Project NOSH Live Bootcamp: Building the Team During Rapid Growth

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Filmed during Project NOSH Winter 2017.

Featuring Josh Wand, Founder and CEO, ForceBrands, Meena R. Mansharamani, CEO, Maya Kaimal Fine Indian Foods and Cassie Nielsen, Vice President of Talent, VMG Partners.

Josh Wand is the Founder and CEO of ForceBrands, which offers executive search services, board of director assembly and industry-specific job boards for the consumer product industry. Wand founded ForceBrands in 2007 with the understanding that people are a company's greatest asset. What began as BevForce quickly expanded into other forces: FoodForce and BeautyForce. All of these forces make up the greater good: ForceBrands. Now in its tenth year, ForceBrands works with emerging and enterprise brands to build their teams and help people at all stages of their careers. Wand attributes the company's success to the unique qualities and dedication of the people involved. Prior to creating ForceBrands, Wand held positions at Southern Wine & Spirits, AV Imports, and Sidebar Spirits in roles that included business development, management of a national sales and distribution network, and staffing the organization and instituting educational training programs for hotels and restaurant groups.

Meena Mansharamani is an innovative, strategic and passionate leader who has a track record of delivering impressive results in both corporate and start-up environments. As CEO of Maya Kaimal Fine Indian Foods, Meena leads a passionate and resourceful team committed to fulfilling Maya Kaimai’s mission of creating and offering exceptional Indian foods that are flavorful, approachable and modern. As President of Intend Growth, LLC., which she founded in January 2014, Meena partners with leaders of health and wellness brands committed to delivering higher levels of marketplace impact. Prior to these roles, Meena was Managing Director of Materne North America where she delivered breakout growth, raising the GoGo squeeZ brand from $7MM to $120MM in three years. Before joining Materne, Meena was SVP Innovation and Insights at Pepsi-Cola and VP Strategy at PepsiCo. She was also Vice President of the Consumer Products and Retail Practice at A.T. Kearney. Meena serves as a Board member of two PE-backed companies: Bare (VMG) and Elevation Brands/Ian's (Renewal Funds). Meena also serves on the Boards of Alex’s Lemonade Stand, committed to raising funds for childhood cancer research, and Animal Haven, committed to animal rescue. She is also a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute. Meena holds an MBA from Wharton and a MA/BA from Harvard.

Cassie Nielsen is the Vice President of Talent at VMG Partners where she works intimately with founders and leaders of branded consumer product companies on their Talent and People strategies. VMG has worked closely and successfully with brands such as babyganics, Drunk Elephant, Humm Kombucha, Justin's, KIND, Nature's Bakery, Perfect Bar, Pirate's Booty, Pretzel Crisps, Quest, Spindrift, Stone, SunBum, and Vega to name a few. Prior to her tenure at VMG Partners, she did executive search at SPMB and various Operations and Talent roles at Goldman Sachs.