Mike Kirban is the Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of The Vita Coco Company, a B Corp Certified Public Benefit Corporation, whose mission is to become the world’s largest “better-for- you” beverage company. Founded in 2004, The Vita Coco Company’s portfolio includes Vita Coco, the largest global coconut water brand, Runa, a plant-based natural energy drink, and PWR LIFT protein-infused water. Today, Vita Coco is available in more than 30 countries worldwide and the company employs more than 300 people globally.     Under Kirban’s leadership, Vita Coco established the Vita Coco Project in 2014, the brand’s social impact initiative with a “Give, Grow, Guide” philosophy that supports the economic development of the communities where their products are sourced. The Vita Coco Project empowers coconut farming communities by helping them to innovate farming practices, improve education resources, and scale small businesses with the goal to positively impact the lives of more than one million people.    At 19 years old, Kirban co-founded Software Answers Inc., a hospitality technology service provider which he still owns and serves on the board of directors today. Kirban has also served as Executive Chairman of Vita Coco’s board of directors since inception in 2004. Kirban brings a multi-disciplinary background to his work, and his entrepreneurial drive has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, CNBC, Inc. Magazine, Bloomberg, and ABC News.   He currently resides in New York City with his two children and his dog, Coconut. 

Kim Coffin, SVP and Chief Forager, joined Sprouts in 2012, bringing over 30 years of experience in the grocery retail space. Prior to her current role, she served as SVP of Non-Perishables at Sprouts for eight years. Before joining Sprouts, she held various leadership roles at Albertson for over 23 years.  Her experience spans product categories and merchandising disciplines including product selection, supplier partnerships, pricing and promotional planning, brand building, and product presentation. She has been married to her Husband Geoff for over 25 years and has one fur baby named Fancy.  Their hobbies include boating, golf, hiking, trips to Kauai, spending time with family and friends and breeding/showing Arabian Horses.

With an extensive consumer goods background, Kyle Thomas, is a results driven executive with over 25 years of strategic and operational beverage experience. As Chief Revenue Officer at Nutrabolt, Kyle brings a relentless passion to the business, driving a servant leadership high performance culture, pursuing continuous improvement, and building organizational capability for sustained long term growth. Prior to joining Nutrabolt, Kyle served as the SVP/GM of Coca-Cola North America’s Emerging Brands Division, working with a portfolio that shaped the growth and strategic direction across a $500+ million business unit. These Emerging Brands were in different growth stages requiring unique strategies to build these brands in a very complex system. During his time with Coca-Cola, Kyle was known to innovate and take strategic risks that developed an organization never seen before in the company's 130-year history and led the development of a future model that encompassed a hybrid-route to-market approach with company owned brands as well as acquisitions. Growing up in the bottling/distribution system afforded him the knowledge and capability to attack any beverage opportunity regardless of the strategy or route to market. Today, Kyle continues to build a proven track record of successfully building brands, utilizing operational expertise to focus on maximizing resources and driving system value.

San Antonio-raised Texas State Alum Kadijah Wellons has been with Whole Foods for almost 6 years and has held positions in Merchandise Presentation and Category Management. She recently spent two years on the Dairy Team supporting Refrigerated beverages under the tutelage of Charlie New. She is settling into her latest role as the Category Merchant of Active Nutrition, Functional Foods, and Beauty Supplements. Kadijah is an avid reader, and enjoys traveling, music festivals, and reruns of The Golden Girls.

Charlie graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a film degree. After a stint in Los Angeles he decided that food was his ultimate passion. He has been with Whole Foods for twelve years. He started in the stores working his way up from the very most entry level position. He was on the Exclusive Brands Team for over 5 years developing private label products and managing the P&L for many different categories. He became the Senior Category Manager for Refrigerated Beverages in 2021, which includes Juice, Refrigerated Coffee, and Functional Beverage. Charlie is also a trained Certified Cheese Professional. For anyone who needs cheese board advice, he is your guy. Charlie is routinely plotting his next travel destination with his Fiancée and is an avid movie goer.

