Carolyn once won $10,000 on the radio and wished she saved it to invest in Google or Amazon two decades later. After leaving Dell, she founded ROI Swift to follow her passion of helping emerging businesses grow. She is the mother of two children and has her pilot’s license, though no time to actually fly anymore. 

Jack Meredith is employee #1 at Kettle & Fire, one of the fastest growing CPG brands in the health & wellness space. Kettle & Fire was founded in 2015 to bring the many benefits of bone broth—collagen, gelatin, and other amino acids—back into America diet, while using traditionally wasted parts of animals.

Johnny is passionate about building teams, brands, and businesses. Based in Austin, Texas, he is the CEO of FitJoy Foods. Prior roles include serving as CEO and successfully scaling Austin Eastciders as the fastest-growing Hard Cider brand in the US. Johnny is also active within the local CPG community and loves mentoring small food and beverage companies, including within the SKU framework. Outside his professional life, he dotes on his better half and is a dedicated father to a bright, brave, and beautiful 7-year old girl. His hobbies include running the trails of Central Texas and cooking.

An entrepreneur and musician, Michael quit his full-time job in the corporate world to assemble a band of fellow storytellers, travelers, and coffee-lovers as enthusiastic as he is to share stories and coffee from around the world.

Kirstin is the managing director of SKU, a world-class program that accelerates emerging CPG brands through a thriving community of serial entrepreneurs & industry experts. SKU's 14-week intensive program provides emerging companies with access to industry leaders, key retailers, and the tools necessary to accelerate smarter, faster growth. Kirstin oversees selection of the 6-8 participating companies, curates the 40-person mentor group of leading CPG experts, and manages 30+ advisory mentors that are part of the extensive SKU network. 

Emily has more than 20 years of public relations experience with expertise in strategic planning and execution of communications programs for an array of food and lifestyle consumer brands. Emily specializes in media relations, planning and executing events, cultivating and maintaining relationships with key media as well as writing materials that get attention. On top of her past PR experiences at large agencies, she also has the breadth of knowledge (and gray hairs) of owning her own pie business.

A dietitian and nutrition innovation expert, Marissa Epstein is the Director of The University of Texas Nutrition Institute. Her work and teaching focuses on bringing consumers healthy eating solutions in everyday life by catalyzing innovation with evidence-based nutrition science. Previously, Marissa worked directly with Michelle Obama as The White House Let’s Move! Associate Director, driving national nutrition initiatives in the private sector and policy arenas. Most recently, she led personalized health education technology and programs at Stanford Health Care and taught courses in nutrition innovation at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. Marissa received her BS in Nutrition with Honors and BA in Plan II Honors, graduating Phi Beta Kappa from The University of Texas at Austin. She received her MBA from Stanford.

Quentin Cantu is co-founder of Ranch Rider Spirits, a brand of better-for-you Ready To Drink cocktails made with all natural ingredients. Having launched in January 2020, Ranch Rider is today one of the top-selling RTD brands in the country (Forbes). He also co-founded Ranch Hand, a healthy quick service food truck that he started on the UT campus while an MBA student. Before jumping head first into the Austin food & beverage world, Quentin thankfully had an ill-fated career in politics and desperately needed a change of scene. In his free time, Quentin obsesses over health, fitness, & finding the perfect craft tequila.

Arif Fazal is Founder & Managing Director of Blueberry Ventures, an investment fund focused on food & beverage that he launched in June 2015. Prior to launching Blueberry Ventures, Arif led Arif Advisors where he rolled up his sleeves with consumer branded growth companies and investors in the space, helping companies drive growth and investors realize opportunity. Arif holds a MBA from Stanford University and a BA from UC Berkeley.

Clayton is passionate about mission driven entrepreneurship and loves helping better for you food and beverage companies scale. He began his career in CPG with his grandmother, Mimi’s, iced tea recipe and his life savings of $14,000 which he used to start Sweet Leaf Tea, an organic bottled iced tea company. Eager to build on his lessons from Sweet Leaf, Clayton co-founded and was CEO of Deep Eddy Vodka. In 2016 Clayton co-founded CAVU Venture Partners, a consumer products focused investment firm. Clayton recently departed CAVU to spend more time with family and peruse other opportunities. Clayton currently serves on the boards of Austin Eastciders, High Brew Coffee, Kettle & Fire, Good Culture, Kite Hill, REBBL, Nutrabolt and Capstar SPAC. 

Dave has a unique knack for seeing opportunities where others see challenges. This instinct guides his management and strategic visions for the marketing of the booming Austin Eastciders brand, which has grown nationally 80% year-to-date under his tenure and is the top craft cider in Texas. He started with the brand – as its first marketing hire – when the only marketing asset was the package itself. He is a member of the Austin Eastciders Leadership Team and is accountable to the operating plan and the Board of Directors. He oversees strategic branding, new product development, and go-to-market strategy for the beloved craft cidery’s six core products, limited releases, as well as its tasting room footprint, the Austin Eastciders Collaboratory and Austin Eastciders Barton Springs.

Edwin Marty is the Food Policy Manager for the City of Austin’s Office of Sustainability. Edwin earned a BA in Anthropology from the University of Oregon and completed an “Apprenticeship in Agroecology” from the University of California, Santa Cruz.   Edwin worked for Southern Living Magazine as a garden writer and was the founder and director of a non-profit called Jones Valley Teaching Farm located in in Birmingham, Alabama.  He was also the Director of the non-profit urban farm in Montgomery called EAT South before leaving to join the City of Austin.  Edwin has consulted on numerous urban farm projects around the country, helped establish the Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network, and co-authored a book about urban farming in America called Breaking Through Concrete, published by the University of California Press. 

