BevNET Live Winter 2014
Speakers
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Max Goldberg
Founder, Living Maxwell
Max Goldberg
Founder, Living Maxwell
Called an "organic sensation" by The New York Times and named as "one of the nation's leading organic food experts" by Shape Magazine, Max Goldberg is the founder of Living Maxwell, one of the most widely read organic food blogs in the country, and Pressed Organic Juice Directory, the world's first pressed organic juice directory. Max has been featured in The New York Times, Fox News Channel, CNN, Forbes, Shape Magazine, Self Magazine, The Huffington Post, and numerous other publications. An organic food activist, partner of the Just Label It! campaign, and speaker at industry trade shows, Max runs the Organic Food Industry group on LinkedIn, where his weekly curated email is read by thousands of organic food CEOs, founders, and executives from all over the world. Max received his BA from Brown University and his MBA from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.
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Tyler Ricks
CMO, Peet's Coffee
Tyler Ricks
CMO, Peet's Coffee
The Chief Marketing Officer and General Manager of Peet's Coffee, Tyler Ricks has 20 years of consumer products marketing, sales and general management experience. After starting his career at Fisher-Price, he joined Pepsi's marketing team in 1997. In his 9 years at Pepsi he worked on Mountain Dew, Sierra Mist and led the company's Multicultural Marketing Organization. In his final role at Pepsi, he led a sales force of 43 people as VP of Sales for the Pepsi-Lipton Tea Partnership. Tyler left Pepsi in 2006 to join Bear Naked granola, a small start-up in Southern Connecticut. As SVP of Sales and Marketing, he drove revenue from $10MM to $45MM and helped sell the company to Kellogg's. He continued as General Manager and led the integration into the Kellogg's organization. After a 3-year stint with his own natural food company, Tyler joined Plum Organics in 2012, leading the revenue side of the business and helping grow the company from $38MM in sales to $105MM in just 18 months, eventually selling the company to Campbell Soup. He joined Peet's Coffee in March of 2014 as SVP and Chief Marketing Officer. He is also the General Manager of Peet's Home Delivery channel.
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Jeff Church
CEO, Suja
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Neil Kimberley
VP Strategy and Brand Development, Essentia Water
Neil Kimberley
VP Strategy and Brand Development, Essentia Water
Creative, dynamic and passionate leader in the beverage and food category. Best known as one of the leaders that turned around Snapple after its decline under Quaker, Neil is an acknowledged expert in the development of new beverages, writing for Bevnet and speaking at industry events. In 2013 Neil became VP of Strategy and Market Development for the fast growing Essentia Water, but still is an advisor to Runa and with Accel Foods.
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Kathryn Peters
EVP Business Development, SPINS
Kathryn Peters
EVP Business Development, SPINS
Kathryn is a senior executive at SPINS LLC, currently overseeing business development and retail services to foster retailer growth in the natural/organic, health and wellness, and specialty-gourmet industries. She also manages SPINS' expanding consumer measurement services and product development divisions. Kathryn has over 20 years of experience in consumer packaged goods and retail experience at senior management levels. Prior to joining SPINS, Kathryn was the Vice President of Grocery and Corporate Brands at BI-LO, LLC. She also served as the Vice President of Grocery at Ahold USA and worked in the category management and sales group at Ralston Purina.
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Justin Prochnow
Partner, Greenberg Traurig, LLP.
Justin Prochnow
Partner, Greenberg Traurig, LLP.
Justin is an attorney and shareholder in the Denver office of the international law firm Greenberg Traurig. His practice focuses on representing companies in the beverage, food, and dietary supplement and providing assistance on regulatory and legal issues. He reviews labels and packaging, websites and other promotional and advertising materials to ensure that the labels are technically compliant and appropriate claims are being made. He assists many companies with responses to FDA actions like warning letters, inspections and recalls, as well as FTC investigations. He also prepares and reviews industry contracts such as supplier and manufacturing agreements. And lately, he has been defending companies in class action lawsuits over labeling claims like "all natural" filed in California and other states.
