Meet the Expo East 2019 NEXTY Awards Judges
These seven industry experts bring stellar experience in retail, e-commerce, investment, brokerage, nutrition, packaging and health influence—and they’ll help decide the NEXTY Awards winners this year.
June 24, 2019
![1000x520_NH Gallery.png 1000x520_NH Gallery.png](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt09e5e63517a16184/blt71da7697ccf17415/64e8e92e1c3323c1f248eea7/1000x520_NH_20Gallery.png?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
Caroline Fausel has always loved nutrition. Married to a doctor, she and her partner always had the “nutrition vs. medicine” debate. Finally, they read the Whole30 book “It Starts With Food,” which had enough science and research to convince her husband Chaz to try Whole30. They finished their first Whole30 venture in June of 2014, and Caroline started her blog Olive You Whole in July of 2014. Caroline, Chaz, and their two kiddos have been Paleo ever since! Now with a better understanding of what makes us healthier, Caroline develops recipes for those striving to eat clean, whether Paleo or Whole30. She is also passionate about the health of the whole body, mind and soul, and helps people detoxify their homes.
Eric Skokan is the most ambitious farm-to-table restaurateur in America, growing most of the food for his two restaurants on 130 acres in Boulder County, Colorado. Eric opened his first restaurant, Black Cat Bistro, in 2006, followed by Bramble & Hare in 2012. As a chef/farmer with a keen palate, Eric grows specifically for flavor, and has experimented with hundreds of varieties of vegetables and breeds to find ones that deliver the most flavor to diners. He also farms for soil health and the environment. The farm is certified organic and biodynamic. Additionally, in 2017, Eric was a semi-finalist for a James Beard Award.
Erica Eliason Cutts has passionately dedicated the past 20 years of her career in the natural products industry and is currently the Senior Category Manager of Body Care and Vitamins at Fresh Thyme Farmers Market in the Chicagoland area. She has been with Fresh Thyme since its inception and has been instrumental in the creation, design and success of Fresh Thyme’s Natural Living department. During this time, Erica collaborated with The Creative Pack to develop the perfect design for the private label body care range which has been awarded multiple Vertex Awards. In the years leading up to her current role, she worked for UNFI in space planning and merchandising while enjoying life on the island of O`ahu. Prior to this, Erica held store leadership and national merchandising positions with Wild Oats and Henry’s Markets.
Kari Pedriana is the CEO and co-Founder of Green Spoon, a modern natural food and beverage brokerage that represents the industry's most disruptive and emerging consumer packaged goods throughout the United States. Green Spoon works with like-minded brands and people that share the common desire to shake things up, to bring the most exciting and highest quality products to shelf and to offer retail partners products that their customers are proud to purchase. Kari helped build the company with a focus on passion, integrity, communication and hard work. Green Spoon is dedicated to going above and beyond for their clients and continuing their success of building natural food and beverage brands across the nation.
Reyna Bryan is the president of RCD Packaging, a Sustainable Packaging Design and Innovation company. Reyna built her career around packaging engineering, materials and manufacturing, with a focus on compostable flexible film packaging, specialty fibers and bio-polymers. She works to bring cutting-edge packaging technologies to the natural product industry and helps brands transition to sustainable material supply chains.
Robyn O’Brien has helped transform food corporations of every size, from startups to multinationals, in order to help them meet the changing needs of 21st century consumers. Recognized as one of the world’s most visionary voices in the food industry, she is the Vice President of rePlant Capital, an impact investment firm, deploying integrated capital from soil to shelf in order to reverse climate change. Robyn was a founding team member of of AIM/Invesco’s first hedge fund of $100+ million and a team member on their $20 billion Constellation Fund. She was an advisor to Paul Hawken’s “Drawdown” (published in April 2017) and has advised startups, banks and multinationals, while working with global CEOs and management teams in the food industry. Robyn is also the founder of Do Good, a strategic advisory firm, and AllergyKids Foundation, which serves the 1 in 3 children with allergies, asthma, ADHD and autism. Random House published Robyn's book, "The Unhealthy Truth," in 2009, and her TEDx talk has been viewed by millions and translated into multiple languages.
Ryan Lewis is a thought-leader and innovator in the conscious commerce movement. Ryan is the founder and CEO of the sustainable ecommerce platform EarthHero–a curated online marketplace that uses its strict five stage sourcing methodology to ensure only the most sustainable products are selected. This includes vetting the materials and ingredients of each product, how the labor component of each brand is treated, product and shipping packaging, all philanthropic activities and how each product helps people live a more sustainable lifestyle. Ryan combines his two decades of e-commerce experience with his passion for sustainability to deliver awareness, education and conscious purchasing solutions to consumers that benefit the planet and society as a whole.
Ryan Lewis is a thought-leader and innovator in the conscious commerce movement. Ryan is the founder and CEO of the sustainable ecommerce platform EarthHero–a curated online marketplace that uses its strict five stage sourcing methodology to ensure only the most sustainable products are selected. This includes vetting the materials and ingredients of each product, how the labor component of each brand is treated, product and shipping packaging, all philanthropic activities and how each product helps people live a more sustainable lifestyle. Ryan combines his two decades of e-commerce experience with his passion for sustainability to deliver awareness, education and conscious purchasing solutions to consumers that benefit the planet and society as a whole.
The NEXTY Awards is a biannual awards program which serves to recognize and elevate the most innovative, inspirational and integrity-driven products in the natural products industry. The awards are given twice a year at Natural Products Expos East and West and offer increased exposure to investors, retailers, distributors, media, influencers and more. The finalists and winners are chosen in a thorough two-tier judging process held in the New Hope Network office in Boulder, Colorado, one month before the shows. Check out the NEXTY Awards judging video here.
For the final judging round, New Hope invites a diverse panel of industry experts to join the New Hope Network content team, standards team, and NEXT Data and Insights team in whittling down the impressive body of nominees to a select few finalists, and, ultimately, the single winner in each of the 22 categories.
Click through this helpful roundup of this year's judges to learn more about the depth of expertise they’ll bring to the NEXTY judging panel for Expo West 2019.
Natural Products Expo East Logo
Are you an exhibitor at Natural Products Expo East who has a NEXTY-worthy product? Click here to nominate it before the deadline on July 19th!About the Author(s)
You May Also Like