Registration

Introduction

• Carol Ortenberg

  Editor, NOSH

  

  Carol Ortenberg

  Editor, NOSH

  Carol is the Editor of NOSH, BevNet’s media property focusing on Natural, Healthy, Sustainable and Organic food products. Carol previously worked and consulted for several consumer goods companies, many within the food space. She also was on the marketing team for Whole Foods Market in the North Atlantic region. Prior to focusing on the food industry, Carol worked at several tech companies, including HubSpot, and served as a consumer researcher at AMP Agency. A graduate of Brandeis University in Journalism, Cultural Anthropology and Theater Arts, Carol is passionate about the food, agriculture and beverage industries.

• Carol Ortenberg, Editor, NOSH

Pitching Venture Capital

• Benjamin Levy

  Vice President, Echo Capital Group

  

  Benjamin Levy

  Vice President, Echo Capital Group

  Benjamin Levy is Vice President of Echo Capital Group, a Los Angeles-based firm focused on investing growth capital, operational expertise, and strategic collaboration in high growth consumer companies. Backed by the family office of the Hot Pockets® co-founder, ECHO combines decades of proven success with the fresh, dynamic insight needed to support emerging companies today. At ECHO Ben leads investments for the firm, and provides guidance in marketing, fundraising, governance, and growth strategy to portfolio companies through board service. He has over 15 years of experience managing small business growth in the consumer branded space. Prior to joining ECHO, Ben served as Private Equity Manger for the international investment firm, Consolidated Investment Group (CIG), where he led origination, diligence, and created growth plans for acquisitions in the food and beverage industry.

• Benjamin Levy, Vice President, Echo Capital Group

Brand Development & Design

• Kelly Criswell

  Chief Creative Officer, The GRO Agency

  

  Kelly Criswell

  Chief Creative Officer, The GRO Agency

  Kelly Criswell is Chief Creative Officer at The GRO Agency, a keystone CPG brand strategy and design agency for over 30 years. As the founder of the Los Angeles GRO studio, Kelly has been a perpetual trailblazer, vastly expanding agency capabilities to strategically champion both established and emerging brands for the modern CPG landscape. With a fierce love of food and beverage branding and a 17+ year career in brand development and packaging design, Kelly relentlessly pushes brands from every angle to ensure success on-shelf. Her latest modus operandi is harnessing her extensive experience to help entrepreneurs and start-ups launch their brands.

• Danielle Muller

  VP of Strategy, The GRO Agency

  

  Danielle Muller

  VP of Strategy, The GRO Agency

  Danielle Muller is the VP of Strategy at The GRO Agency, leading the next generation of GRO creative strategists attuned to the modern CPG landscape. With a contagious curiosity and furious-mind, she is passionate about connecting people with the things that move them. Harnessing left-and-right brain synergy, industry insight, and collaborative creativity, she crafts attuned strategy with both authentic and pragmatic perspective. With over 15 years of experience in dynamic brand creation, marketing, and operational strategy, Danielle has worked with everyone from spunky start-ups to Fortune 500 luxury brands. Leveraging her broad cross-industry experience, she draws from the full scope of opportunity to bridge brands and consumers, driving revenue and defining culture.

• Kelly Criswell, Chief Creative Officer, The GRO Agency
• Danielle Muller, VP of Strategy, The GRO Agency

Networking Break

Food Investment Trends

• Nick McCoy

  Co-founder & Managing Director, Whipstitch Capital

  

  Nick McCoy

  Co-founder & Managing Director, Whipstitch Capital

  Nick McCoy is a Co-Founder and Managing Director with Whipstitch Capital. Nick has over 20 years of investment banking experience. Nick co-founded the investment Bank, Silverwood Partners, where he headed up the consumer division with Mike Burgmaier. In 2015 Nick joined forces with Mike Burgmaier to form Whipstitch Capital with the goal of creating the industry’s largest independent investment bank exclusively focused on leading companies in the healthy and innovative consumer market. Previously Nick was in the Investment Banking Group at First Albany (now Jeffries), Director of M&A at Allmerica Financial Corp, and a Senior Associate, Corporate Development at Wheelabrator Technologies. Nick often speaks and is quoted on various investiture and acquisition-related topics. Nick is an avid road cyclist and thinks it’s ok to cross country ski in below-zero temperatures. He’s a health-focused foodie, cooks frequently and has an extensive knowledge of wine and whiskey (just ask him). Nick is a Chartered Financial Analyst and has an MBA from Wake Forest University and an undergraduate degree from the University of New Hampshire.

