| Art Bell Partner The Partnering Group Art is a Partner with The Partnering Group, working across TPG’s Manufacturer Consulting and Marketing practices. Art brings more than 15 years of experience in consulting and manufacturer sales & marketing. Art’s expertise includes pricing strategy, trade optimization, category management, tool creation, organizational development, and customer & market analytics.
Over the last two years with The Partnering Group, Art has worked on trade spend optimization projects for both retail and away from home operations. Art also has developed joint business plans for both a foodservice manufacturer (broadline distributor customer) and a building products manufacturer (retail customer focused on building contractors).
Prior to joining TPG, Art led the development of the strategic pricing function within the foodservice organization of Sara Lee. During this role, Art spearheaded the development of a formal value-pricing framework, re-designed the price setting processes, implemented a regional pricing strategy, and helped establish pricing governance across global Sara Lee. Art was responsible for the development of a standardized process to manage responses to formal Request for Proposals (RFP). | |
| Vince Crew Founder REACH Development Services Clients say Vince’s edge comes from diverse and multiple industry experience. Vince calls it “TransREACHing©: the act of discovering fundamental truths, regardless of industry, that enable innovative transition (doing things differently) or transformation (doing different things).” With 20 years of sales, marketing, management, and executive leadership experience combined with nearly 20 years of running his own firm, he is a trusted resource to executives around the U.S. Vince holds a graduate degree in Marketing & Communication with an emphasis on Leadership Ethics during Organizational Lifecyles. He is a syndicated columnist, publisher of The One Sheeter© monthly newsletter, and a contributor to the national business media. He has been both an adjunct faculty member and a corporate trainer. Vince is the author of four books on business leadership issues. Today he’s a recognized thought leader on business issues acting as a confidential adviser and coach to various industry leaders. | |
| Dave DeWalt President Franklin Foodservice Solutions Dave DeWalt is President of Franklin Foodservice Solutions, a firm that serves food industry clients on a variety of strategic, marketing and distribution-related projects.
Franklin Foodservice Solutions has become nationally recognized for its expertise in the area of redistribution. In addition to developing customized redistribution strategies and programs for many major manufacturers, Mr. DeWalt regularly speaks and leads seminars on the topic, and has been published in Food Logistics Magazine. Mr. DeWalt is author of Understanding Foodservice Redistribution, which went to press in February, 2007, and Understanding Jan-San Redistribution, published in February 2008.
More recently, Dave published Navigating the Foodservice Channel, a book designed to explain the structure and workings of the foodservice industry, including conflicts among channel members. The book is an excellent resource to help companies orient new employees.
Since 2003, Dave has published the monthly “Foodservice Marketing Insights” newsletter; subscriptions and back issues are available from the “Free Resources” page of his website, www.franklin-foodservice.com. Since 2012, he has led the Foodservice Insider group, a subscription-only group of manufacturers, distributors, operators, and brokers who discuss relevant issues on an anonymous basis.
In addition to his consulting work, Dave founded and facilitates the SMART Share Group, a consortium of foodservice brokers that works together to address common business issues. He also founded and facilitates the Foodservice Supply Chain Alliance, a group which meets regularly to collaborate on supply chain issues and conduct studies.
Prior to launching Franklin Foodservice Solutions, Mr. DeWalt was an Associate with A.T. Kearney, serving clients including Sara Lee Bakery, Unilever Foods, and General Motors. Food industry experience includes fifteen years in Marketing, Sales, and Executive positions with Sara Lee Bakery, Vlasic Foods, and Awrey Bakeries.
Mr. DeWalt has developed a unique ability to design and conduct projects which provide measurable results for his clients. He is able to draw on formal consulting techniques, practical knowledge, and an excellent network of industry experts who are available to contribute to a client’s success. Dave has developed a versatile, action-oriented and pragmatic approach to problem-solving. He has earned a reputation for his ability to tackle a wide range of problems, and engages exceptionally well with people from the boardroom to the plant floor.
Dave has a Bachelor’s Degree in Hospitality Business from Michigan State University, and a Master’s Degree in Marketing and Finance from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. He and his wife live in Sanibel, Florida. | |
| Eric Giandelone Senior Consultant Mintel As Senior Consultant on Mintel’s Research Consultancy team, Eric Giandelone is charged with identifying trends and developing actionable insights for clients. Previous to his position as Senior Consultant, Eric was the Director of Foodservice Research for Mintel Foodservice, writing and developing foodservice-specific reports as well as assisting clients in the foodservice space.
