The Coca-Cola Co. as a member of the NRS lead team. Matt was a founding member of Coke’s Venturing & Emerging Brands (VEB) in 2007 and has been in the beverage industry for over 30 years and launched three entrepreneurial beverage brands prior to joining The Coca-Cola Company. As the leader of VEB Matt led the transition of the business unit to New Revenue Streams and established the strategic relationship with Molson Coors for recently launched Topo Chico Hard Seltzer.

Bonnie currently serves as the CMO of L.A. Libations. She began her leading award-winning sponsorship activations for Fortune 500 brands for Advantage International, a leading IPG experiential marketing agency. In 2013, Bonnie returned home to Hong Kong and founded a coconut water business in the Philippines where she oversaw construction and secured the factory’s operational and Organic certifications while establishing a team of 75 employees. In 2018, she built an incubation program for L.A. Libations serving as a launchpad for emerging brands to enter retail. In 2020, she then launched an in-house CPG marketing agency which she passionately leads today. Bonnie has a B.A. degree in Communications and a Business Minor in Consumer Behavior and Marketing from the University of Southern California.

Jacqui Brugliera is the Director of Marketing for BevNET, NOSH, Brewbound and Taste Radio. She is also the Producer of our Elevator Talk video series which introduces emerging brands to the industry and is the co-host of our Taste Radio podcast. As a Marketing and Global Perspectives graduate of Bentley University, Jacqui is passionate about the food and beverage industry, specifically its cultural and environmental impact.

Heidi Traore has been a passionate member of the US natural products industry since the late 1980s and currently serves as supplier relationship development manager for National Co+op Grocers (NCG), a business services and purchasing co-op with $2.5 billion in annual sales serving 148 US retail food co-op members. An established sales and marketing professional, Heidi worked with NCG’s category management team on solidifying a fact based business approach through targeted bi-annual business planning events that have enhanced business relationships and created efficiencies for her organization and its partners. Under her leadership, NCG promotional program revenue grew 69% over a four-year period. Through collaborations within cooperative supply chains, Heidi has been instrumental in bringing exclusive products produced by co-ops or made with cooperatively sourced ingredients to market at retail food co-ops. Most recently she is working to establish a supplier diversity system that will seek to diversify NCG’s supply chain.

Jeremy Halpern is a partner and co-chairs and serves as the Director of Business Development for Nutter’s Emerging Companies Group. Jeremy’s practice focuses on emerging companies, private equity, venture capital and angel financing transactions, mergers and acquisitions, executive and team compensation matters, and general start-up support. Serving as the firm’s entrepreneur-in-residence, Jeremy often works on strategy and corporate development matters with companies, investors, and executives in technology, life sciences and the food and beverage industry. Jeremy is an active angel investor and is a member of the board of The Capital Network, a Boston based non-profit serving entrepreneurs seeking high growth capital. Jeremy serves on the Advisory Board and the Executive Education Committee of the MBI Health Program and on the Advisory Board of Pintley, a MassChallenge 2011 finalist company providing marketing solutions to the craft brewers and bars. He continues to serve as a mentor at MassChallenge and LearnLaunch, an expert advisor at the Innovation Hub at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and as a speaker, reviewer, judge or mentor for MIT HackingMedicine, HackingPediatrics, the Mass Tech Transfer Center, the Mass Life Science Center, M2D2, BranchFood and Startup Institute. Previously Jeremy served on the Board and Investment Committee of MassVentures, an early stage venture capital fund funding technology companies in Massachusetts. Jeremy taught entrepreneurial leadership at Tufts University for nine years and cofounded a company in the mobile technology synchronization space. Jeremy received his B.A., summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of California, Berkeley, and his J.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Muller brings over 15 years of experience in dynamic brand creation, marketing strategy, and e-commerce growth. She joined The GRO Agency as their Chief Strategy Officer in 2018. Her focus is on developing insights and impactful strategic direction that connects brands with consumers. She’s inspired by finding the intersection of data, storytelling, innovation, and visual identity. Her current passion is in democratizing creative resources for emerging CPG brands and shepherding meaningful CSR-driven marketing activations for enterprise clients. Over her career, she’s worked with such notable brands as Nestle, The Hershey Company, PepsiCo, Estee Lauder, and Samsung.

As a consultant since 1998, Bob Burke provides assistance in bringing natural, organic and specialty products to market across most classes of trade. This includes work in strategic planning, growth strategies, writing sales, marketing and business plans, budgeting, pricing, building distribution, broker selection and management, organizational development, strategic options, financing, branding, trade spending management and assistance around M&A, due diligence and venture strategy groups. He is also the co-author and co-publisher of the Natural Products Field Manual, Ninth Edition. Prior to consulting, Bob was with Stonyfield Farm Yogurt for 11 years as Vice President, Sales & Corporate Development and Vice President, Marketing & Sales. He has held marketing positions with Colombo, Inc. and Sperry Top-Sider. He received an MBA from Babson College.

