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Hear it from the members of our Community

There are so many connections we’ve been able to make in the FMI Emerge Community. I feel like, one, we’re part of a community and, two, we get access to the expertise we need in a very short amount

Steve Bava

Bava Brothers

We know we still have a long way to go, and we don’t have a huge staff…yet…but we feel like everybody that FMI Emerge has led us to is part of our team now and a great business resource for us. Thank you Emerge

Clint Matthews

Wafflepreneur & co-founder, Start Right Foods

This program has been SO HELPFUL for us! As a social impact entrepreneurs, it has been a privilege to share our passion for helping young companies develop a consciously created corporate culture (4-Cs!) But, as an emerging brand, I have found the resources and support from FMI/FMI mentors invaluable.

Meg Barnhart

Founder and co-creator, the zen of slow cooking

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Featured Mentors

Matt Cotton

Foodservice broker

Strategic foodservice broker partner to emerging brands

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Matt Cotton

Foodservice broker

Strategic foodservice broker partner to emerging brands

Betsy Gillette

Sales Management Expert

A 20-year industry veteran in conventional and natural retail, Betsy helps emerging and mid-sized Natural & Organic brands gain distribution at retail, develop promotional and trade strategies, solidify channel strategies, and manage broker relationships.

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Betsy Gillette

Co-Founder / CEO

Synergy is the sales force for brands that don't have their own. Betsy and her team assist brands with pricing and promotional strategy, broker management, the category review process, and data & analytics. Synergy assigns a lead person to help with overall strategy and to be the core communicator within the team. And we have a team of seasoned CPG sales professionals to manage natural and organic retailers in their assigned territory. Betsy is a 20-year industry veteran having experience in both conventional and natural retail with Jewel Food Stores in Chicago and Wild Oats in Boulder. Additionally she has held positions on the manufacturing side, with White Wave Foods and in distribution at UNFI. For the past 4 years Betsy held key roles at IGNITE Sales Management, most recently as SVP of Sales, where she helped emerging and mid-sized Natural and Organic brands gain distribution at retail, develop promotional and trade strategies, solidify channel strategies, and manage broker relationships. Additionally she managed the IGNITE portfolio of brands at Whole Foods Market, representing over $100MM in retail sales.

Victor Mithouard

Online Marketplace Expert

Advises on brand building and go-to-market strategies both offline and online, with an expertise on online marketplaces

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Victor Mithouard

CEO - The Good Trends

The Good Trends is a BtoB Gourmet Food marketplace, connecting local and healthier food brands with neighborhood stores. Our purpose is to increase access and affordability to the US consumers to healthier, more local food products by reinventing food wholesale and making it more transparent and streamlined. Our BtoB wholesale platform works from a simple premise. On one side, the number of local and healthier food brands is exploding, yet they struggle to get discovered by consumers through wholesale channels. On the other side, neighborhood stores are looking for new sources of revenues and have in general a huge amount of underused shelf space. This opportunity to connect the right brands, with the right retail at the right time is the win-win model we are building. And by doing so we will help consumers eat better, entrepreneurs grow their brands, retail owners grow their business.

Ashley Sutterfield

Strategic Co-Packer Expert

Guides packaged food entrepreneurs in preparing for the right co-packer in order to increase their capacity and grow their business.

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Ashley Sutterfield

Business Consultant: Strategic Co-Packer Partnerships

Guides packaged food entrepreneurs in identifying a co-packer and preparing for the transition to scale their business strategically.

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Not Featured Mentors

Gregory Arz

Natural Foodservice Broker

Helps brands understand the organic and natural food service channel, and the role of a food service broker.

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Gregory Arz

Natural Foodservice Broker

Provide outsourced sales management for the organic & natural foodservice and e-commerce food & beverage market. Natural Source Sales offers brokerage and sales management services to the natural foods industry. We provide a value-added approach towards developing a foodservice presence in the Western U.S. We represent both grab & go snacks and foodservice pack sizes. Multiple vendors are combined under a single portfolio. We will help you develop and grow your food service sales in the West. Healthy food is in demand in foodservice. We offer a variety of certified organic, non-GMO, gluten-free, kosher, low-sodium, dairy-free, fair trade, vegan, local and low glycemic foods. We are committed to the growing number of natural and organic brands, and enjoy eating the fine foods in our portfolio as much as we enjoy representing them. Consider the costs of maintaining a regional management team vs. the savings of working with Natural Source Sales to develop and accelerate your foodservice program. We leverage decades of industry knowledge and relationships to advance your foodservice sales program at a great value.

Jim Badalati

Customer Development Executive

Offers executive level expertise in broker and sales management, along with distribution advisement.

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Jim Badalati

Customer Development Executive

Jim Badalati shares his expertise on broker and sales management with the Emerge community. He has years of of experience gaining initial distribution and optimizing current distribution practices. Jim is the Senior Vice President of Customer Development at Crossmark, and has expertise in nearly every category.

Allison Ball

New Product Discovery Expert

Advises small brands on developing their pitch to retail buyers, and scaling production.

