Earthbound Farm Expands Its All-Star Line-Up Of People & Products

SAN JUAN BAUTISTA, Calif.: Earthbound Farm, one of the nation’s leading organic food brands, is now growing its reach in the grocery store while also investing in expanding its pool of talented customer development and marketing professionals.  With an ongoing commitment to launching new healthy and convenient products in the produce department, and a new company initiative to launch new products in the grocery and freezer aisles, Earthbound has added more than 40 positions to its team across the country.

“We’re investing in Earthbound Farm’s future by cultivating our existing talent and complementing it with an assortment of food industry veterans,” said Charles Sweat, CEO of Earthbound Farm. “Our company’s focus in 2012 will be to continue developing innovative products, with a focus on making delicious, healthy, organic food a practical and affordable choice for all consumers. I am delighted to have such talented professionals on Team Earthbound.”

Key hires in the company’s customer development and innovation teams include:

In Customer Development

·         Jon Nicosia has joined the Company as Customer Development Vice President for the Western division after several years with Pepsi and Campbell Soup in Sales Management. 

·         Earthbound veteran Glenn Daniels will maintain his role as Customer Development Vice President for the Eastern division.

·         Dan Welk, Customer Development Director East, responsible for the North and Southeast geographies, has joined the Company with experience at Del Monte Foods and Dole.

·         Jill Mazer has joined Earthbound Farm in the newly created role of Customer Development Senior Manager for the New York and New Jersey markets. Mazer’s background includes time with Dole and Ready Pak

·         Jeff Hutterer, Customer Development Director Central Region, has joined the team from Mann Packing.

·         Chris Carroll has joined Earthbound as Customer Development Director Southwest, where he is responsible for Southern Calif., and the Southwest markets including Colo., Utah, and Ariz.  Carroll comes to the Company following experience at Greenlinie Foods and Fresh Express.

·         Earthbound Farm veteran Steve Koran has been promoted to Vice President, Retail Sales and Customer Service, and is responsible for retail and commodity sales.

·         Ricardo Sardans has joined the Earthbound team as Director of Business Development for the Global Fruit Division.  Coming from Pacific Organic Produce, Sardans has deep relationships with fruit growers throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. He is developing a new business unit at Earthbound Farm focused on developing a global supply of organic fruit, held to Earthbound’s rigorous organic integrity and food safety standards. Joining Sardans are:

o   Ethan Abendroth, Retail Sales Manager, who comes to Earthbound after working in sales at Pacific Orgnanic Produce and Earl’s Organic.

o   Eric Thurston, Retail Sales Manager, who comes to Earthbound afgter working in sales and new business development for Giumarra Agricom LLC and C.H. Robinson. 

o   Liz Bourret, Commodity Manager, who comes to Earthbound after working in buying and procurement at Albert’s Organics and Veritable Vegetable.

·         Patricio Cogswell has joined the team as Senior Manager of Category Management.  He comes to Earthbound Farm from Fresh Express.

 

In Marketing and Product Development Teams:

·         Mike Mullaney has joined the team as Senior Manager of Co-Manufacturing.  Mullaney joins Earthbound with more than 12 years in managing co-manufacturing partnerships, most recently with Simplot Foods.

·         Jennifer Golden was recently hired as Senior Manager of Product Innovation, with product management and development experience, most recently with Chiquita/Fresh Express.

·         Ed Macias, Senior Manager of Product Innovation, recently joined the Company with nearly 15 years of brand marketing and product innovation experience from Dreyer’s Ice Cream and Gerber. He will now leads transformative new product innovation for the Company. 

Founded in 1984 on a 2½-acre backyard garden, Earthbound Farm is now one of the nation’s leading organic food companies. Earthbound Farm’s nationally-lauded food safety program is unparalleled in the produce industry.  The company offers more than 100 varieties of certified organic salads, fruits, and vegetables grown on over 36,000 acres by 150 independent farmers. Taken together, those organic farming methods will keep more than 11.5 million pounds of conventional chemicals out of the soil, water, and air during 2011 alone. For more information, visit Earthbound Farm’s website at www.ebfarm.com.

Source: Earthbound Farm