Faculty

Program instruction is developed and presented by faculty at St. Joseph’s University and adjunct faculty drawn from industry experts.

Steve PorthDr. Stephen Porth
Professor of Management, Saint Joseph’s University

Dr. Stephen Porth is a Professor of Management in the Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph's University and the Senior Editor of the Journal of Jesuit Business Education. Dr. Porth has chaired three academic departments at SJU – Management, Food Marketing, and Pharmaceutical Marketing.

He served for 17 years as Associate Dean and Executive Director of graduate programs in the Haub School of Business. He is the NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative at SJU and is on the Executive Committee of FARA, the national association of faculty athletics representatives.

Amanda LaiAmanda Lai
Director, Food Industry Practice, McMillanDoolittle

Amanda Lai leads the Food Industry Practice at McMillanDoolittle, a Chicago-based consultancy that has served the retail industry for over 35 years. As a Director, she partners with her global food and retail clients to develop comprehensive strategies and concepts that help retailers and brands succeed.

She began her career at PepsiCo, where she managed sales and beverage assortments for customers such as 7-Eleven, CVS, and Walgreens. She also has experience in promotional marketing at global advertising conglomerate WPP, where her client roster included Kellogg’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Snapchat.

Amanda is a keynote speaker and subject matter expert in trends, innovation, and grocery, and has presented insights in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Theo Schweitz

Theo Schweitz
Chief Executive Officer, Drive Wheel Peer Groups

Theo Schweitz is CEO of Drive Wheel Peer Groups, where he organizes peer groups for food and consumer packaged goods leaders. He is driven to create opportunities for: collaboration, benchmarking, networking, and strategizing. These methods give leaders assurance they have the information they need to make confident business decisions.

With 25 peer groups covering all aspects of sales, marketing, logistics, and management, Theo can offer leaders confidence that when they present a new idea, it is well vetted by the best minds in the industry. Previously, Theo was the Director of Private Brand Food at Target where he oversaw brand positioning, product development, and promotional strategy for Target’s portfolio of brands. He was the VP of Strategy at BBDO advertising agency.

Sara WilliamsSara Williamson, Ph.D.
Faculty, SUNY College at Old Westbury

Dr. Sara Williamson is an Assistant Professor of Marketing with an expertise in consumer psychology. Her research investigates how choice, consumption, and disposal of packaged goods can be impacted by contextual cues related to product design, labeling, and retailing. Her research has been featured in regional and national media outlets.

And has been awarded by the American Marketing Association for its societal impact. Currently a faculty member at The State University of New York (SUNY), Sara has been teaching undergraduate and MBA marketing courses for 13 years and has previously served as a faculty member for the Haub School of Business Food Marketing Department at Saint Joseph’s University. Sara also offers more than a decade of industry experience in sales and marketing within both private and public sectors, working with stakeholders along the value chain to foster successful relationships among retailers, restaurants, and food suppliers.

Jac RossJac Ross
VP Our Brands, Sprouts Farmers Market

Jac Ross is VP Our Brands at Sprouts Farmers Market where she focuses on bringing exclusive and innovative private label products to the fast-growing grocer’s base of shoppers who are enthusiastic about health and wellness. She has extensive experience within the private label industry across product development, innovation, manufacturing and retailing in the U.S.

And, for 20 years she worked within Europe and the U.K. for retailers including Ahold Delhaize, Unilever, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s. Jac serves on the Board of Directors for Women Impacting Storebrand Excellence™ (WISE), a non-profit professional development organization that champions the power of diversity and inclusion within the store brands industry. 

Chris Gardier

Christopher Gardier
President, Catalyst Consultants, LLC 

Chris Gardier has enjoyed a successful career leading sales, marketing and shopper insight teams at Kraft Foods, Frito Lay, Pepperidge Farm, Hain Celestial, JBSS (John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc.) and Caro Nut.

 

During his 12 years leading sales at JBSS, he commercialized their private brands value proposition. In Chris’ career he has established a reputation as an organization and business transformation specialist.  Several leading national retailers awarded his teams vendor of the year honors for significantly transforming their category results.  Today, Chris consults organizations on sales strategy and compelling sales and marketing messaging.

Marijn Overvest

Marijn Overvest
President, Catalyst Consultants, LLC 

Marijn Overvest is the founder of Procurement Tactics, a company that provides procurement training to retailers and suppliers in FMCG worldwide. With over 15 years of experience in procurement and negotiations, including more than a decade within the commercial department of a large global retailer, he has personally negotiated deals of up to €500 million.