Maria Arand
Director, Office of the Customer Team
84.51° and Kroger
Maria Arand is a Director on the Office of the Customer Team at 84.51° and Kroger, leading Customer Strategy work. Her work focuses on understanding who is today’s shopper, the trends and forces shaping their behavior in the future, and consulting on how we can better address...
...shopper needs to drive profitable business growth.
Thomas Bailey
Executive Director, Consumer Foods
RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness
Thomas Bailey is Executive Director, Consumer Foods for RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness where he advises Rabobank and its clients on the evolving consumer landscape and its impact on the food industry. With a keen understanding of CPI, food innovation, and consumer trends...
...Tom regularly produces research content for Rabobank clients, helping them navigate current opportunities and prepare for the future. Prior to becoming Rabobank’s Senior Consumer Foods Analyst, has held various positions around the world from leadership roles in consumer food products in New Zealand to food and agricultural investment planning in China.
Katie Bowles
Tax Partner
Deloitte
Katie Bowles is a Tax Partner in the Private Wealth Tax practice at Deloitte’s office in Orange County, California. She is one of the local leaders of the firm’s tax practice focused specifically on strategic tax planning for privately held enterprises and their ultra-high net worth owners.
She has a strong technical background advising clients in the following areas: M&A strategies, family office structuring, partnership tax matters, s-corporation tax matters, advanced charitable planning, and estate tax planning. She has a depth of experience with privately held enterprises in the following industries: wineries and California agriculture, professional sports teams, manufacturing/retail distribution, and real estate development.
Melissa Cochran
Vice President, Finance
Niagara Bottling
Melissa Cochran is the Vice President of Finance at Niagara Bottling. During her time at Niagara,vshe has served as the Corporate Controller, Director of Finance and has been the Vice President of Finance since 2015. She oversees a team of 200 people focused on finance, accounting...
...continuous improvement, product lifecycle management, data science, business intelligence, and inventory process. While at Niagara, Melissa has seen the company grow from five manufacturing facilities to over 50 facilities in the U.S., Mexico, U.K. and Australia, and revenue grow over 2,400% in just 15 years. She sits on Niagara’s DEI Council and spearheads the company’s first Team Member Resource Group.
Rachel Dalton
Head of Retail Insights North America
Kantar
Rachel Dalton is Head of Retail Insights North America at Kantar where she leads a team of retail insights experts that research, publish, and deliver industry-leading thought leadership across all channels within the U.S. and Canadian markets. Rachel has consulted with numerous brands to identify...
...growth opportunities across the retail landscape and has extensive background in brand and global business management from her work leading strategic planning, new product development, commercial planning, and marketing planning across a variety of CPG brands and categories. She co-hosts the popular Kantar Retail Sound Bites podcast and has been featured and quoted in numerous media outlets as a sought-after retail expert.
Laurie Demeritt
Owner and CEO
The Hartman Group
Laurie Demerittis Owner and CEO of The Hartman Group where she drives the vision, strategy and operations for the consultancy focused on identifying demand-side trends in the food and beverage industry. A nationally recognized authority on consumer behavior and culture...
...Laurie oversees client projects focused on issues of portfolio management, brand renovation, consumer insights and innovation.
Connie Diekman, MEd, RD, LD, FADA, FAND
Food and Nutrition Consultant
Connie Diekman, M.Ed., RD, LD, FADA, FAND is a food and nutrition consultant in St. Louis, Missouri. A former Director of University Nutrition at Washington University in St Louis, she is also a past President of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and a former chair of the American Heart Association – Missouri affiliate.
Connie worked as a television nutrition reporter for close to 15 years and was the voice of the “Eating Right” minute which aired on radio station WBBM in Chicago. She is the author of “The Everything Mediterranean Diet Book: All You Need to Lose Weight and Stay Healthy!” and the book “SuperFood Nuts,” and is frequently quoted by the media on food and nutrition issues.
Maria Dubuc
President
MBD
Maria Dubuc is President of MBD where she is instrumental in developing brand strategies, overseeing complex retailer programs, and fueling business growth. With more than 30 years of creative management experience, Maria is dedicated to ensuring her teams, projects, and
processes align seamlessly to drive client success. In the retail brands arena, Maria has spearheaded the coordination, design, and deployment of new and re-branded programs for a diverse range of global retailers.
Burt P Flickinger III
Managing Director
Strategic Resource Group
Burt P Flickinger III is Managing Director of Strategic Resource Group and recognized as a leading expert on all aspects of the retail industry. Burt, along with Henry Mellet and their Strategic Resource Group team, has worked for virtually every major retailer in the U.S. and worldwide,
as well as the top 25 CPG companies. His family has been in the wholesale, vertically and horizontally integrated private label production, manufacturing, and branding businesses for generations since his great grandfather founded S.M. Flickinger Company – the largest supermarket wholesaler/retailer headquartered in the eastern U.S. prior to its acquisition by METRO GROUP S.A.
