Arif invests in and works with innovative brands and companies led by inspiring entrepreneurs and management teams, and collaborates closely alongside similarly focused co-investors and value chain partners. Bringing two decades of consumer and retail experience to the table, Arif partners with teams building the next generation nutrition landscape by providing early & growth stage capital and operational support to help empower growth and build great businesses. Select investments and board responsibilities include Vive Organic, Flying Embers, REBBL, 4th & Heart, High Brew Coffee, Ripple Foods, Barnana, Revive Kombucha (acquired by Peet’s Coffee), Rhythm Superfoods, Fishpeople Seafood, Biena Snacks, Sufferfest Beer Company (acquired by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company), Bonafide Provisions, Nutriati, Austin Eastciders, Pique Tea & RightRice.

Betsy is the co-author of The Amazon Roadmap: How Innovative Brands are Reinventing the Path to Market, the quintessential start-to-finish guide for brands who want to launch, recalibrate, or optimize their Amazon business and ensure continued growth on this powerful platform. As Seventh Generation’s first eCommerce channel director, Betsy pioneered the company’s innovative eComm strategy and created a thriving multimillion-dollar partnership with Amazon and other key online retailers. Since founding McGinn eComm in 2014, Betsy has worked with hundreds of natural and specialty food and beverage brands to establish and strengthen their strategic direction on Amazon and their own Direct-to-Consumer eCommerce. From product development and profitability analysis to guiding organizational change, McGinn eComm leads clients through every step of this complex channel, helping to ensure successful and profitable online businesses. With more than a decade of eCommerce experience, Betsy is a thought-leader and regular speaker at workshops and conferences globally. Visit Betsy at mcginnecomm.com

Elliot Begoun is a 30-year industry veteran, author, and the Founder of TIG, a 1:1 customized alternative accelerator focused on helping emerging natural product brands grow. 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, the Natural Products Business School, and find his articles in publications such as the Huffington Post, SmartBrief, and New Hope.

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.

Michael Zuckerman is the President of Zuckerman Honickman Inc ("ZH"), a privately held packaging company founded in the early 1900’s, which provides beverage clients with turnkey solutions for their procurement and packaging needs. ZH is one of the largest suppliers of Cans, Plastic and glass bottles to the beverage industry in North America and provides its' customers with high-quality, low cost, customized, packaging solutions. With sustainability always in mind, ZH has recently been focused on other alternative packaging solution, which has lead the company to partner with some of the leaders in the biodegradable space. Under Michael’s leadership, ZH has continued to strengthen its reputation for excellence, best of breed customer service, superior buying power, and industry knowledge. ZH enables beverage brands to capitalize on economies of scale associated with their can, glass and plastic purchases. Michael’s passion for the beverage industry has been an integral part in the companies tireless focus on beverage product development. ZH has been instrumental in helping many regional companies grow into national brand names, including but not limited to: Snapple, Honest Tea, Glaceau, Fuze Bai Brands, Body Armor, Spindrift, and many more.

Rob has been involved in the specialty food trade for over twenty years, with a proven record of success in global sales, strategic planning, packaging, team-building, new product development, distribution, procurement and import/export management. He has deep and established relationships with buyers in every major distribution channel: specialty retail, grocery, club stores, foodservice, direct to consumer, drug and export. His long-standing sales relationships include retailers such as Whole Foods Market, Williams-Sonoma, Target, Walmart, Publix, The Fresh Market and Dean & DeLuca.

As The GRO Agency Chief Creative Officer, Kelly Criswell lives and breathes CPG packaging. After 17 years steeped in the space, she still spends her days studying packaging design with a keen eye for impact, identity, hierarchy, and clarity.

Pete Grego is the Director of Contract Manufacturing with Nor-Cal Beverages. Pete specializes in beverage brand building and beverage management. As well as customer development and strategic planning.