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Holly Adrien
Natural and Organic Strategy and Innovation Manager
The Kroger Co.
With a deep background in customer insights, analytics and merchandising, Holly leads development of The Kroger Co.'s strategic focus for natural and organic and is responsible for execution of top activations to meet customer's needs in natural and organic across the total store. In her role, she has the privilege of collaborating with all Kroger banners and both established and emerging brands to continuously innovate in terms of new items, promotions and communication to customers. Her passion for natural products started as an opportunity to improve health and performance in athletics, then blossomed when she was responsible for the Baby department for Kroger and recognized the opportunity that existed to provide the best to her customers, big and small.
Kuvy Ax
Owner
ROOT PR
Kuvy Ax has been helping shine a spotlight on exceptional food and beverage companies and organizations for more than two decades. Born in Boulder, Colorado, Kuvy spent her teen years in England, and moved back to Colorado in 1990. After a decade working in radio, newspaper and TV as a writer, announcer, producer and promoter, an obsession with good food prompted her to create ROOT Marketing & PR in 2001. Since then, Kuvy has handled public relations and marketing for almost every type of food- or beverage-related company, program and event, including promoting restaurant openings, coordinating special events and festivals, and leading national media tours, both bringing the media to her clients and taking her clients for media deskside interviews in NYC.
Kuvy is very active in the non-profit world, including serving as president of Pollination Planet, and as a board member of both Les Dames D'Escoffier and the World Food Travel Association. She has co-chaired Slow Food Boulder County, been a member of the Colorado Tourism Office and Dept. of Agriculture's Heritage & Agritourism Committee, and frequently volunteers her time supporting organizations such as the Flatirons Food Film Festival.
Annie Brown
Vice President of Development
Rodale Institute
Annie has been with Rodale Institute since 2012 and currently serves as the Vice President of Development. She oversees fundraising from foundations, corporations and individuals. For 75 years, Rodale Institute has been leading game-changing research, expertly training farmers and educating the community to help heal the broken agricultural system through the power of regenerative organic agriculture.
Bill Capsalis
Executive Director
Naturally Boulder
As an avid healthy lifestyle expert, Bill works with emerging brands as well as mid-sized companies on everything, including brand and sales channel strategy, finance, operational challenges and product innovation. His in-depth knowledge of the natural products industry gives him a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities facing today's food and beverage brands. He is a recognized expert in healthy lifestyles and go-to-market strategies in the natural and organic industry. He was previously the CEO of Haystack Mountain Creamery—an artisanal goat cheese company and saw the company through a sale in early 2021. Today he is the executive director of Naturally Boulder—a trade association in the natural products industry with more than 1,000 members and 200 sponsoring companies. Practicing what he preaches, Bill leads a vegan, low-impact conscious lifestyle and has done so in Boulder, Colo., for 34 years.
Brian Gordon
Chief Marketing Officer
Accelerate 360
At Accelerate 360 — an omnichannel sales, logistics, data and media company based in Atlanta — Brian oversees the company's proprietary brand development and marketing initiatives, all marketing initiatives related to its core lines of business, internal marketing and communications and the strategic IP extensions for all Accelerate360's media properties.
Previously, Brian founded Engine Shop and, as CEO, presided over the agency's growth into one of the industry's leading full-service engagement marketing agencies, securing clients such as AB InBev, American Family Insurance, Delta Airlines, Hilton, Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft and Proximo Spirits.
Brian began his career working in entertainment, representing celebrity talent including Cameron Diaz and Tyra Banks. His early work with brands like Diageo, American Express and Sony PlayStation gave him experience integrating with major properties and talent including the Super Bowl, the Grammy Awards, Tribeca Film Festival, Tiger Woods, Jerry Seinfeld and more.
Brian is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara. He's been married for 20 years to his wife Maria and has three boys, Jackson, Lucas and Benjamin.
Jessie Shafer
Registered Dietitian, Journalist
The Real Food Dietitians
Jessie Shafer is a registered dietitian, writer and recipe creator at The Real Food Dietitians, a nationally recognized food blog managed by a team of registered dietitians that receives more than 1 million pageviews each month. For the last 20 years, Jessie has worked in food and health publishing, holding the roles of editor-in-chief of Delicious Living magazine and senior nutrition editor for Diabetic Living magazine. She is also the former Director of Influence & Health Education at New Hope Network. During this time, she has managed the creation of more than 400 cookbooks, magazines, special-interest publications, nutrition articles and health-focused campaigns.
Jessie is a nutrition consultant for health-focused food brands, as well as a frequent contributing writer and nutrition expert for national health publications, including Clean Eating and Better Homes & Gardens, where she covers nutrition- and product-based analysis and trends. Jessie earned her journalism degree from Northwestern University and her registered dietician credentials through Kansas State University and the Wellness Workdays Dietetic Internship. Jessie and her husband share a deep appreciation for good food and love to ride their bikes around Colorado — now with two kids in tow (and a third on the way).
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