BILL SIPPER is a food and beverage industry leader who has guided numerous brands from concept to commercialization to category leadership. He held senior and C Level positions at leading brands including Evian, Nantucket Nectars, Fresh Samantha/Odwalla, Naked Juice and Clearly Canadian. Bill’s strategic expertise and executional focus helped those brands succeed and can help your brand succeed, too.? Consulting closely with client leaders as they consider a sale or acquisition, Bill has supported several brands through the process. (Naked Juice was sold to Pepsico, Fresh Samantha/Odwalla was sold to Coca Cola, and Nantucket Nectars was sold to Ocean Spray). Bill has significant international experience, and works with clients in Asia, Europe, South America and the Middle East. He draws on this expertise to help international brands establish presence in the US and to help US brands expand internationally.? Bill is active in philanthropic causes: He served as president of Robert Kennedy Jr.’s clean water charity, Tear of the Clouds; was an advisor to The Walden Woods Project; and served on the Board of Directors of the National Osteoporosis Foundation.? Bill has been featured on Food Network’s “Unwrapped” and in the PBS documentary “The Water Wars.” He has been a featured speaker at Columbia University School of Business, The Bottled Water Congress (Torino, Italy), the Pan Arab Congress on Osteoporosis (Tunisia), and at virtually every major US food and beverage show, including Natural Products Expo, BevNet, Nosh Live and more. His articles have appeared in leading trade publications, and he is frequently quoted in media including The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and the New York Times.

Muller brings over 15 years of experience in dynamic brand creation, marketing strategy, and e-commerce growth. She joined The GRO Agency as their Chief Strategy Officer in 2018. Her focus is on developing insights and impactful strategic direction that connects brands with consumers. She’s inspired by finding the intersection of data, storytelling, innovation, and visual identity. Her current passion is in democratizing creative resources for emerging CPG brands and shepherding meaningful CSR-driven marketing activations for enterprise clients. Over her career, she’s worked with such notable brands as Nestle, The Hershey Company, PepsiCo, Estee Lauder, and Samsung.

Mike Schneider is a seasoned executive who lives at the collision of brand, experience and product. A long-time blogger and thought-leader, Schneider got his start drinking and evaluating craft beer and co-wrote Location Based Marketing for Dummies.

Since 2017 David has led marketing for Topo Chico at The Coca-Cola Company and has developed & implemented a methodical multi-year brand building plan that achieved #1 sub segment share in the U.S., won Ad Age America's Hottest Brands 2019 and was rolled out in Latam in 2020. He and his family recently got transferred to Atlanta, 8 months ago. He is a super fan of Formula 1 and in his free time he enjoys playing Golf, cooking with his family and traveling to have new experiences.

Brittany Jacobs is a Senior Account Executive at Instacart supporting Beverage brands. Her passion is elevating ad strategy to the next frontier. Prior to her time at Instacart, Brittany spent over 7 years at Pinterest in both National and Global roles supporting large scale CPG companies and before that spent 5 years at Hulu leading various operational teams.

As VP Emerging Brands for New Revenue Streams (NRS), Matt Hughes leads emerging brand commercial strategies across channels and routes to market, partners with NRS investment portfolio brands to accelerate growth and leads integration of investment brands upon acquisition. In addition, Matt is developing incremental growth platforms for The Coca-Cola Co. as a member of the NRS lead team. Matt was a founding member of Coke’s Venturing & Emerging Brands (VEB) in 2007 and has been in the beverage industry for over 30 years and launched three entrepreneurial beverage brands prior to joining The Coca-Cola Company. As the leader of VEB Matt led the transition of the business unit to New Revenue Streams and established the strategic relationship with Molson Coors for recently launched Topo Chico Hard Seltzer.

Bonnie currently serves as the CMO of L.A. Libations. She began her leading award-winning sponsorship activations for Fortune 500 brands for Advantage International, a leading IPG experiential marketing agency. In 2013, Bonnie returned home to Hong Kong and founded a coconut water business in the Philippines where she oversaw construction and secured the factory’s operational and Organic certifications while establishing a team of 75 employees. In 2018, she built an incubation program for L.A. Libations serving as a launchpad for emerging brands to enter retail. In 2020, she then launched an in-house CPG marketing agency which she passionately leads today. Bonnie has a B.A. degree in Communications and a Business Minor in Consumer Behavior and Marketing from the University of Southern California.

Jacqui Brugliera is the Director of Marketing for BevNET, NOSH, Brewbound and Taste Radio. She is also the Producer of our Elevator Talk video series which introduces emerging brands to the industry and is the co-host of our Taste Radio podcast. As a Marketing and Global Perspectives graduate of Bentley University, Jacqui is passionate about the food and beverage industry, specifically its cultural and environmental impact.