With 10+ years of market research experience, Eric’s past work experiences include stops at Sara Lee Foodservice, where he led commercial marketing effort, and Technomic, a market research and consulting firm based in Chicago.
Eric holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and is a graduate from DePaul University, where he graduated with a B.A. in English.
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| Bill Hale Founder Hale Group Mr. Hale, the founder of The Hale Group, Ltd., has an extensive history of providing strategic counsel to the various participants in the food system. He has consulted with clients ranging from first stage processors and food manufacturers to chain restaurant operators and retail grocers. Recognized as an expert in the food industry, Mr. Hale is well known for his ability to identify emerging trends and new opportunities within the food system. Mr. Hale has conducted benchmark studies concerning strategic business and market planning, economic and competitive assessments, identification of market opportunities, and development of go-to-market strategies and programs. Mr. Hale received his B.S. in Food Science and Technology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and his M.B.A. from Boston College. | |
| David Henkes Vice President Technomic, Inc. David Henkes is a Vice President at Technomic, Inc. and is responsible for directing strategic consulting and research assignments for supplier, operator and trade association clients active in the food and beverage industries. His specific responsibilities include client development, industry and competitive research, project oversight, study design, analysis of research findings and client reporting. He is also the Executive Director of Technomic’s Adult Beverage Insights Group and oversees the firm’s On-Premise Beverage Alcohol Practice.
Industry Consulting/Research Experience
Since joining the firm in 1996, Dave has managed a wide variety of proprietary and multiclient engagements, both domestic and international. His range of experience is wide and includes market and strategic planning, customer satisfaction benchmarking, opportunity analyses, acquisition due diligence evaluations, new product evaluation and concept testing, usage/attitude analyses, and distribution systems analyses. He has also moderated numerous professional and consumer focus groups on food and related topics.
Before joining Technomic, Dave gained international food experience working with Nestle Germany in Frankfurt, Germany. With his international experience, Dave has conducted studies in many European countries as well as Mexico and Canada. Prior to his food industry work he also worked as a federal investigator in Washington, DC.
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| Dave Jenkins Managing Director Client Solutions Datassential Dave joined Datassential in the Spring of 2013. As Managing Director of Client Solutions, Dave manages sales and marketing and is responsible for continuing to grow and expand Datassential's customer relationships and product offerings.
Prior to joining Datassential, Dave was a Partner at CustomersDNA a research consultancy focusing on QSR loyalty and prior to that the President of NPD's Foodservice business. With over 25 years in the food industry, his career has been focused on the trends shaping how consumers eat at home and at restaurants.
Dave holds a MS in Statistics from Indiana University and BA in Psychology from DePauw University. | |
| Heidi Keathley Director-Research and Consulting Technomic, Inc. Heidi Keathley, Director-Research and Consulting at Technomic, Inc. is responsible for conducting research, analysis of research findings and project management for manufacturers and other trading partners within the foodservice industry. In addition, Heidi’s background in both distribution and manufacturing supports Technomic’s efforts within the category management arena.
Industry Experience
Prior to joining Technomic, Heidi was Senior Sales/Customer Development Manager at Tyson Foods, Foodservice division. She was responsible for strategic planning, new product development and promotional support of Tyson’s distributor customers, as well as commercial and non-commercial customers.
Before that, Heidi has 20 years of experience in food service distribution that includes customer service, accounting, procurement, sales and marketing, warehouse and transportation operations and for eight years as general manager of two facilities. In addition to food service distribution, she also managed distribution operations for a national retail home furnishings organization. Special projects include business process optimization, implementing new delivery methods for timelier, more accurate deliveries, as well as part of core team that led decentralization efforts of corporate human resources, procurement and accounting functions.