Julien LeBlanc
President and Co-Founder
bluePrint North America
Julien LeBlanc is President and Co-Founder of bluePrint North America, a boutique training and development firm dedicated to transforming business confidence. Whether it’s a startup or a Fortune 500 company, Julien is passionate about helping teams and individuals reach new heights.
He's delivered over 1,500 workshops and keynotes in 47 countries.
Angus McQuat
Partner
McKinsey & Company - Toronto
Angus McQuat is a partner in McKinsey & Company’s Toronto office where one of his main areas of focus is serving retailers and consumer packaged goods manufacturers on private label strategy. Angus has helped scale and optimize private label offerings at several leading North American grocers,
mass merchants, and department store chains and written several articles on private brand strategy and advises retailers on other merchandising focused topics including Ecommerce development. Prior to McKinsey, he was a chief merchant at a leading Canadian gourmet grocer and has led large categories at a leading mass merchandiser.
Frank Niekamp
Founding Partner
SalesStar
Frank Niekamp is the Founding Partner of SalesStar and President of SalesStar Ohio, a sales growth and transformation consultancy. Since 2019, he has worked with growth-minded CEOs to combine the elements required for a high-performing sales team that delivers consistent and
transformational results. Prior to SalesStar, Frank successfully led sales organizations at both Fortune 500 public companies and privately held organizations. His roles included VP of Sales at Mohawk Group and Shaw Industries, a division of Berkshire Hathaway, and Mannington Mills. He is an active member of Vistage, helping multiple businesses improve sales effectiveness, transform recruitment of high-performance talent and accelerate their business growth.
Joe Puglia
Business Technology and Operations Consulting Principal,
Plante Moran, PLLC
Joe Puglia is a Business Technology and Operations Consulting Principal at Plante Moran, PLLC. He’s spent more than 35 years of manufacturing and supply chain experience in the CPG industry, with 15 of those years as an executive-level leader.
As part of the Business Technology Advisory team practice, Joe has led or been a part of more than 15 business system implementations in companies ranging from small family-owned to Fortune 500.
He has helped businesses select and implement WMS, ERP, and CRM software and, as member of the food and beverage team at Plante Moran, has advised food and beverage clients on working through operations and EBITDA improvements, process reengineering, and critical change management challenges.
Andy Russick
Vice President Sales, Marketing & Customer Service
Pacific Coast Producers
Andy Russick is the Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Customer Service for Pacific Coast Producers. Over the 37 years he has been with PCP, he has held the positions of Vice President of Retail Sales, Director of Retail Sales, National Sales Manager, Regional Sales Manager, Field Operations
Manager and Logistics Coordinator.
Michael Sansolo
President
Sansolo Solutions LLC
Michael Sansolo is President of Sansolo Solutions LLC. As a consultant, speaker, author, and blogger, he provides with a unique and diverse view of the changing nature of trends impacting shoppers, employees, competition, economics, supply chains and management.
He currently serves as the research director of the Coca-Cola Retailing Research Councils for both supermarkets and convenience stores. In his 13 years as senior vice president at FMI, the biggest food retail association in the United States, he was responsible for all education, supply chain and research activities. In this position he developed an in-depth perspective of the changing nature of cooking, eating and shopping. Before joining FMI, Sansolo was Editor-in-Chief of Progressive Grocer magazine. Sansolo recently authored Business Rules! a collection of diverse and useful lessons in business success.
Neil Saunders
Managing Director
Retail GlobalData
Neil Saunders is Managing Director of GlobalData’s retail division where he oversees the development of the company’s proposition and its research output. He also works with major clients to help them understand the retail, shopper and market landscape –
advising them on how best to develop, evolve and implement business strategies. Prior to GlobalData, Neil worked at retail research firm Verdict where he latterly held the post of board director with responsibility for consulting, corporate development and planning. Before Verdict, he worked for the John Lewis Partnership where he was involved, among other things, in the planning and relocation of new stores, the development of the ecommerce business, and the creation of technical and information systems.
Jack Sinclair
CEO
Sprouts Farmers Market
Jack Sinclair is CEO of Sprouts Farmers Market, bringing more than 35 years of experience in retail and grocery to Sprouts since joining the company in June 2019. Jack was previously CEO and Chief Merchandising Officer of 99 Cents Only Stores LLC, a premier discount retailer with over
350 locations in the United States. He’s also held the position of Executive Vice President of the U.S. Grocery Division of Walmart, Inc., where he led all aspects of Walmart’s U.S. grocery business at its more than 4,000 stores. He also spent 14 years at Safeway PLC in London where he was responsible for operations, merchandising and marketing for over 450 Safeway supermarket and convenience store locations throughout the United Kingdom.