The 6 guest NEXTY Awards judges for Spark Change
These six industry experts will bring their expertise in retail, investment, branding, sourcing, operations and nutrition to this special round of the NEXTY Awards. They’ll help decide the NEXTY Awards winners that will be recognized through Spark Change.
July 31, 2020
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Jessica Beacom, RDN - Co-founder, The Real Food Dietitians Bio: Jessica is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with over 20 years of experience in food and nutrition. Together with fellow dietitian Stacie Hassing she creates delicious, approachable, gluten-free recipes that everyone can enjoy at The Real Food Dietitians. Personal mission: "My personal mission is to help others enjoy cooking and nourishing themselves in a way that's delicious and sustainable. I think the most valuable skill one can have is knowing how to cook so that they can experience the pleasure of bringing others to their table for food and connection."
Brandon Hernandez - Co-founder, Whole Brain Consulting Bio: Brandon Hernandez is a high-risk quality and food safety consultant with over 10 years of experience in every aspect of food safety, R&D and sanitation applications. With a B.S. in biology from Colorado State University and experience with Whitewave Foods corporate headquarters (formerly Zateca Foods), Rodelle/Custom Blending and Claremont Foods, Hernandez brings a wide breadth of knowledge to the table.
Alaine Janosy - Global Platform Lead, Ecological Ingredients Development (Nestlé Purina PetCare) Bio: Alaine Janosy is the Global Platform Lead, Ecological Ingredients Development at Nestlé Purina PetCare. In this role, and in her work as an independent sustainability consultant to the food industry, Alaine works to create, enable and expand strategies that drive the adoption of regenerative farming practices. Alaine has worked extensively in sustainable agriculture and food production systems. Her past experience includes work with many top companies and organizations such as Nestlé, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Fairway Market, Slow Food USA and Accenture. She currently serves on the Board of Directors as co-treasurer at Global Seed Savers, a nonprofit organization that partners with farmers to promote food sovereignty and climate resilient agriculture. She is also an advisor for Boundless Landscapes, a Public Benefit Corporation developing community-embedded agriculture. She holds an M.A. in Food Systems from New York University and a B.A. in International Affairs from The George Washington University.
Dave Janowicz - Vice President, Merchandising and Retail Operations, Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy Bio: Mr. Janowicz has 39 years of experience in the food and drug store industry. Mr. Janowicz comes to Pharmaca from Supervalu where he held the position of corporate merchandising director in Health and Wellness. In this role he was responsible for merchandising the Health and Wellness areas in all of the company’s 1,200 corporate-owned stores, as well as the 3,000+ independent retailers the company serviced. He served previously at Supervalu as the merchandising director in the General Merchandise and Seasonal categories. Prior to that, he spent 26 years with Albertson’s, American Stores and Jewel Companies holding management positions in merchandising, marketing and store operations. Mr. Janowicz holds a degree in marketing with a minor in business administration and economics from Illinois State University. Business mission: To utilize my experience to help guide and foster an environment and culture that provides our team members the opportunity to provide a best in class experience and service to our customers in assisting with their health and wellness needs.
Olivia Omega - Co-founder, Wallace Marketing Group Bio: TEDx speaker, diversity and inclusion advocate and branding strategist Olivia Omega is the co-founder at Wallace Marketing Group and author of "Beautifully Branded: The Girl's Guide to Understanding the Anatomy of Brand You." Olivia is also a key part of Denver Startup Week, helping the world's largest free entrepreneurial event grow its DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) muscle. With 20 years of corporate branding, advertising and digital marketing experience, Olivia has studied the importance of authenticity for both brands and individuals, as well as what it means to show up in a genuine way. Half of her career was spent at an advertising agency and the other half as an entrepreneur and small business owner. Brand identity played a large role in both. Having worked alongside CPG brands and the natural food industry, Olivia was part of the original team at The Sterling-Rice Group who created the first NEXT Report and inagural NEXTY Awards. Olivia has influenced the global brands of Frito Lay, Pepsi and Starbucks, among others. She is a mom, wife, disco ball enthusiast and has been featured in USA Today, Entrepreneur, Business Week, People and on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Olivia graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder Leeds School of Business and currently lives in Aurora, Colorado. Personal mission: Olivia's mission is to live authentically while inspiring others to do so as well. She wants to provide a living example of strength, resilience and possibility for her teenagers who will soon be introduced to the wonderful world of "adulting." Olivia applies the spirit of entrepreneurship to everything she does and encourages those she meets to embrace their God-given purpose in the unique way only they can.