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| Jack Li Managing Director Datassential Jack Li spearheads Datassential's custom insights and new products initiatives. Over the past decade, Jack has helped launch a number of foodservice research platforms including:
Jack has led hundreds of research studies for foodservice manufacturers and distributors across a broad array of topics. Jack holds an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA, and is a 2003 recipient of the IFMA Sparkplug award. | |
| Laura Patterson President and Founder VisionEdge Marketing Want to prove and improve the value of your marketing? For 20+ years, Laura has been helping CEOs and Marketing Executives at companies such as Cisco, Elsevier, ING, Intel, Kennametal, and Southwest Airlines do just that. She was an early advocate of using marketing data, processes, automation, metrics, and dashboards to link marketing initiatives and investments to business outcomes. Laura has authored three books on marketing performance management, including the most recent: Metrics in Action: Creating a Performance Driven Marketing Organization. You can see Laura in action online at Marketing Made Simple, Marketing Profs, and Software Advice. | |
| Joe Pawlak Vice Presidents Technomic Joseph Pawlak, a Vice President at Technomic, Inc., is responsible for directing and conducting consulting and research assignments for manufacturers and associations in the food and related industries. He has also managed engagements for restaurant chains and foodservice management firms. His specific responsibilities include project management, study design and planning, analysis of research findings and client reporting. In addition to his proprietary engagement duties, Joe serves as director of the firm’s Foodservice Planning Program and Takeout Packaging Consortium. Consulting/Research Experience Since joining the firm in 1991, Joe has conducted a wide variety of food industry studies involving market planning, customer satisfaction benchmarking, new product development, food trends, opportunity analyses, acquisition evaluations, concept testing, and analyses of distribution systems. He has special expertise in the areas of foodservice market trends, market size modeling and implication development. From a methodological perspective, Joe has considerable experience in moderating both professional and consumer focus group sessions specifically on food-related topics. Industry Experience Joe has over 25 years of extensive food industry experience in both consulting and packaged goods manufacturing. Prior to joining Technomic, Joe held food technology management positions with the Campbell Soup Company. Speaking Engagements/Professional Associations Joe has been a featured speaker for various foodservice industry conferences, including the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association (IFMA), National Restaurant Association (NRA), Restaurant Leadership Conference and other industry client functions. He is a professional member of the Institute of Food Technologists and has been active in committees supporting IFMA. He has been cited in business publications, including Business Week, Chicago Tribune, Crain’s, New York Times, Time Magazine and U.S. News and World Report, and has appeared on various news outlets, including CNBC, Fox News, and CBS News. Education Joe earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology/Biochemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Business Administration degree in Marketing from Loyola University of Chicago. | |
| Annie Roberts President, SupplyTrack® The NPD Group Annie Roberts has worked in the foodservice industry for 20-plus years and currently serves as President of the SupplyTrack® unit at The NPD Group, a leading market research company. SupplyTrack is the first and only service that benchmarks and tracks sales information on every product shipped from a critical mass of broadline distributors to each of their foodservice operators. As president of SupplyTrack, Annie oversees all operations as well as distributor and client relations.
Prior to her current role, Annie was executive director of business development for NPD’s CREST® foodservice business, which continually tracks all aspects of how consumers use restaurants and other foodservice outlets. Her clients included the majority of the major restaurant chains and a host of foodservice manufacturers. Annie, who joined NPD in 1995, also served in progressively responsible client development roles at the company.
She is a frequent speaker at foodservice industry events and is a member of IFMA, International Foodservice Distributors Association, and the National Restaurant Association. | |
| Nicholas Toman Senior Director CEB Nick Toman is the Research Director of the Sales Practice of CEB (formerly called the Corporate Executive Board) in Arlington, VA. He oversees the global research operation and product development for the Sales Leadership Council and Sales Leadership Council for SMBs, which collectively serve over 650 sales organizations. Nick was formerly the Research Director for CEB’s Customer Contact Council, which serves over 350 customer service organizations globally. For the past decade, Nick has conducted numerous research studies in the space of customer service and sales effectiveness and presented these findings to business leaders and management teams around the world. Nick’s expertise spans a variety of topics including talent management, customer experience management, sales and service operations management, sales and service strategy, sales enablement and organizational culture. He most enjoys researching the intersection of behavioral economics and social science meet traditional business management. Nick is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review with articles such as “The End of Solution Sales” in the summer 2012 issue and “Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers” in the summer 2010 issue, with forthcoming article in late 2013. He is a principle contributor to “The Challenger Sale” (Penguin/Portfolio, 2010) and ongoing research on the Challenger and Insight Selling Methods™. Nick is also a frequent contributor on sales and customer service topics for a number of blogs, including that of the Harvard Business Review and Freakonomics. His first book, “The Effortless Experience,” (Penguin/Portfolio, 2013) will be published in the fall of 2013. Nick holds dual degrees from the University of Chicago: A.B., Sociology and A.B., Law, Letters & Society. He graduated with both general academic honors, as well as departmental honors in Sociology. Nick currently resides in Washington D.C., with his wife and son. In his spare time, Nick competes in tournament fishing and enjoys other outdoor activities. | |