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Mike Burgmaier
Managing Director, Silverwood Partners
Mike Burgmaier
Managing Director, Silverwood Partners
Michael Burgmaier is a Managing Director with Silverwood Partners focused on the food & beverage, Healthy Living and consumer sectors. Mr. Burgmaier has been active in venture capital and M&A for consumer companies since the early 2000s. He has raised capital for numerous companies and clients, written business plans, prepared fundraising materials, facilitated exits and served on boards of venture-backed companies.Mr. Burgmaier has an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth as well as Master of Public Policy from Duke University and a BA in Economics from Boston College.
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Brian Reed
Principal, Market Structure, IRI
Brian Reed
Principal, Market Structure, IRI
Brian is a category management, shopper and consumer insights professional. In his current role at IRI, Brian is responsible for delivery and application of Market Structure results to a wide variety of audiences and works with our clients to drive actionable recommendations from analysis results. Brian has more than 20 years of experience in advanced analytics including modeling and testing and strategic planning with both manufacturers and retailers. Prior to re-joining SymphonyIRI, Brian was the Director of Market Research at Furniture Brands International. He also served as the leader for the category planning process for Nestle Purina Pet Care and held many roles in managing the usage and application of household panel information.
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Duane Primozich
Executive Vice President, Boulder Brands
Duane Primozich
Executive Vice President, Boulder Brands
Duane Primozich was appointed as Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Company's Balance Brands segment including Smart Balance, Earth Balance and Level Life Foods, effective January 2014. Mr. Primozich has been with the company since 2007 and has served in a variety of roles, including Senior Vice-President of Strategic Initiatives and Senior Vice-President of the Earth Balance and Best Life businesses. Mr. Primozich will continue to serve as one of three Directors of the Boulder Brands Investment Group and on the Board of Directors for portfolio company Suja Juice. Mr. Primozich also serves on the board of Thorne Nature Experience, a Boulder-based non-profit connecting children, teens and adults to nature. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Primozich held management positions with several natural foods companies and co-founded a specialty tea business in 2004.
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Dr. Jay Udani
Founder, Medicus Research
Dr. Jay Udani
Founder, Medicus Research
Dr. Jay Udani is the Founder and CEO of Medicus Research, the premiere contract research organization (CRO) specializing in the natural health products industry. As a board-certified internist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Dr. Jay Udani was among the first physicians in America to become a certified physician investigator for clinical trials. He is recognized as one of the foremost Key Opinion Leaders in the field of Integrative Medicine, and has been published extensively. He is the recipient of many prominent awards, including the Natural Products Association Clinician of the Year, the AMA National Achievement Award, the Harvard Medical School Pinkney Fellowship in Orthopaedic Research, and was voted Best Physician Specialist and Best Medical Speaker in Los Angeles by the L.A. Daily News. In 2012 and 2013, Dr. Udani was honored in the Pasadena Magazine Top Doctors edition. He was recognized in the July/August 2013 PharmaVOICE magazine as one of the 100 Most Inspiring People in the Life-Sciences Industry. In 2014, Dr. Udani was the recipient of the prestigious NBJ Science Achievement Award. Medicus Research is the contract research organization (CRO) for the natural health products industries. During the past 15 years, under the direction of Dr. Udani, Medicus Research has designed, executed, and analyzed more than 200 Phase I - IV clinical trials. The company's areas of expertise include: Dietary supplements, functional foods, medical foods, and botanical drugs.
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Glenn Figenholtz
Divisional Merchandise Manager, Beverages & Snacks, Walgreens
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Ben Weiss
CEO, Bai
Ben Weiss
CEO, Bai
Throughout his 20-year beverage career, Weiss has proven to be a beverage industry innovator. One word drives his pioneering approach to the business: evolution. With that word driving his vision, Ben has created beverages and launched product line extensions defined by innovation. Just as coffee emerged as a key aspect of the American lifestyle back in 1994, Ben now finds himself contributing to the beverage industry's move toward healthier drink alternatives with Bai5 antioxidant infusion and Bai Bubbles sparkling antioxidant infusion.
