When the Investor Becomes the Operator: Lessons from Both Sides

Jun. 14, 2022 at 12:32 PM

Returning to the lessons of the day, Jason Karp, the co-founder of Hu Kitchen and a former hedge fund manager, will take to the stage. Following the sale of Hu Products to snack giant Mondelez in 2021, Karp started HumanCo, a holding company that acquires, incubates and reinvents brands in “sleepy categories.” At NOSH Live he’ll provide attendees with an inside look at how his experience as an investor has influenced how he creates, develops and runs brands, including Snow Days, Cosmic Bliss and Against the Grain.

About Will Lisman:

Will Lisman is the Chief Commercial Officer at HumanCo. Will has almost two decades of consumer industry experience ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies across a broad range of disciplines including marketing, sales, strategy and M&A. Previously, Will was an executive with Amplify Snack Brands, an independent operating subsidiary of The Hershey Company and a leading better-for-you snack platform. Prior to Amplify, Will held a variety of commercial leadership positions within The Hershey Company and also spent five years as a management consultant in the Consumer Practice at The Parthenon Group, a boutique strategy consulting firm that is now part of EY. Will has a B.S. in Management from Boston College and an M.B.A. from The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

About Peter Burns:

Over the past 20+ years, Peter Burns has established himself as an expert in the food and beverage space, especially when it comes to preparing promising brands for acquisition by multinational giants. Peter joined Sunrise Strategic Partners in 2020 as a Managing Partner Prior to joining Sunrise, Peter was the CEO of ONE Brands, a Boulder/Charlotte-based protein-bar line, where he led the business to an exit to The Hershey Co. for $397 million. Before joining ONE Brands in 2017, he served as CEO and President of Justin’s Nut Butters, working with founder Justin Gold to execute a two-year plan culminating in a $286 million acquisition by Hormel. Previously, Burns was President of Celestial Seasonings as well as Chief Sales Officer for The Hain Celestial Group-USA , where he developed and managed Celestial Seasonings’ worldwide business as well as all commercial efforts for The HC Group- USA. Prior to his accomplishments at Celestial Seasonings, Burns was the Vice President of Sales at IZZE Beverage Company where he led all commercial efforts culminating in an eventual exit to Pepsi in 2006. Also of note are senior executive positions at the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corporation and The Hershey Company.