As Vice-President of Innovation and Brand Development, Tracy Miedema leads business development and investing at Presence Marketing, the nation’s top brokerage agency for the natural products trade. She also heads up Presence’s burgeoning portfolio of cannabis-hemp food, beverage and supplement companies and currently sits on the US Hemp Roundtable Board of Directors. Additionally, she is an operating partner in BIGR Ventures. From start-ups to Fortune 50 food & beverage, she works closely with brands to optimize their growth, profitability, and positive impact on people and the planet. During her 20-year career in natural products, Tracy has also worked for Earthbound Farm/ WhiteWave and for General Mills’ organic brands. In the service arena, Tracy leads graduate student projects at the Darden School of Business at University of Virginia and served for 5 years on the US Federal regulatory advisory committee for organic, the USDA National Organic Standards Board, including Chair of the Board. She lives with her family in rural Oregon where she makes craft wine and hunts for mushrooms.

Thomas supports the Amazon’s Recruitment and Development Division in the Consumables Grocery and Gourmet category. Thomas primarily focuses on recruiting new and emerging brands to the Amazon Marketplace within the Emerging Brands program. If accepted into the program, sellers are offered free account guidance and management for a calendar year including optimization coaching for listings, shipping plans, advertising and troubleshooting. This opportunity also includes exclusive marketing and advertising support. The ideal candidate will have existing interest to launch on Amazon, understand the bandwidth necessary to manage Seller Central, and have the ability to ship products to FBA for Prime or handle shipping logistics.

Karen Ivanis-Rogers is the Director of Business Ventures at Albertsons. In her over 20-year career in CPG, Karen has held roles with Johnson & Johnson, Nestle, Clorox and Del Monte. She has been on the retailer side two years in her current role with Albertsons working with emerging food and beverage brands. She’s intrigued by the pace and diversity of innovation in beverage but admits to Diet Dr Pepper as a guilty pleasure. Karen graduated from Gonzaga University and received an MBA from UC Irvine. She lives in the Oakland Hills.

As CEO and Founder of Union Kitchen, Cullen Gilchrist has partnered with food businesses of all sizes to grow and accelerate their success. Cullen and his team work with exceptional food businesses to connect entrepreneurs with the resources, capital, and networks that they need to establish sustainable success. Cullen oversees the operations and management of Union Kitchen’s accelerator program as well as Union Kitchen’s commercial kitchen, distribution company, and grocery stores.

Alexandra McArthur is directly responsible for creating and selling cross-platform partnerships for the AEG Presents portfolio of assets including events, music festivals, venues, tours, content and digital media properties. As a vice president working for one of the largest concert promoters in the world, she also oversees budgets for several high-profile AEG Presents music properties including Rams Head Live, The National, The Norva and Firefly Music Festival, while also creating prominent partnerships across AEG’s entire global portfolio. Alex has worked with several brands in food and beverage including Pop-Tarts, Heineken, Anheuser Busch, Proximo Spirits, Bai, Dogfish Head, Boost Juice, Rekorderlig Cider and more. She is brand obsessed, and works closely with her team to pioneer the most creative solutions to drive awareness, sampling and sales with her brand partners.

Ben Silver is an integrated marketing manager within the Global Partnerships division of AEG Presents. Ben helps emerging and established food and beverage brands reach millions of live music fans through onsite and digital campaigns across 75+ AEG Presents music festivals and venues in the U.S. including Coachella, Firefly, Hangout, The Roxy, and Webster Hall. In addition to sales/distribution, sampling, and shopper-marketing initiatives, Ben works with brands to develop high-impact “partnerships with purpose” across AEG Presents’ sustainability, civic engagement, and social justice efforts.

Marisa Bertha is the Director of Business Development & 7-Ventures. She joined 7-Eleven in 2013 as a part of the internal strategy group and transitioned to BD & 7-Ventures in 2015. Her team’s mission is to ensure 7-Eleven leads the marketplace as the destination for customers to find new and innovative products and services. Marisa leads the discovery, testing and investment in startups to help 7-Eleven maintain engagement and relevance with the ever-changing consumer. Previously, Marisa worked at Deloitte Consulting where she partnered with Fortune 500 clients on large-scale business transformations. Marisa holds a BBA from Southern Methodist University and an MBA from Duke University Fuqua School of Business.