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Mark Rampolla
Founder & CEO, ZICO
Mark Rampolla
Founder & CEO, ZICO
Mark Rampolla was the Founder and CEO of ZICO Beverages, launched in 2004. Under Mark's leadership, ZICO experienced nine years of explosive growth and became one of the fastest growing beverage brands in the world. Mark was recognized as BevNET's 2010 Beverage Innovator of the Year and has been featured in major media, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Bloomberg, CNBC and Business Week. In 2013 The Coca Cola Company acquired 100% of ZICO Beverages. Mark continues to consult with The Coca Cola Company on ZICO and is also an angle investor and advisor to early stage companies in the beverage, food, crowd funding and technology industries. Mark started his career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Central America and later operated businesses across Latin America and the Caribbean for International Paper. He graduated from Marquette University and earned an MBA and Masters of Environmental Management from Duke University.
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Jim Depietro
Former COO, BluePrint
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Eric Schnell
Founder & CEO, Metabrand, LLC
Eric Schnell
Founder & CEO, Metabrand, LLC
Eric has over 20 years of experience in sales, marketing and operations in the Natural Products and Beverage industries, with diverse experience managing upstart as well as turnaround companies and launching new brands and products. Eric is the recipient of the 2007 Sustainable Business of the Year Award, as well as 3 time annual winner of the BevNET.com "Best Product of the Year Award". In 2002, he Co-Founded The Healthy Beverage Company and Steaz, the first carbonated green tea and USDA Certified Organic and Fair Trade soda and energy drink lines in the US. As President, Eric drove the company to leading positions in the energy drink, sparkling and iced tea segments of the natural beverage category all while establishing a triple bottom-line business philosophy of people, planet and ethical profitability. Prior to Steaz, Eric was President of Long Life Tea, tripling the company's revenue before its sale to Kikkoman. In early 2011, Eric Co-Founded I AM Enlightened Creations, an all-natural lifestyle brand of liquid supplements, flower elixirs and crystal aromatherapy mists sold throughout the United States as well as launched new business venture, MetaBrand, a complete one stop brand creation, R&D and manufacturing model focused on taking innovative new food, beverage and supplement products from dream to mainstream. Eric also serves as an Managing Partner in newly formed Joint Venture with 6Pacific Capital, MetaBrand Capital Fund, overseeing the investment group's launch into the early stage capital marketplace in order to best serve the growing demand for "Conscious Capital" supporting the natural channel CPG brands and cutting edge Health & Wellness technologies of tomorrow.
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Mary-Ann Somers
VP of Venturing and Emerging Brands, Coca-Cola Company
Mary-Ann Somers
VP of Venturing and Emerging Brands, Coca-Cola Company
Mary-Ann Somers is a Senior Vice President & General Manager at the Coca-Cola Company where she manages the Water, Tea and Coffee categories, totaling over $3B at retail. Her brands include Dasani Water and Liquid Enhancers, Gold Peak Tea, Fuze Refreshments, and Honest Tea & Kids. Under her leadership, Dasani has grown to become the leading national water brand. She has driven innovation under the trademark, launching Dasani Drops and capturing the #2 position in the liquid enhancer category -- and more recently, launching Dasani Sparkling water. She has significantly improved Coca-Cola's position in the tea category by accelerating the Gold Peak trademark (becoming the #1 chilled RTD Tea) and launching Fuze Refreshments, with both brands having line of sight to become billion dollar brands. Mary-Ann is partnering with the founder of Honest Beverages to further drive the Honest Tea and Kids businesses in 2015 as part of the tea and juice drinks portfolio. Prior to her current role, Mary-Ann was VP in the Venturing and Emerging Brand Group where she led white space identification and partnered with founding entrepreneurs to develop and accelerate new brands (Honest Tea, Zico Coconut Water, Core Power and illy issimo). Before joining Coke in 2009, Mary-Ann held various domestic and global leadership positions at Colgate-Palmolive, Unilever, Merck and General Mills, as well as being a founding member of an internet health and wellness start-up. She has lived in New York City, was an expat in Istanbul Turkey and now resides in Atlanta, Georgia. She holds a BA from Connecticut College and an MBA from the Tuck School, Dartmouth College.