John R. Adams is Group Vice President for the Foodservice Business Unit at the Grande Cheese Company, the Advocate of the Independent(tm) and makers of "The finest Italian cheeses money can buy!(tm)". Prior to joining Grande in early 2019, John was with Kimberly-Clark for 14 years having most recently served as the business leader for the Professional Division's Industrial and Home Professional businesses. A native Texan, John is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and the McCombs School, and now lives in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, with his wife, two daughters, and two dogs.

Terry Sebastian is an Operating Partner at Lake Pacific Partners, a private equity investment firm focused on the food sector. As an operating partner he leads investment and portfolio management efforts on the West Coast and currently serves as Chairman of Innovative Freeze Dried Food in Ferndale, Washington. In addition to his current role at Lake Pacific Partners, he serves as an independent director for Alliance Bernstein Private Credit Investors, a private debt fund based in Austin, TX. Terry received an MBA degree from the Harvard Business School and a BBA with high honors from the University of Texas at Austin and currently lives in Capitola, California. 

As a true food professional, Elsa has been involved in the food industry for over 25 years. You could say that she has touched it all, having worked for food manufacturers, brokers, food service marketers and, of course, in retail at H-E-B. She has sold food, consulted for small manufacturers, managed brands, purchased food, and now spends her time sourcing for new companies.  In her current role as sourcing manager at H-E-B, she has traveled the backroads of Texas as well as across the globe, in search of new culinary delights for consumers to enjoy. While helping businesses grow in sales and profits is critical, mentoring and building relationships across the food world is the most important and enjoyable aspect of her work.

Meeta Kothare is adjunct professor in the McCombs School of Business, where she is the inaugural Managing Director of the Social Innovation Initiative. Meeta also holds a faculty appointment at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. She teaches popular classes in Financial Innovation for Social Impact, Impact Investing, and Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Meeta’s current interests include social innovation and the use of financial tools for social impact and sustainability. Her areas of expertise include: impact and sustainable investing, impact measurement, social entrepreneurship and innovation. Meeta holds a Ph.D. in Finance and an M.S. in Applied Economics from the University of Rochester, and an MBA from the University of Georgia, where she was the class valedictorian.

Jason Jones is an entrepreneur and advisor with a passion for disrupting industries for the better. He was Founding President of Vital Farms Inc, and today is CEO of Exo Protein and Growth Officer at Aspire Food Group. Jason is an active advisor and investor in a variety of growth-stage firms in the food, green-tech, and nutraceuticals sectors, in addition to other non-profit service. He is a founding Board Member of the CPG network Naturally Austin, in addition to other non-profit work. Jason earned his MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, is an avid outdoorsman and conservationist, and lives outside Austin with his family and two pit bulls.

Christine Mei is a global leader with over 30 years of CPG industry experience, having enjoyed assignments living in the US, China, and Hong Kong. She has built her career across a wide spectrum of roles in marketing, strategy, sales, and operations while having managed teams around the world in developed, developing, and emerging countries. Mei has held various leadership positions at companies including Beiersdorf, Royal Philips, The Coca-Cola Company, Nike and Procter & Gamble. She holds a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from The University of Texas and an MBA from Rice University. Most recently, she has been an investor and mentor for SKU, a CPG accelerator based in Austin, TX, where she advised start-up companies.

Janet Zoldan is an Associate professor at the department of Biomedical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Her lab focuses on human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) as a model system to explore key principles underlying tissue formation processes by integrating and applying materials and stem cell bioengineering.  She recently co-founded BioBQ, the first Texas-based company to produce cell-based meat, specifically beef brisket and jerky. She earned a BSc in Chemistry from the Hebrew University and a PhD in Material Engineering from the Technion. She then perused her postdoctorate training at MIT in Bob Langer’s lab

Linnea launched GingerBread Capital (GBC) in 2016 to build and invest in women’s entrepreneurial success–and encourage other women to do the same. It’s fitting that after retiring from a successful 30-year career in investment banking, one of her first investments in a women-led venture under the mantle of GBC was the 2016 feature film, “Equity,” about women on Wall Street. Linnea spent the latter half of her career on Wall Street as a Partner in the technology sector at Goldman Sachs, where she led many a start-up from launch to IPO. Linnea continues to mentor women pursuing financial careers through her involvement with her alma mater, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where she received an MBA in Finance. She also holds a BA in Business Administration and Management from Valparaiso University. 

Genevieve Gilbreath has been an active entrepreneur in the consumer goods space since 2002. From her experience launching and growing two import/export supplement companies. From 2016 through 2018, she served as the Managing Director of SKU, the first and leading consumer products accelerator in the U.S.. Most recently, in 2019, she co-founded Austin based, Springdale Ventures, an early stage consumer goods investment fund. She has also developed cross-cultural educational curriculums for Princeton University and served as an adjunct professor at Baylor University. Genevieve earned an undergraduate degree in fine arts from Pacific University (1995), a Master of Science from Baylor University (1998).

Jon founded Sonoma Brands in January 2016 and leads all aspects of the Firm’s investment strategy and portfolio company management. Prior to founding Sonoma Brands, Jon was the Founder & CEO of KRAVE Pure Foods (“KRAVE”). Jon has always been an avid runner, and when he was training for the New York City Marathon in 2009, he realized the opportunity to turn a commonly used training food into something truly special. With encouragement from his mentor, Steve Blank, Jon founded KRAVE with the intent on making jerky that tastes good without chemicals and additives. KRAVE went on to become one of the fastest growing CPGs in the country. Jon received his B.S. in Economics from Santa Clara University and his dual M.B.A from the Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley and Columbia Business School.