• Nick McCoy, Co-founder & Managing Director, Whipstitch Capital

Managing & Growing Your Ecommerce Sales

• Michael Yanez

  Vice President, eCommerce, KartSmartr, JOH

  

  Michael Yanez

  Vice President, eCommerce, KartSmartr, JOH

  Michael Yanez has been a CPG sales, marketing and business development executive for 25 years, growing brands for start-ups to mid-size companies. He currently serves as VP of eCommerce at KartSmartr, a division of privately-held JOH, the third largest CPG broker in the nation, where he manages exclusive programs with Amazon Marketplace (Seller Central), Amazon Fresh, Amazon Private Label and other platforms for CPG companies. From 2014-2018, he created the eCommerce Omni-Channel division of Vendo Commerce, a digital sales platform that helps CPG brands sell direct to consumer via Amazon and custom branded websites. His leadership helped scale one-to-one customer relationships using paid media, social networks, influencers, search engines, and other online traffic sources in order to maximize sales, data, and brand loyalty across all online channels. During his tenure, Michael helped grow its Amazon store into the top 5% of all Amazon sellers. Prior to Vendo Commerce, Michael sold or consulted for CPG brands into big box retailers, and helped his clients navigate the ever-changing Omni-Channel. His clients included Morphe Cosmetics, Maglite flashlights and several of the top ASOTV (As Seen on TV) brands. His hands-on experience in the CPG marketplace spans a broad range of sectors, including food & beverage, beauty, health, natural products, pet supplies, consumer electronics and more. He is an expert in “go to market” strategies, product positioning, packaging, market analysis, distribution and more.? Michael is a graduate of UCLA with a B.A. in history.

• Michael Yanez, Vice President, eCommerce, KartSmartr, JOH

Selling in the Natural Channel

• Mike Anderson

  CEO, Cali'flour Foods

  

  Mike Anderson

  CEO, Cali'flour Foods

  CEO of Cali’flour Foods. Joined in May, 2019. From 2018-2019 Mike was head of business development at Factory LLC in Bethlehem, PA. and still functions as an advisor for Factory. Mike was a food broker from 1989-2018. From 2002-2018 Mike was a member of the management team that founded and established Natural Specialty Sales, the natural and specialty division of Acosta Sales and Marketing. Mike was president of NS Sales from 2003 until his retirement in 2018. NS Sales assisted many major natural product brands such as Kashi, Silk, Horizon, Annie’s, Stonyfield, Pacific Foods, the Hain Celestial family of products, Cascadian Farms, Applegate, Bragg, Talenti gelato and hundreds of other brands. Member of Sprouts vendor advisory council, FMI emerge, Naturally Boulder, and serves as advisor to several natural product companies. Attended Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas.

• Mike Anderson, CEO, Cali'flour Foods

Data Gathering and Usage

• Michelle Fox

  Director, Investment Strategy, Brand Growth Solutions, SPINS

  

  Michelle Fox

  Director, Investment Strategy, Brand Growth Solutions, SPINS

  Michelle Fox is a data-fluent professional who works closely with SPINS’ clients to help them translate and unlock the value of data. Drawing on over seven years of relevant experience, Michelle oversees the delivery of strategic analyses, insights, and recommendations for leading companies and investors within the Natural, Organic, and Specialty products industry. She enables clients to achieve sustained, profitable growth by using data to pinpoint opportunities and developing growth strategies to effectively capture them.

• Michelle Fox, Director, Investment Strategy, Brand Growth Solutions, SPINS

Networking & Expert Tables