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Todd Woloson
Managing Director, Greenmont Capital Partners
Todd Woloson
Managing Director, Greenmont Capital Partners
Todd Woloson became a Managing Director of Greenmont Capital Partners II in 2007 and represents the Fund on the Boards of Directors of Madhava Natural Sweeteners, Door to Door Organics, Inc., Uncle Matt's Organic, Inc., and, previously, Eco-Products, Inc., prior to its exit to WNA in November 2012. Todd began his career with Proctor & Gamble in 1989, but soon became a serial entrepreneur. After graduating from the University of Denver Law School in 1994, he successfully completed an environmental service rollup, which led to a career as a venture capitalist. In 1996, Todd co-founded Canyon Capital, an early-stage venture fund. As a Managing Partner, he was intimately involved with the development of a wide range of software, Internet and consumer product companies. Also in 1996, Todd co-founded Global Education Fund ("GEF"), a non-profit organization building libraries in developing countries. To date, GEF has created 53 libraries and literacy centers in 21 countries throughout the world. In 2002, Todd co-founded IZZE Beverage Company. IZZE manufactures and markets a line of all-natural sparkling fruit juices available at Whole Foods Markets, Wild Oats Marketplace, Starbucks, Target, Costco and a wide variety of independent locations. Todd served as President and CEO of IZZE until its sale to PepsiCo in 2006 and was a recipient of the 2003 Entrepreneur of the Year Award by Ernst & Young. He received a B.A. degree from St. Lawrence University in New York and a J.D. from the University of Denver Law School.
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David Johnson
Director of Business Development, CAJ International/ Omni E-Partners
David Johnson
Director of Business Development, CAJ International/ Omni E-Partners
David Johnson is the Director of Business Development of CAJ International. David brings experience in retail vendor management from Amazon.com where he started in the personal computer category before launching the consumer electronics accessories store and eventually moving to the grocery beverage team. Before Amazon, David worked in the own brand product sourcing division of Target where he sourced for the trend category within home on partnerships such as Liberty of London, Calypso, John Derian and Missoni.
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Damien Moyal
Senior Design Lead, ScorCreative
Damien Moyal
Senior Design Lead, ScorCreative
Damien Moyal is Senior Design Lead for ScorCreative, the design studio co-located at the Amcor Rigid Plastics global R&D and Innovation center. His background in branding and touring the world in punk rock bands has informed an approach to design that is builds compelling, disruptive, and occasionally irreverent equity and experiences. He has helped to build Scor's arsenal of talent and capabilities, and to serve world-class clients with design solutions that are not only arresting and successful in market, but technically and operationally sound.
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Colin Jones
Founder & CEO, CAJ International/ Omni E-Partners
Colin Jones
Founder & CEO, CAJ International/ Omni E-Partners
Mr. Jones is the Founder & CEO of CAJ International LLC, a privately held corporation located in Scottsdale, Arizona. CAJ International is a boutique brand management company with a specialized focus in the e-commerce channel servicing such customers as Amazon, Qudsi & Drugstore.com. Mr. Jones was the founder and a former Director of the Board of Premium Cigars International Ltd. (PCIG), a publicly held NASDAQ listed company. He was instrumental in the implementation of the $11MM Initial Public Offering for PCIG. Prior to PCIG, Mr. Jones was founder, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer of Can-Am International, a British Columbia, Canada Corporation. Currently Mr. Jones is involved in various projects including real estate, corporate finance, and the import of various product lines to both Canada and the United States. Mr. Jones brings 29 years of experience in introducing new products, brands and concepts; developing creative promotional strategies; and finding strategic routes to market for these products and services in both domestic and international markets. Mr. Jones attended Douglas College in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada. He currently resides in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife Jodi & sons Oliver & Elliot. His interests include golf, hiking, reading, cooking and traveling.