Scott Miller is both a visionary leader and an accomplished “operator” in the beverage world. With more than 30 years of professional experience, and nearly two decades as a highly effective Chief Executive Officer, Scott’s style represents nothing less than transformational leadership. He’s honed his skills on leading organizational behavioral change and development of what he calls “smart actions” while creating positive top line growth and sustainable profitable results for stakeholders. Scott is a food & beverage industry veteran steeped in CPG-Consumer Packaged Goods. Prior to joining Essentia, Scott served as CEO of global manufacturer, Tampico Beverages, Inc. for 15 years. During his tenure, Scott led the company’s successful expansion into a mid-size global organization doing business in 55 countries across the globe all the while building sustainable customer relationships inside and outside the company. Scott successfully led the sale process of Tampico from Private Equity to one of the largest ESOP funds in the nation, Houchens Industries. Prior to Tampico, Scott served in roles over a 15-year period and five different ownership groups of increasing responsibility at Snapple — overseeing Dr. Pepper, Gatorade and Snapple brands, among others and he spent his early career at PepsiCo Bottling in both frontline and management positions. In the first few days of being appointed CEO of Essentia (June 2020), Scott found himself steering the company through unprecedented times of a global pandemic, economic and social injustice crises. Leading and navigating through crisis did not stop Scott’s bold vision for Essentia setting the strategic path forward as a ‘brand on the rise’ with its NorthStar to be the #1 premium bottled water globally. He set the stage for a People-first culture by leading the development of Essentia’s foundational 4 Strategic Pillars to galvanize the team and align on a set of principles and values. With a clear mission, focused on actions and application and being authentic to the brand, the entire team was empowered to make a difference each day. Well-versed and experienced in board level strategy, Scott has been a board member leading overall strategy with several organizations including a current Board Member of PATH and Culture Pop. He possesses the ability to work through complex issues while creating an environment for open dialogue and due diligence focused on positive business outcomes. He was responsible for guiding and supporting Essentia’s pivotal next chapter: the acquisition by Nestlé USA in March 2021 when Essentia joined its premium water portfolio strengthening its opportunity to expand globally. After transitioning Essentia to Nestlé, Scott reteamed with Ken Uptain with a shared vision to create the #1 Enhanced Flavored Still Water in the nation. Scott and Ken launched YESLY Water with plans to have national distribution by the end of 2023. YESLY as a brand is “empowering, but edgy. inspirational, but gritty. confident, but humble”. Scott plans to make his mark once again in the beverage industry and has united a team of beverage veterans to create another People-first culture. As evidenced by his accomplishments and his teammates, Scott’s entrepreneurial nature is all about meaningful action, and being in a position to make a positive difference through transformational leadership. As an avid runner and fitness enthusiast, Scott also believes in ‘doing the reps’ and inspiring others to be their very best. His leadership motto is “it’s never about ‘one’ of us. it’s always about ‘all’ of us.” To continue inspiring other’s and share his learnings and leadership style, Scott has also completed his first book, The Summit Mindset, co-authored with James C. Moore, NY Times Best Selling Author available September 2023.

Bill Creelman is the Founder of Spindrift Beverage Co., Inc. and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. Prior to Spindrift, Bill co-founded Stirrings which sold to Diageo in 2009. Bill grew up on a farm in Western Massachusetts where all the food was unprocessed, seasonal, and fresh. In 2010, he began making his own sparkling beverages to help him kick his soda habit. He wanted something refreshing, with real ingredients he could pronounce and enjoy with his young family. After much trial and error, he achieved this by combining 2 simple ingredients: fresh fruit and triple-filtered sparkling water. He named it Spindrift. Today, Spindrift is made up of over 100 passionate employees dedicated to changing the sparkling beverage industry. Spindrift is leading beverage into a new age of innovation, transparency and ingredient simplicity by offering a product with no artificial sweeteners, no natural flavorings, and no essences – just sparkling water and real squeezed fruit. Spindrift was named to Inc. Magazine’s 500 fastest-growing companies, is a two-time recipient of BevNet’s Product of the Year and was featured on NPR’s How I Built This in 2020. Bill lives outside of Boston with his wife, Harley, and 4 kids.

Will is currently the Vice President DMM that leads the merchandising team over beverages for Walmart US. Will began his career at Walmart in the Finance organization before moving into Merchandising. He has had a variety of experiences in the Food division at Walmart, including the front-end checkout area, seasonal candy and carbonated soft drinks. Prior to joining the Beverage team, Will led the Candy Team and had responsibility for the everyday and seasonal candy businesses. Will lives in Northwest Arkansas with his wife, two daughters, and son.

