FMI Emerge Champion Council

Mike Anderson

Business Development, The Factory

A 42-year veteran of the CPG industry. Mike led Natural Specialty Sales, the natural and specialty division of Acosta Sales & Marketing from 2002-2018. He’s worked with hundreds of small companies across every category in the natural channel.

Today Mike heads business development for The Factory LLC in Bethlehem, PA. The Factory provides growth capital and industry expertise to brands ranging from $2-$20m in sales.

Stephanie Bossung

VP Account Services, NewPoint Marketing

Experienced in branding, business development, mass media and promotions, Stephanie’s executive-level expertise in sales, marketing, media, and production management gets your name known and your product moving in retail. Whether your goals are to get on the shelf, churn more turns, expand your brand—you need a marketing strategy that finds and promotes your unique selling proposition and optimizes every point of sale, from online to in-store—making sure you’re squeezing the most bang out of every marketing buck for maximum ROI.

Bob Burke

Principal, Natural Products Consulting

Bob specializes in bringing natural, organic and specialty products to market. Prior to consulting, Bob was the VP, Sales & Corporate Development with Stonyfield Farm, and has held marketing positions with Colombo, Inc. and Sperry Top-Sider.

Bob was named one of the “Top 25 Business Builders of the Natural Products Industry for the last 25 years” by Natural Foods Merchandiser Magazine.

Gillian Christie

Founder and CEO, Christie & Co.

Gillian helps ethical national and international companies attain their growth goals for 30+ years. With a background in strategic branding, marketing and finance as well hosting a nationally syndicated green radio talk show, Gillian provides fresh and dynamic insights and strategies to build companies into Iconic Brands. Her greatest passion is to help ethical companies succeed in their efforts to make the world a better place.

Tim Clark

VP Emerging Brands, Inmar

Tim leads Inmar’s strategy and solution offerings for emerging brands. He has 20+ years of experience building brands and leading strategic growth. His specialties include brand strategy, marketing, channel strategy, promotion planning, product development, pricing, consumer insights and market research. Prior to Inmar, Tim was EVP, Sales & Marketing, for Salem Baking Company, a leading gourmet cookie and cracker brand. He led the company’s expansion into many of the nation’s leading retailers. Tim also previously led a successful food startup.

Betsy Gillette

Founder, Synergy Consulting

Betsy is a 20-year industry veteran, experienced in conventional and natural retail (Jewel Food Stores & Wild Oats). She’s held roles on the manufacturing side, with White Wave Foods and in distribution at UNFI. While at IGNITE Sales Management, most recently as SVP of Sales, she helped emerging and mid-sized Natural & Organic brands gain distribution at retail, develop promotional and trade strategies, solidify channel strategies, and manage broker relationships.

Jerry Golub

Vice Board Chairman & Former CEO, Price Chopper, Market 32

Jerry is a focused and strategic thought-leader with 2+ decades of experience leading a multibillion-dollar, privately held regional supermarket chain. He specializes in providing leadership to empower organizations to achieve their goals by streamlining operations, rebranding, re-imagining the possible, and delivering innovative, customer-centric business strategies to drive growth in sales and profitability.

Tim Hauser

VP & General Manager, MMI-Market Solutions

Tim is a 37-year veteran of the CPG industry, with sales, marketing and Agency expertise. Specialties include: Business development for consumer products, new business formats, product sales expansion into new channels, client relationship management, branding and consumer marketing.

Daniel Lohman, CPSA

Strategic Advisor to the Organic & CPG Industry

Dan provides actionable insights and strategic solutions to brands seeking to grow sales. His podcast and courses teach brands what retailers really want, how to get their product on the shelf and how to save valuable time and money. With 25 years of experience, this Category Management expert and thought-leader is passionate about empowering brands and raising the bar in our industry.

John Maggiore

Principal, Maggiore's Sales & Marketing

John founded Maggiore’s Sales & Marketing in 2003 as a Food Brokerage and Consulting firm specializing in Natural and Specialty products. He previously worked for Stop & Shop as the Category Manager of Natural Food. As a Food Broker he represents Natural Food brands to supermarkets in New England. As a consultant John helps companies develop and implement their Sales Strategy.

Betsy McGinn

CEO, McGinn eComm

Betsy provides eCommerce strategy expertise to CPG brands, ranging from launch stage to multi-billion dollar companies. In her experience with Amazon.com and other eCommerce partners, she guides brands through this channel, aligning marketing, finance, OPS, sales and other strategic teams. McGinn eComm has launched, optimized and recalibrated 50+ brands on Amazon.com, increasing their growth, revenue, and overall success.

Blake Mitchell

Principal, InteractBoulder

Blake is the head of Interact Boulder, a sales-effective, creative agency obsessed with the food & beverage industry, wholly focused on helping brands embrace strategically-led design. Interact has a 25-year history, and has partnered with over 100 food and beverage clients on branding and package design projects.

Matt O'Hare

President & COO, JOH

President and COO of JOH, Matt has been in the CPG industry for 12 years. He started at JOH in 1995 as a Retail Merchandiser. Matt has a true passion for helping brands with business development and growth strategy.

True to the culture of JOH, Matt believes in giving back to the community and currently serves on the board of directors for several industry associations: National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association (NFRA), Massachusetts Food Association (MFA) and New England Food Foundation (NEFF).

Katie Paul

VP Category Management & Growth Solutions, KeHE Distributors

In her current role at KeHE, Katie develops supplier and retailer category management solutions based on analytics, consumer insights, and category trends.  She has been serving at KeHE for ten years and has held positions in Analytics, Pricing, Integration, Category Management, and Smart Growth Solutions. In 2015, Katie was named one of Griffin Report’s Food Marketing “40 Under 40”.

Bob Shaw

President, Concentric

Bob is a Founding Partner of Concentric, a CPG brand development firm and consultancy. He’s worked with over 200 clients of all sizes in his career, driving strategy, insights and growth across most Food & Beverage segments. He has spent the past 15 years working holistically to help early stage brands find a path to success, and has been recognized by Entrepreneur and Inc. magazine for his work.

Tim Sperry

President & Owner, The Tim Sperry Group

Tim started The Tim Sperry Group in 2006, following a 20-year career in Purchasing Leadership at Whole Foods Market. His retail career also includes Wellspring Grocery, The Semple St. Food and East End Food Co-ops in Pittsburgh. Specialties include: retail execution strategies, purchasing and Non-GMO verification.

Melinda Williams

VP Sales, Love Good Fats

Melinda provides expertise in Sales Strategy, Business Development, Account Management, Marketing, Broker Strategy, and Promotional Planning. Prior to Love Good Fats, Melinda led the Whole Foods Market business at Natural Specialty Sales, a division of Acosta.