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Hayden Slater
Founder, Pressed Juicery
Hayden Slater
Founder, Pressed Juicery
In 2010, as the cold-pressed juicing movement had emerged on the East Coast as a means to support a healthy lifestyle through the vital nutrients of produce, the options in Los Angeles were still quite limited. Hayden Slater began brainstorming with friends Hedi Gores and Carly de Castro, and by the end of the year, they had converted a former broom closet on San Vicente Boulevard in Brentwood into the first Pressed Juicery boutique. "We didn't invent the concept, but sought to create something that didn't exist here - something that would appeal to a wide, diverse audience," he explains. "We know firsthand that there is a lot of confusion when it comes to health trends, and we wanted to create products that make it easy for people to get fresh, essential nutrients while still managing their own busy lives." By selling juices created from the highest quality seasonal products in inviting stores and relying on word-of-mouth for advertising, Pressed Juicery soon developed a passionate following that now supports numerous locations throughout California, with expansion planned in the Orange County, Los Angeles, and San Francisco Bay Area markets. "My goal is to make these products available to as many people as possible," says Slater. To do so in an authentic manner, he and his partners passed on overtures from national chains of supermarkets, fitness centers, and shopping malls to concentrate on selling in intimate, aesthetically pleasing environments staffed by knowledgeable and nurturing employees. Before dedicating himself to a healthy lifestyle and founding Pressed, the native Angeleno attended New York University for filmmaking. After graduating in 2006, he returned to L.A. to work for HBO as a writer and producer. Four years in, Slater discovered that the stress of working in the entertainment industry had taken a toll on his physical and mental state, so he purchased a one-way ticket to Southeast Asia in 2009, embarking on a mission of adventure and self-discovery that began with a 30-day cleansing. He returned to L.A. wanting to sustain his transformation and weight loss, and that's when he found the clarity and energy he was looking for in cold-pressed juice. Pressed Juicery is a lifestyle brand, not merely a juice retailer. Slater explains that The Chalkboard, the company's website hosted by influential tastemakers from the worlds of food, fashion, design, and the arts, reinforces that philosophy. "Ultimately, the best way to educate people is to have them try the product," insists Slater, who welcomes the fanatical cleanser and first-time juicer with equal warmth and enthusiasm. In July 2014, Slater, Gores, and de Castro also introduced their first book, JUICE: Recipes for Juicing, Cleansing & Living Well , a lushly illustrated and accessible guide to juicing and juice cleansing, featuring the shop's most popular juices and other beverages. When he's not growing the business, Slater enjoys hiking and sailing. He is active in One Voice L.A. and Baby2Baby, nonprofit organizations assisting low income households.
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Brent Collins
Co-Founder, SlowMoney SoCal
Brent Collins
Co-Founder, SlowMoney SoCal
Brent's passion is driving transformation in financial and social systems to establish greater transparency, equality and sustainability at the local level. He is co-founder and chief volunteer of SlowMoney SoCal, a non-profit that combines community, education and innovative resources to catalyze direct investment in local food systems. Since launching in late 2012, it has rapidly expanded into locally run volunteer networks in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego and the Inland Empire - addressing a region with >22 million consumers in a state that is #1 in cash farm receipts, organic farms and diverse, innovative culture. Brent co-founded a community services organization and compensation network, VitalHive, which is aligned with similar initiatives in other countries and is being incubated at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. Brent currently works as CMO for a software company in Newport Beach, CA, which is bringing transparency to the debt market. He was previously co-founder and CEO of a financial services company that provides easy-to-use, advanced analytics for mainstream investors to immediately respond to risk. The service is delivered by industry leading discount brokers, global banks and stock exchanges in Europe and North America. He has lived in geographies around the world, working as an executive or business strategy consultant in technology, financial, and environmental market sectors.
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Bob Groux
Owner & CEO, Coast Brands
Bob Groux
Owner & CEO, Coast Brands
With over 25 years in the beverage industry, Bob Groux in responsible for introducing and building the Snapple Brand in Texas and Southern California and positioning Orange County, California as the number one per capita consumption market for Snapple. Mr. Groux has also been involved in the regional launches, distribution and/or development of brands such as Snapple, SoBe, Wolfgang Puck Gourmet Lattes, Redline, Nantucket Nectars, Jones Soda, Stewart's Root Beer, Little Miracles Organic Teas, Oakley Artesian Water, Dad's Root Beer, C2O Coconut Water, and dozens of others. He is also the founder and owner of Coast Brands Group, a one-of-a-kind beverage management consulting and representation firm with access to National retailers and key independent DSD Distributors across the United States. Coast Brands has worked with Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Dr. Pepper Snapple Group as well as some of the fastest growing start up brands in the beverage space. Mr. Groux is currently the CEO of Coast Brands Group and Interim C.E.O. of Little Miracles LTD. overseeing sales, marketing and distribution strategies in the U.S. He also sits on the Board of Gunpowder Beverage Company.