As Chair and CEO of Milo’s Tea Company, Tricia Wallwork leads the team that scaled her family-owned business from local tea maker to beloved national beverage brand. In 2012, Tricia became the third generation to lead Milo’s.  Since then, she has executed her vision to deliver Milo’s Moments to customers and fans across America by building a strong PeopleFirst culture and focusing on excellence.  In 2020, Milo’s became the #1 refrigerated tea brand in the United States and is the fasting growing lemonade brand in America. The company’s best tasting, all natural beverages can be found in more than 40,000 retail locations.  Tricia has a passion for corporate stewardship. She drove the company to become a certified Zero Waste Manufacturer, to innovate in sustainability, to invest in good jobs while ensuring diversity, inclusion and belonging, and to create a 1% giving pledge for the communities it serves. Tricia serves on the boards of the Consumer Brands Association, the Birmingham Museum of Art, and the Birmingham Business Alliance.  She has been named a Woman Who Shapes the State of Alabama, Top 40 Under 40 All Star, Executive of the Decade, Top CEO, Top Woman in Grocery, and EY Entrepreneur of the Year.

The DeCicco brothers founded Super Coffee in 2015 as tired collegiate athletes. Sick of unhealthy bottled coffees and energy drinks, the DeCicco brothers invented a sugar free, functional coffee in the youngest brothers college dorm room and challenged big sugar head on. Today, Super Coffee is the fourth largest RTD coffee in the US. Jordan dropped out of college in 2017 to accept the coveted Peter Thiel Fellowship for young entrepreneurs. Super Coffee is nationally distributed by Anheuser Busch and is available in over 50,000 stores in the US. As COO, Jordan is in charge of innovation and operations launching over 30 SKUs from concept to shelf.

The DeCicco brothers founded Super Coffee in 2015 as tired collegiate athletes. Sick of unhealthy bottled coffees and energy drinks, the DeCicco brothers invented a sugar free, functional coffee in the youngest brothers college dorm room and challenged big sugar head on. Today, Super Coffee is the fourth largest RTD coffee in the US. Jordan dropped out of college in 2017 to accept the coveted Peter Thiel Fellowship for young entrepreneurs. Super Coffee is nationally distributed by Anheuser Busch and is available in over 50,000 stores in the US. As COO, Jordan is in charge of innovation and operations launching over 30 SKUs from concept to shelf.

The DeCicco brothers founded Super Coffee in 2015 as tired collegiate athletes. Sick of unhealthy bottled coffees and energy drinks, the DeCicco brothers invented a sugar free, functional coffee in the youngest brothers college dorm room and challenged big sugar head on. Today, Super Coffee is the fourth largest RTD coffee in the US. Jordan dropped out of college in 2017 to accept the coveted Peter Thiel Fellowship for young entrepreneurs. Super Coffee is nationally distributed by Anheuser Busch and is available in over 50,000 stores in the US. As COO, Jordan is in charge of innovation and operations launching over 30 SKUs from concept to shelf.

Brian Albert manages the merchandising and assortment for non-alcoholic beverages at Sprouts Farmers Market. Over a 30-year career, Brian has had various positions in marketing, merchandising, and product development with stops at Campbell’s, Coors, Wild Oats, Giant Eagle, and Sprouts. Those experiences coupled with his marketing and entrepreneurial management degrees from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and the University of Colorado, Brian has a unique perspective on what it takes to create and maintain a successful beverage brand.

Scott Romano has been in the Grocery industry for over 31 years: 18 years in the conventional grocery retail industry and 13 years in the natural/organic grocery industry. Scott’s experience has been evenly split across store level operations, multi-unit operations, and category management/merchandising holding positions such as Store Director, Produce Operations Specialist, Sr Grocery Category Manager, Director of Dairy Frozen, Beer/Wine and many more. Scott enjoys working with and mentoring startup companies to launch new and innovative products to enhance our customers shopping experience at Sprouts Farmers Market. Scott has four children, 2 boys and 2 girls ranging in age from 7 to 27. His hobbies outside of work include playing guitar and spending time with family.

Lesya Lysyj joined the Company as Chief Marketing Officer in April 2019. Ms. Lysyj has over 30 years of marketing experience in the food and beverage industry. Prior to joining Boston Beer, she served as President U.S. (Sales and Marketing) for Welch’s Foods, based in Concord, Massachusetts from September 2017 to April 2019. From 2013 to 2015, she served as President North America of Weight Watchers International. She was Chief Marketing Officer for Heineken USA, headquartered in New York City, from 2011 to 2013. Prior to that, she held a number of positions with Kraft Foods from 1990 to 2011, including positions as Vice President Marketing, Confectionary and Executive Vice President of Marketing, Cadbury.