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Allison Ball

New Product Discovery Expert

Allison Ball, a former Grocery Buyer & Head of Grocery at Bi-Rite Market in San Francisco, now consults with CPG clients on the behind-the-scenes of wholesale & retail. Her clients range from small vendors launching their first product, to entrepreneurs opening their first market, to well-established retail stores and nationally known food producers. She concentrates on supporting sustainable, community-focused businesses, promoting unique, delicious products, and coaching small business owners on developing strong management teams, creating effective operational systems, and building strong business models.

Meg Barnhart

Social-Impact Entrepreneur

Coaches brands on fine-tuning their current business practices for greater success.

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Meg Barnhart

Social-Impact Entrepreneur

I am a passionate social impact entrepreneur providing employment and opportunity for adults in underserved populations.

Mike Barone

Director of Sales

Provides guidance on improving business forecasting, e-commerce strategies, and broker relationships. Expertise in sales strategy and working with brands like IAM's and Stacy's Pita Chips.

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Mike Barone

Director of Sales

Partners with growing brands to improve their business forecasting, e-commerce strategies, and broker relationships. Spent years building his expertise in sales strategy, while working with companies like IAM's, Stacy's Pita Chips, and Boom Chicka Pop, as they evolved from emerging to household brands. Mike also shares insights on retailer interests, when working with emerging brands. Companies include Publix, Kroger, Harris Teeter, and Sprouts.

Julie Beck

Senior Sales & Marketing Executive

Helps emerging brands grow sales differently

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Julie Beck

Senior Sales & Marketing Executive

Julie helps emerging brands set strategic sales strategy including retail prioritization, key processes, and go to market approach. She shares insights on what it takes to win in different channels and with different retailers.

Elliot Begoun

Growth & Omnichannel Strategist

A leader in growing emerging food and beverage brands, with investment readiness and go-to-market strategies.

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Elliot Begoun

Growth & Omnichannel Strategist

Elliot Begoun is the Founder of The Intertwine Group, a practice focused on helping emerging food and beverage brands grow and become scalable and investable. He works with clients to design and execute customized go-to-market strategies that drive sales, build velocity, gain distribution, and win share of stomach. Catch him at FoodBytes in his role as a mentor and find his articles in publications such as the Huffington Post, SmartBrief, and New Hope.

Bryan Bootka

Sales & Broker Relations Advisor

Expertise in Sales Management and Broker Support.

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Bryan Bootka

Sales & Broker Relations Advisor

Outsourced VP of Sales | Full-Time Results. Part-Time Cost.

Stephanie Bossung

VP Account Services, NewPoint Marketing

Advises brands with smaller budgets how to optimize marketing plans for ROI.

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Stephanie Bossung

VP Account Services, NewPoint Marketing

Food industry marketing expertise—from retail to food service— is a natural outcome of having deep knowledge in every facet of a business’ operation. With 10 years in branding and business development, preceded by 15 years in mass media and promotions, Stephanie holds an executive-level expertise in sales, marketing, media, and production management. This exceptionally diverse skill set adds value for clients by providing a full complement of perspectives on food-industry brand management endeavors. Wired for a hawkish attention to detail, while also maintaining a high-resolution view of the big picture, Stephanie is uniquely able to provide astute branding direction and simultaneously apply the business principles necessary to squeeze more bang out of every marketing buck.

Kelly Bottenfield

Sales & Business Development Advisor

Provides coaching on various market strategies including specialty, conventional, club, and food service.

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Kelly Bottenfield

Sales & Business Development Advisor

Kelly Bottenfield is an accomplished sales professional with the proven ability to help emerging brands with advisement in the following areas: sales and distributor management, purchasing management, broker and team management, merchandising, and marketing. Kelly brings expertise in diverse areas of natural grocery, conventional, club, c-store/drug, e-comm and foodservice. She has been instrumental in achieving record growth in saturated markets with her decisive leadership skills.

Amaris Bradley

Food Brand Storytelling Expert

Offers food and beverage brands advisement on communications and branding strategy.

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Amaris Bradley

Food Brand Storytelling Expert

Amaris Bradley brings key expertise as a registered dietitian with a keen understanding of strategic nutrition communications and food policy. Her experience includes partnership-building, CSR strategizing, and health professional outreach and nutrition communications. Currently, Amaris is Senior Account Lead at Eat Well Global, a highly-specialized strategic consulting firm focused on food, nutrition and health. In her role, she supports clients in planning and executing strategic health professional outreach and activations domestically and abroad. Prior to joining Eat Well Global, Amaris served as the resident nutrition expert at the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), a national nonprofit founded my Michelle Obama dedicated to leveraging the power of the private sector to bring lasting, systemic changes that improve the nation’s food supply and increase physical activity. While at PHA, Amaris brokered partnerships to transform the marketplace via third-party verified commitments to reformulate, innovate and market healthier options. Before joining PHA, she was Senior Account Executive at Porter Novelli, a global public relations agency where she executed nutrition communications strategies for a number of food boards and brands, including the Almond Board of California, NatureMade Vitamins and SOYJOY bars. Amaris holds a master’s degree in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a bachelor’s degree in dietetics from the Florida State University. She is an active member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and serves as communications chair for the Food and Culinary Professionals Dietetic Practice Group.

Bob Burke

Principal, Natural Products Consulting

Industry leader in bringing natural, organic and specialty products to market.

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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. Co-author of the Natural Products Field Manual, 8th Edition. www.naturalconsulting.com

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