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Brette Simon
Outside General Counsel/M&A Advisor, MetaBrand
Brette Simon
Outside General Counsel/M&A Advisor, MetaBrand
Formerly a corporate law partner in the Santa Monica office of the international law firm of Bryan Cave LLP, Brette advises emerging growth companies on capital raising, strategic alliances, and exit transactions. Brette has worked with numerous companies in the food and beverage space, and is currently on the advisory board of MetaBrand and a mentor to early-stage food and beverage companies as part of the AccelFoods accelerator. Her representative transactions include the sale of: ASR Food Distributors, Inc. in its sale to Gold Star Foods, Inc., a portfolio company of Prospect Partners; a natural and organic baking manufacturer in its sale to ARYZTA; Southbridge Group LP in its sale of the stock of Huxtable's Kitchen and the assets of Pasta Kitchen, two of its portfolio companies, to Arlon Group; Catterton Partners in connection with its growth equity investment in NJOY; and Okami Foods, Inc. in its acquisition by Fuji Food Products, Inc. Brette has spoken at numerous industry conferences as well as to several chapters of the Entrepreneurs Organization and Vistage. She has also written articles on a variety of corporate legal topics, and has been extensively quoted in business and industry publications such as the Wall Street Journal, The Deal and the Nutrition Business Journal . Ms. Simon ranked first in her graduating class and graduated Order of the Coif from UCLA School of Law, where she was editor of the UCLA Law Review. She received her undergraduate degree in quantitative economics from the University of California at San Diego, where she graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. She has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career, including recognition as one of the top 13 dealmakers in the U.S. for the middle market by The Deal, a leading corporate finance publication, and being selected as a winner of the inaugural "40 Under 40" award by The M&A Advisor.
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Patrick Posey
VP of Sales and Advertising, Bristol Farms/ Lazy Acres
Patrick Posey
VP of Sales and Advertising, Bristol Farms/ Lazy Acres
Pat started in the food industry in 1984 as a Courtesy Clerk at Ralphs Grocery Company, Los Angeles. Worked all store level jobs through promotion to Store Director 1995. In addition to store positions Pat worked in the Ralphs Corporate Offices as MIS Specialist, Point of Sale Implementation and Training Team Leader, Divestiture Store Closing Team Leader, Staff Accountant reporting to the Controller, Advertising Director reporting VP of Advertising. Operated the most profitable Ralphs / Food 4 Less Store in the company.Left Ralphs after 13 years to join Bristol Farms as Director of Sales and Advertising reporting to the president in January 1997. Promoted to Vice President of Sales and Advertising in 2009. Elected to the Western Association of Food Chains, Board of Directors in May 2014
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Michel Boissy
CEO / Co-Founder, Freshbev Craft Juicery
Michel Boissy
CEO / Co-Founder, Freshbev Craft Juicery
Currently CEO/CO-Founder of Freshbev Craft Juicery, the nation's first, rapidly growing Craft Juicery that embraces core values of vertical integration, aggressive cold-pressed beverage engineering, heat free - high pressure processing (HPP) & 100% traceable and natural ingredients that are ALL extracted in the cold and HPP'd under one roof at the Craft Juicery daily. Michel has a proven history of success in production manufacturing, industrial solid modeling / CAD design, manufacturing process design & engineering, High Pressure Processing, consumer product development, branding and marketing, organizational management and as a highly trained chef. During an initial 2 year process, Michel designed from scratch and implemented Freshbev's proprietary cold-press juicing system, several other proprietary juice extraction methods for citrus and fruit and vegetable juices, Freshbev's current manufacturing process as well as researched, highly tested and implemented Freshbev's most recent transition into HPP or High Pressure pascalization.