Nik Sharma is widely known as “The DTC Guy,” a Forbes 30 Under 30 member, AdWeek’s Young & Influential, and a resource that brands and investors turn to for growth. Nik is the active CEO of Sharma Brands and HOOX, where clients include Feastables, Chamberlain Coffee, Roc Nation, Everlane, Jim Beam, Poo~Pourri, and more. Before entering the eCommerce world, Nik worked on social media strategies for A-list celebrities, including Pitbull, Priyanka Chopra, and MAGIC!, to natively increase distribution and increase fan interaction and engagement for the purpose of driving album sales.

Rohan is the co-founder of The BAD Tea Co. and has a background as an investor, beginning his career in banking before spending the last 6 years acquiring and operating consumer brands with OpenGate Capital and Foundry Brands. A native Michigander and diehard Michigan fan, Rohan grew up as a first-generation Indian-American - where Chai and other eastern teas were commonly used as caffeine sources - and started The BAD Tea Co. to share global flavors with US consumers.

Blodin Ukella is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Ryl Company, a cutting-edge beverage platform catering to Gen-Z and Millennial customers. The company is dedicated to offering customers products that traditionally cater to indulgent and high velocity categories, such as iced tea, in a clean, functional, and sustainable format. The Ryl Company's product portfolio includes its flagship line, Ryl Tea, which underwent 19 different product iterations over a six-month period until Ryl’s team successfully developed the first RTD tea that combined the indulgent and convenient attributes of legacy iced tea with the clean and functional attributes of made-at-home tea, via their proprietary Ryl Polyphenol Technology. After securing a multi-million dollar round in June 2022, Ryl Tea officially launched in January 2023, with a fast and strategic roll-out in the Northeast's key retail chains, such as Wegmans, Shoprite, and Whole Foods Market. In March 2023, Ryl Tea expanded nationwide at Sprouts Farmers Market. The brand recently shared a major announcement about its newest major investor and brand ambassador, Country Music Superstar, Morgan Wallen, in April 2023. The Ryl Company is poised to become a trailblazer in functional tea, with tactical plans to expand the brand in key regions across the United States throughout the second half of 2023. Before launching Ryl, Blodin served as the Chief Strategy Officer for OWYN (Only What You Need), the leading plant-based RTD protein brand in America. Blodin's journey in life began as a war refugee from his home country, Kosovo, when he and his family fled their home and sought refuge in Northern Macedonia for six months before coming to the United States in 1999. Blodin is also on the Entrepreneurial Advisory Board at his Alma Mater, Rutgers Business School, and resides outside of Morristown, NJ, with his fiancé, Allison.

As VP Emerging Brands for New Revenue Streams (NRS), Matt Hughes led emerging brand commercial strategies across channels and routes to market, partnered with NRS investment portfolio brands to accelerate growth and led integration of investment brands upon acquisition. Matt was a founding member of Venturing & Emerging Brands (VEB) in 2007 and has been in the beverage industry 30+ years and launched three entrepreneurial beverage brands prior to joining The Coca-Cola Company. As a leader of VEB Matt led the transition of the business unit to New Revenue Streams where he was the architect of business models deployed by Coca-Cola in a highly regulated industry (beverage alcohol) and established the strategic relationship with Molson Coors for recently launched Topo Chico Hard Seltzer and Simply Spiked as well as established strategic relationships with Constellation Brands and Brown-Forman for Fresca Mixed and Jack Daniels and Coca-Cola ready to drink beverage alcohol offerings. During his time at VEB Matt was directly involved in creating multiple notable investments and partnerships for Coca-Cola including Fairlife, BodyArmor Sports Nutrition, Topo Chico Mineral Water, Honest Tea, Health-ade Kombucha and many more. He has served as COO of a mid-sized beverage company and led a regional bottling company as Division President. With a keen knowledge and awareness of business opportunity, Matt is able to identify emerging markets, develop relevant strategy and implement to success. Matt's entrepreneurial background makes him a keen observer who's on the leading edge of trends. Matt graduated from the University of Tennessee with B.S. in Marketing. Matt resides in Atlanta with his wife and son where he recently retired after 16 years at The Coca-Cola Company. After some well-deserved down time while enjoying his favorite brand Topo Chico, Matt intends to pursue advisory roles across the CPG landscape.