Alicia Robb - CEO, Next Wave Impact Bio: Alicia is the Founder and CEO of Next Wave Impact, an early-stage venture capital firm. She was previously a senior fellow with the Kauffman Foundation for more than a decade. Alicia received her M.S. and Ph.D. in economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She previously worked as an economist with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the Office of Economic Research in the SBA. Robb is also a prolific author on the topics of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial finance. She teaches workshops on angel investing and investor readiness around the globe. She is an active angel investor, a limited partner in three early-stage venture funds, a mentor to various young firms and an advisory board member for several nonprofit groups including the Deming Center Venture Fund, the Kachuwa Impact Fund and Vegan Investors. Personal mission: To create a more compassionate and sustainable world by removing animals from the supply chain and promoting sustainable production and consumption.
Alicia Robb - CEO, Next Wave Impact Bio: Alicia is the Founder and CEO of Next Wave Impact, an early-stage venture capital firm. She was previously a senior fellow with the Kauffman Foundation for more than a decade. Alicia received her M.S. and Ph.D. in economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She previously worked as an economist with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the Office of Economic Research in the SBA. Robb is also a prolific author on the topics of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial finance. She teaches workshops on angel investing and investor readiness around the globe. She is an active angel investor, a limited partner in three early-stage venture funds, a mentor to various young firms and an advisory board member for several nonprofit groups including the Deming Center Venture Fund, the Kachuwa Impact Fund and Vegan Investors. Personal mission: To create a more compassionate and sustainable world by removing animals from the supply chain and promoting sustainable production and consumption.
The NEXTY Awards is an awards program that recognizes the pinnacle of excellence in the natural products industry, elevating impactful brands and products that inspire a healthy, sustainable future for people and planet.
Winning a NEXTY can have a profound impact on a brand, offering newfound 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.
In the preliminary judging round, the internal New Hope Network content, marketing, standards and NEXT Data and Insights teams come together to whittle down hundreds of nominees to approximately 75 finalists. For the final judging round, New Hope Network invites a panel of industry experts to help the internal team select a single winner in each of the 23 categories. The finalists and winners are evaluated through deep discussion and debate on several criteria. These include written answers to what the company and product's Innovation, Inspiration and Integrity is, the product's taste, ease of use, social and sustainability missions, divsersity and inclusion practices, environmentally responsible packaging, labelling, brand storytelling, clean ingredients, nutritional quality and more.
While typically celebrated through Natural Products Expos, the highly coveted awards will be celebrated through Spark Change this fall. Spark Change is New Hope Network's digital product discovery, education and connection platform. The selected NEXTY finalists will be unveiled in the Spark Change Kick-Off event on Wednesday, August 26, and the NEXTY winners will be announced in the Spark Change Closing Celebration on November 9-10.
Interested in nominating? For the Spark Change NEXTY Awards, any CPG brand in the natural products industry can nominate. The deadline to nominate is August 5 and the product delivery deadline is August 14. You can nominate here.
To help the New Hope Network team select the NEXTY Awards winners, an elite group of six industry experts will weigh in with unique perspectives on which brands deserve a coveted NEXTY. With a wealth of experience in supply chain, investment, retail, nutrition, branding, sourcing and more, this year's judging panel uplifts the excellence of the NEXTY Awards.
Click through this gallery to meet the guest judges and learn more about the expertise they’ll bring to the Spark Change NEXTY Awards judging panel!
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