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Alan Murray
CEO, NextFoods
Alan Murray
CEO, NextFoods
With a background covering Europe, Africa, and America, Alan brings a broad geographic coverage and knowledge to the table with experience in small, large, private, and public companies. Alan is currently the CEO of NextFoods and was intricately involved with the creation of their GoodBelly probiotic juice brand. He continues to lead the company through its rapid growth, engaging with key retailers, investors, and suppliers. Alan is likewise the Chairman of the Board at SunOpta, a $1billion public company, and serves on the boards of a variety of other venture and private equity backed companies in the natural and organic food space. Alan's prior experience includes the role of CEO of Tetra Pak North America, the world leader in processing and packaging systems for the food industry, with sales of approximately $13 billion. Originally from South Africa, Murray holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from the University of Cape Town. He is also the former Chairman and Co-Founder of the North American Carton Council, an industry group formed to stimulate the recycling of beverage cartons. In his free time, Murray enjoys skiing, golfing, and playing tennis. If asked nicely, he does public speaking on his passion for surfing and African wildlife, connecting his observations in these topics to what goes on in the corporate board room.
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Julie Key
Marketing Director, Evolution Fresh
Julie Key
Marketing Director, Evolution Fresh
As director of marketing for Evolution Fresh, Julie Key drives innovation, brand and product strategy positioning the brand for growth and demonstrating our leadership in the cold-pressed juice space. In this role Julie is focused on driving creative expression, innovation, brand positioning and digital strategy. Since shortly after Starbucks acquisition of Evolution in 2011, Julie has been part of the leadership which has grown Evolution Fresh, from our 70 million dollar investment in the juicery to the distribution into more than 7,000 Starbucks stores and 5,500 grocery and natural channel stores. Julie and the Evolution leadership team developed the Evolution Fresh values and culture, bringing together the best of Starbucks and Evolution Fresh. She is passionate about engaging customers and Starbucks partners (employees) with Evolution Fresh as a catalyst for their health and wellness. Building on Evolution Fresh's leadership in the cold-pressed green juice category, she played a key role in the expansion of the Evolution Fresh green juice portfolio which more than doubled our current green juice portfolio. Julie has extensive experience leading food and beverage innovation and marketing. She drove key food innovation like holiday Gingerbread Loaf and developed and launched Starbucks Doubleshot Energy and the Starbucks Refreshers Platform. Her tenure is uniquely rooted in bringing emerging brands to life within the Starbucks portfolio. Previous roles include product management for Starbucks and Seattle's Best Coffee and marketing and innovation for the North American Coffee Partnership, where Starbucks partners with Pepsi to produce bottled Frappuccino. Prior to Starbucks, Julie spent time testing and launching new products and driving promotional strategy for Pizza Hut.
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Greg Steltenpohl
Califia Farms, CEO
Greg Steltenpohl
Califia Farms, CEO
Greg is probably best known as founder and former CEO of Odwalla, Inc, the leading U.S. supplier of fresh juice and nourishing beverages. Greg led the company through its transformation from a small start-up to a publicly held corporation with an average growth rate exceeding 50 percent per year. In building the Odwalla brand, Greg was a pioneer in employing ideals of environmental sustainability, employee empowerment, creative corporate culture, and community based marketing. After Greg's departure in 2000, Odwalla was sold to Coca-Cola and remains one of the fastest growing brands in the Coke system. Greg Steltenpohl is currently the CEO of Califia Farms, a grower-owned company dedicated to featuring the regional agricultural heritage of California by growing/farmer-owned brands. Greg is also spearheading a regional Slow Food Producers Center on the central coast of California. Prior to Califia, Greg was the co-founder and CEO of Adina for Life Inc., a venture backed startup focused on building a fair trade brand with a good for you, good for the planet mission in the natural beverage category. Together with Visa Founder Dee Hock, Mr. Steltenpohl was also co-founder and Chairman of the Interra Project. Interra supported localized markets for sustainable products by aggregating the buying power of like-minded consumers through loyalty based payment card networks. Mr. Steltenpohl has served on the boards of Frontier Natural Products Cooperative and Social Venture Network.