Mitch Suslak, Founder and President of Gold Coast Distributors Ltd., has over 40 years experience in New York City DSD beverage distribution. Mitch started at the young age of 13 as a helper on a Tropicana route in Brooklyn, New York.  Later, he built, developed, and sold distribution routes with various brands such as Sunny Delight, Homemaker Juice, and Simply Orange juice.  As the market shifted into a more health conscious environment, Mitch was early in focusing on natural and refrigerated product distribution, building Gold Coast into a destination for a new generation of innovative wellness brands in New York City. 

Jose is a member of the investment team at VMG Partners. Previously, Jose was the CFO at Common House, a social club concept that cultivates community through inspirational design, dynamic programming, and food and beverage. Previous to that, Jose ran corporate development and strategy for Make It Nice, a NYC-based hospitality company that owned and operated several high end restaurant properties, including Eleven Madison Park, the Nomad (NY, LA, Vegas, London), and Davies and Brook (at the Claridge’s hotel in London). Jose started his career in investment banking at Credit Suisse. He received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School and currently lives in San Francisco, CA with his wife.

Erin is responsible for leading the firm’s sourcing and origination initiatives. Erin’s goal is to democratize credit for founders building omni channel businesses. Erin has a long history and deep industry expertise in building retail brands. As a Senior Merchant at Target, she led the designer collaboration process in both apparel and home. After leaving Target she was the VP of Sales at the Bluebird Group where she advised many fortune 500 companies on retail growth strategies and launched over 30 new brands at Target. Most recently Erin sat on the executive team for a beauty incubator launching multiple new brands at retail globally.

Jaqui Rice Gold serves as CEO of G.O.A.T. Fuel, Inc. (“Greatest of all time”) - the health-focused energy drink company she co-founded with her father -  NFL Pro Football Hall of Famer and noted G.O.A.T. Jerry Rice - and her husband Trevion Gold, after they noticed a gap in the market for a cleaner and healthier energy drink that inspired and fueled them as busy entrepreneurs. G.O.A.T. Fuel, the first energy drink to contain cordyceps mushrooms, has become a contender in the multi-billion dollar beverage category in a relatively short time since its launch in early 2020. Under Jaqui's leadership, G.O.A.T. Fuel tripled down on their DTC model after launching 2 months before pandemic lockdowns began, and midway through 2020 the team launched a rollout plan to gain an advantage at the retail level based on their e-commerce traction and learnings. In their first full year of business they saw 250% growth, and are now available in stores nationwide, including their recent distribution expansion into HEB, Publix and Walmart. They are also the Official Energy Drink of the Los Angeles Lakers and the beverage has become the go-to energy drink for athletes and non-athletes alike as the company believes that in the game of life, there is an inner athlete in all of us. Jaqui holds a degree in Government from Georgetown University and prior to G.O.A.T. Fuel was CEO and Founder of Tressly, Inc., an online marketplace for buying and selling hair products, another market Jaqui saw as under-represented. 

Chuck Casano is the Founder & CEO of Hi-Touch Libations, a premier Southern California direct store distributor specializing in perishable foods. Hi-Touch services all Whole Foods locations in the retailer’s Southern Pacific Region, all the leading independent natural retailers, key 7-11s, and will be launching Vons, Albertsons, and Pavilions in the next few months.. He is also the founder of Pitaya Foods, a frozen brand of Superfruits fruits with a mission to promote sustainable farming, create new job opportunities, and positively impact the communities they source from. Pitaya Foods can be found in over 20K locations, everywhere from your local juice bar to Whole Foods to Walmart.

