Suja CMO Rose Prepares to Exit, Saxon Seay Named to Role
Suja CMO Greg Rose is wrapping up a nearly six year tenure with the cold-pressed juice brand, as former Coca-Cola marketer Saxon Seay assumes the chief marketing officer position.
Rose announced his departure from the San Diego, California-based company on LinkedIn yesterday. In the post, Rose said he intends to take a sabbatical to spend time with his family before seeking new professional opportunities next year.
“It’s been an unforgettable ride, and I’m feeling thankful for the journey and for the friends made along the way,” Rose wrote in the post. “I’m a different person than when I arrived, and I’ve grown in ways I never expected. And wore costumes I never expected.
“Change and uncertainty are always uncomfortable, but I’m leaning in to an opportunity to spend some time exclusively focusing on health and relationships. And sleeping like a hibernating bear.”
With Rose’s exit, Suja has appointed Saxon Seay as CMO. Seay previously served as director of consumer marketing for the trademark Coca-Cola brand at Coke and since this summer has hosted a marketing podcast, The Brand Management Show.
“Suja Life is pleased to announce the appointment of Saxon Seay as chief marketing officer,” said Suja CEO Bob DeBorde in a statement to BevNET. “Effective immediately, she joins Suja Life to further build the company’s brand recognition and business marketing strategy as we position our two brands for exceptional growth in 2023.”
“We want to recognize Greg Rose for the demonstrable impact he has made on the Suja Life organization throughout his 5+ years at the company,” DeBorde added.
Rose joined Suja in 2017 as marketing director, later assuming the title of VP of Marketing before being named CMO in 2018, following the departure of former CMO Heather MacNeil Cox. Prior to Suja, he served as marketing manager at General Mills, leading shopper marketing at Kroger for the company’s portfolio of brands including Annie’s and Larabar.
Last year, Suja was acquired by private equity firm Paine Schwartz Partners and has reported strong double-digit growth since, particularly in the juice shots segment, where sales rose 12.7% in the 52-weeks ending August 7, per IRI. In October, the company acquired another shot producer, Vive Organic, in a move that gives Suja control of more than half the juice shot category.
Reached by BevNET today, Rose said that he believes he is leaving the company in good shape, with the shots business and the brand’s Elevated Nutrients line of functional juices fueling growth. He noted that Suja is continuing to bring in new households with the repeat sales rate continuing to rise.
“We’re finishing a good year, we’re exceeding our plan for growth – so that’s three years in a row where we’ve hit our plan – and grown pretty significantly top line and bottom,” he said. “We’ve almost tripled revenue since 2018, so it’s been a nice ramp up over the past couple of years.”
As Seay takes over marketing at Suja, Rose said “the team is in a really good spot.” With the Vive acquisition, the company is currently integrating its teams with much of the Vive staff coming into the fold to form a joint sales and marketing force.
According to LinkedIn, several members of Suja’s marketing team also received promotions this year, including Casey Woodruff, who was named Director of Brand and Shopper Marketing in February and Deirdre Mares who was promoted to Director of Brand Partnerships & Influencer Marketing in March.
Rose is also a board member of CPG industry group Naturally San Diego and will continue to help grow that organization, he said. For the foreseeable future, however, Rose is planning to spend some time as a stay-at-home dad before seeking out his next marketing role.
“I don’t know exactly when but I will try to jump back in the mix,” he said. “I love what I do, this job has been awesome. So I’d like to find something similar for an emerging brand and be head of marketing on their ramp, that would be the ideal. But we’ll see what happens in ‘23.”
Bang COO Leaves Two Months After Joining Company
Vital Pharmaceuticals (VPX) COO Kathy Cole appears to have moved on from the company, just two months after she joined the Florida-based maker of Bang Energy in October.
Cole, an industry veteran who previously held roles at Harvest Sherwood Food Distributors and PepsiCo, was announced as the company’s new chief operating officer just two days after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. However, according to LinkedIn, Cole appears to have ended her tenure at VPX effective this month.
At the time, VPX CEO Jack Owoc said in a statement that Cole would help to transition the company to a “100% vertically operated decentralized distribution model” as it rebuilds its national DSD network of independent beer distributors.
VPX and Cole did not immediately respond to requests for comment today.
Cole isn’t the only high-level Bang employee to leave in recent months. In November, Joseph Nickells, SVP of national retail sales and Mike Long, director of the grocery channel for the Eastern U.S market both left the brand.