New York, NY — BrightFarms, a start-up revolutionizing the U.S. produce supply chain by creating the first national brand for local produce, today announced that Abby Prior, former Director of Marketing of Premium Bread for Bimbo Bakeries USA (BBU), will spearhead the team's business development and marketing efforts as Vice President, Business Development. Prior will lead the company's strategic expansion strategy, amplifying its continued success and reporting to CEO, Paul Lightfoot.
Prior brings extensive experience building and leading teams, and an impressive background in marketing, operational strategy, new product launches and business development. In her latest role at BBU, Abby led a team of marketers in support of its one-billion-dollar Premium Bread portfolio. While at BBU, she also led the organization's innovation group and sat on the BBU Sustainability Steering committee. Before BBU, she was Senior Manager of Creative Services at Aramark, where she led promotional development for large branded food partners within the foodservice sector. She also worked at Unilever across multiple food categories in both brand management and sales.
"Abby has an enviable track record of launching and cultivating 'household name' food brands," said Lightfoot. "I'm looking forward to working closely with her as BrightFarms adds more retail partners and builds more greenhouse farms across the Midwest and East Coast. She will be a linchpin as we continue to grow."
BrightFarms is recognized as a thought leader in the local food movement because of its unique ability to provide sustainable, local produce at a profitable, commercial scale. It's business model, crafting partnerships with supermarket chains for each greenhouse, allows it to give retailers steady supply and pricing and to provide consumers year-round access to the freshest produce.
"I am thrilled to join the BrightFarms team at this exciting time," said Prior. "Together with strategic retail partners, we can improve the environment and the health of our nation by changing the landscape of modern farming and supply."
ABOUT BRIGHTFARMS: BrightFarms grows local produce, nationwide. BrightFarms finances, builds, and operates local greenhouse farms in partnership with supermarkets, cities, capital sources, and vendors, enabling it to quickly and efficiently eliminate time, distance, and costs from the food supply chain. BrightFarms’ growing methods, a model for the future of scalable, sustainable local farming, uses far less energy, land and water than conventional agriculture. Fast Company recognizes BrightFarms as “One of World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies” and one of the “Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Food” in the world. For more information, please visit www.brightfarms.com.
Source: BrightFarms