Mike Burgmaier is a Co-Founder and Managing Director with Whipstitch Capital, the largest independent investment bank in the US solely focused on emerging consumer brands. The Whipstitch Capital team has completed over 170 transactions over the years on behalf of clients, including for notable beverage brands such as Essentia Water, KeVita, Core Water, Spindrift, Uncle Matt’s Organics, Flying Embers and more. After an early career in non-profit/public policy work, Mike worked as consultant at Bain & Company, Inc. Since early 2004, Mike has been active in the M&A and private equity/venture capital and investment banking consumer space. In 2008, he was named as a “40 Under 40” leader in the Natural Products Industry by Natural Foods Merchandiser. Mike has an MPP from Duke University, an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and an undergraduate degree in Economics from Boston College. He works out of Yarmouth, Maine where he lives with his enthusiastically supportive partner Rachel, who runs a non-profit organization they started in 2022 to assist individuals in their local area in the process of seeking asylum called the New Mainers Assistance Program. He has three children. Mike is an avid baseball player, guitar enthusiast, bike rider (in his basement), former runner (oh those knees…), T-shirt wearer, massive Foo Fighters fan and semi-health food nut.

Alex is Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Semillero Partners, a minority-led venture capital firm investing in early to growth-stage, purpose-driven, sustainable food, beverage, and food tech companies. Across two investment funds, Semillero Partners invested in 24 unique companies based in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Israel. Alex is also an active angel investor in various industries, including being an early investor in Imperfect Foods, Spyce, Jane Technologies, Jiant, and Recess. He is also an active board member of several private companies, including Seal the Seasons, Clover Food Lab, and Splendid Spoon. Alex currently resides in the greater New York metro area. Prior to Semillero Partners, he was the first Director of Finance for Eataly USA. Early in his career, Alex proved his financial leadership on the equity derivatives institutional sales team at BNP Paribas.

Carolyn joined Melitas Ventures as a Partner in 2022. She was previously an investor at Alliance Consumer Growth and CircleUp, and has dedicated her career to investing in high growth consumer businesses across a variety of verticals and stages. Before that, Carolyn was an Associate in Private Equity at Sycamore Partners, where she worked on acquisitions of large, iconic consumer and retail companies and helped manage a portfolio of apparel brands. She began her career as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs in the consumer and retail group. Carolyn received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Stanford University.

As Executive Vice President of Retail, Andrew Henkel deepens SPINS’ relationships with retailers and leads the Retail team to foster opportunities for collaboration. Andrew ensures that SPINS creates solutions that address retailers' needs and sets them on a path for continued growth. Prior to joining SPINS, Andrew spent 25 years working with CPG and retail clients at leading organizations including McKinsey, PepsiCo, Kraft Foods, and Leo Burnett.

Elliot Begoun is a 30-year industry veteran, author, and Founder of TIG Brands, a platform for natural product entrepreneurs providing community, advisory support, education, and access. TIG works with its entrepreneurs to build nimble, capital-efficient, resilient brands that become tardigrades, not unicorns. Catch him at FoodBytes, the Hirshberg Entrepreneurship Institute, and the Natural Products Business School, and find his articles in publications such as the Huffington Post, SmartBrief, and New Hope.

Kelly Criswell is the founder of Mudge, a Branding Agency specializing in innovative food & beverage brands. With a fierce love of food & bev and a 20+ year career in CPG brand development & packaging design, Kelly helps brands break new ground by intuitively and strategically connecting the brand with their perfect customer. After years of working with CPG brands large and small, Kelly has shifted gears from the big guys (Nestlé, Pepsi, Red Bull) to innovative emerging and mid-sized brands. A frequent speaker and judge at industry events, she’s also an advisor and mentor to emerging CPG brands, packaging designers, and creative directors alike. When she’s not obsessively taking photos in the Erewhon beverage aisle, you can find her painting or hiking the hills of LA with her family. If you catch her in October–any day in October–she will be in costume.

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 execution focus helped those brands succeed and can help your brand succeed. Bill has supported several brands through the process by consulting closely with client leaders as they consider a sale or acquisition. (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 a 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 the PBS documentary “The Water Wars.” He has been a featured speaker at the 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.   Cascadia Managing Brands has helped launch startup brands, including Liquid Death, Hint Water, Zico Coconut Water, C2O Coconut Water, Too Good Gourmet Keto Cookies, and more.  Cascadia also provides consultancy services to the leading soft drink and beer companies.

