Education Event: Igniting Sales Strategy That Fuels Brand Passion and Accelerates Growth

To continuously provide education for real world situations, we present monthly Education Events. Learn from the experts how to succeed with your business!

Igniting Sales Strategy that Fuels Brand Passion and Accelerates Growth

When: April 23, 2019, 6:00 – 7:30 PM
Where: Zoom online video conferencing; register here
Subject Track: Sales, Marketing & Distribution

Building strong, sustainable brands today is inextricably linked with choices about where and how to sell. Getting discovered inside a traditional retail outlet is almost impossible as brands compete with 40,000 SKUs. This challenge in discovery combined with the reality that since 2016 more food and beverage transactions take place outside of traditional retail presents a quickly shifting market for challenger brands. Join us for a discussion to understand how leading edge brands build insight on their consumer journey and then position their products for sale with customers that create the opportunity to generate brand passion. These brands understand that where you sell can become a source of advantage and a marketing strategy to drive outsized growth across the entire demand landscape.

Naturally Colorado has taken appropriate steps to make sure our Zoom connection will be secure, so you can join this webinar with confidence.

Learn from the Experts

Jill Brant – Managing Partner, Seurat Group
Peter J. Burns – President/CEO, ONE Brands
Betsy Gillette – Co-Founder & CEO, Synergy Sales Consulting Group

Meet the Panelists

Jill Brant
Jill Brant is a Founder and Managing Partner at the Seurat Group, an advisory and investment firm focused on the consumer goods sector that she co-founded 9 years ago. Jill’s passion for helping brands grow began at General Mills and has been part of her DNA for 20+ years. She works with a range of partners, from entrepreneurs to the largest CPG companies in the world, to help them better orient towards future trends and accelerate growth. Jill sits on the board of Peeled Snacks, a Seurat Group portfolio company. Jill received her BS from the University of Pennsylvania and her MBA from Harvard Business School. She lives in Fairfield, CT with her husband and their twins. You can find Jill spending weekends with her family, playing with her dogs, immersed in a book or trying to improve her tennis game.

Peter J. Burns
In 2017 Peter Burns became President/CEO at ONE Brands. Burns’ experience in the industry helped position the company’s infrastructure for growth and drove the expansion of the popular ONE® Bar, a nutrition snack bar packed with 20 grams of protein and just one gram of sugar. Burns successfully led ONE to its acquisition by The Hershey Company in October 2019. Before ONE, Peter was President/CEO at Justin’s where he developed and executed a successful 2-year strategic sales plan leading to the acquisition of Justin’s by Hormel Foods in May of 2016. Before arriving at Justin’s, Burns held the position of President at Celestial Seasonings for more than 5 years. In May of 2011 he accepted the additional position and responsibilities as Chief Sales Officer – Hain Celestial USA. Prior to his accomplishments at Celestial Seasonings, Burns was the Senior Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Jones Soda Co. and before that, the Vice President of Sales at IZZE Beverage Company. Also of note are senior executive positions at the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corporation and The Hershey Company.

Betsy Gillette
Betsy is a 20-year industry veteran with 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, with UNFI. For the past 4 years Betsy has held key roles at Ignite Sales Management, led sales with Whole Foods, and most recently served 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. She serves on the FMI Emerge Council of Champions.