Jeremy Halpern, is a Partner, the Co-Chair of the Food and Beverage Industry Group and the Co-Chair of the Emerging Companies Practice Group at Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP. Jeremy’s practice focuses on emerging companies, private equity, venture capital and angel financing transactions, mergers and acquisitions, commercial transactions, executive and team compensation matters, and general start-up support for high growth companies in technology, life sciences and the food and beverage industry. Jeremy has spent 20 years working with high growth companies as a lawyer, advisor and investor. Previously, Jeremy founded Edible Ventures Group, the nation’s first angel group dedicated to funding high growth food and beverage brands. Concurrently, Jeremy serves on the Advisory Board for the UCLA School of Law Resnick Center for Food Law & Policy. Previously, Jeremy served on the Board and as the Executive Chairman of The Capital Network, a Boston-based non-profit that provides education to entrepreneurs seeking early stage capital. He has served on advisory boards at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, The Bowdoin Group, and the MBI Global Health program, and has served on the Board of Directors for various startup companies. Jeremy continues to serve as a mentor and industry champion at MassChallenge Boston and as a judge, coach or advisor for entrepreneurs at Commonwealth Kitchen, Naturally Network, and other organizations supporting entrepreneurship. Jeremy received his B.A. from U.C. Berkeley (Go Bears!), and his J.D., from the UCLA School of Law.

Benji has worked in the Natural products industry for 15 years with stints at Twin Oaks Tofu, Whole Foods Market, and is now a Director of Client Insights at SPINS. Benji leads two consulting teams at SPINS, focusing on sell story support, category analytics and product innovation. He edits the Food For Thought SPINS newsletter, a monthly piece of thought leadership examining trends in industry. When he’s not thinking about food and bev, Benji can be found mountain biking in the cottonwood forest on the banks of the Rio Grande near his home in New Mexico.

Neil Kimberley is an industry expert, swimming with the beverage industry sharks over the past two decades. His background includes senior management roles in Executive Management, Sales Marketing, and Strategy at beverage companies of varying sizes. Neil joined Triarc in the early 90’s as Brand Director for Snapple, was subsequently VP of Strategy at Cadbury Beverages (now Keurig Dr Pepper), Director of Global Innovation at Hershey and in 2013, Neil joined Essentia Water. Over the years the team transformed the brand from its natural niche into one of the leading brands in Premium Still Water. After Nestle purchased the brand 2021, Neil stayed to successfully transition the brand until summer of 2022, when Neil joined Bossa Nova Beverages as its President.

Kim Coffin, SVP and Chief Forager, joined Sprouts in 2012, bringing over 30 years of experience in the grocery retail space. Prior to her current role, she served as SVP of Non-Perishables at Sprouts for eight years. Before joining Sprouts, she held various leadership roles at Albertson for over 23 years.  Her experience spans product categories and merchandising disciplines including product selection, supplier partnerships, pricing and promotional planning, brand building, and product presentation. She has been married to her Husband Geoff for over 25 years and has one fur baby named Fancy.  Their hobbies include boating, golf, hiking, trips to Kauai, spending time with family and friends and breeding/showing Arabian Horses.

Andrew is the CEO of Right Coast Brands, a launchpad solution center for emerging beverage brands, and a co-founder of the soda brand Culture Pop. Previously, Andrew has served in various operational and executive roles for several successful beverage brands.

Greer brings a background in strategic partnerships, business acceleration, and innovative marketing to the fund’s mission of better-for-you foods. Prior to Simple Food Ventures, she served as a business development manager at the design and technology agency Beyond, where she sold and managed projects worth +$1M for national grocery chain Albertsons Companies, Inc. She ventured into grocery during the 5 years she spent working with the advisory firm MediaLink.

As founder and CEO of BevNET, John Craven is a widely-recognized authority on the beverage industry and he is frequently cited in mainstream media. His vision shapes the editorial, publishing, and positioning of all of BevNET's properties, including BevNET.com, NOSH.com, BevNET Magazine, Brewbound.com and their associated conferences. John is a graduate of Boston College with a BS in Marketing and Computer Science.

Mike Schneider is BevNET’s CMO and the co-host of Taste Radio podcast. Mike has over 20 years of experience building products and brands. Mike loves soccer and will talk your ear off about the Arsenal. His favorite holidays are St. Totteringham’s Day and Michael Thomas Day.

Janki joins New Revenue Streams as the alcohol lead for North America. Janki most recently led the CCNA smartwaterTM business, where she redesigned the brand's growth agenda, architecture, innovation pipeline and crafted the brand’s first-ever sustainability plan. Previously, she spent two years leading strategy and innovation for CCNA Coca-ColaTM, launching Coca-ColaTM Energy, and Coca-ColaTM Cherry-Vanilla.