Operating record
Built to last on the shelf.
Twenty-plus years running nutrition and consumer packaged goods companies end to end: product, capital, people, and the shelf. This is the operating side of the record. What was built, bought, and grown, and the numbers behind it.
- The platform I run to launch, fund, acquire, and operate nutrition and consumer packaged goods brands, and the operating engine behind EnergyFirst and Greens Plus.
- Buys, funds, and fixes health and wellness brands in the $1M–$15M revenue range: five acquisitions to date, every one still owned and operating.
- Shared infrastructure across formulation, clean-label sourcing, manufacturing, and national retail distribution, so each brand runs leaner than it could alone.
- Twenty-two years of continuous P&L ownership, through two recessions and a pandemic.
- Turnaround work across distressed and bankruptcy situations, and retained as an expert witness in business turnaround and valuation matters.
- Acquired in January 2004: the naturally sweetened, low-glycemic protein powder brand founded in 1997, built on stevia and clean-label sourcing when the category ran on artificial sweeteners and filler.
- Built a direct-to-consumer business in which more than 80% of revenue comes from repeat customers.
- Organic growth on a 36% three-year compound annual growth rate earned a place on the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies.
- Acquired Permalean, an all-natural protein bar and powder maker, in 2014 to extend the line.
- Every product made in the USA under GMP certification. The thinking behind them became The Energy Guidebook, now in its fifth edition.
- Acquired the brand that created the first commercially available blended green superfood powder and bar, formulated in 1989, with a customer base of roughly one million.
- Scaled national retail distribution to top SPINS category rankings and multi-year customer-favorite, best-seller status at Trader Joe’s.
- Kept the formula and the certifications intact: USDA Organic, Non-GMO Project Verified, and kosher across the core line.
- A legacy natural-channel brand turned into a distribution-led business. The lesson: distribution discipline matters as much as the product.
1995–2004
Before NutriScience
Enterprise software, then real estate
- Morton Development (2001–2004). Developed more than $20M of residential property across Manhattan, Hermosa, and Redondo Beach. Made a fortune at 28, lost most of it in the 2001 crash, and built it back.
- CNP Technologies (2001–2002). Vice President, Business Development; worked alongside the investment banking team to position the company for sale.
- Interwoven (1998–2001). Sales manager during hyper-growth: up to 271% of quota, President’s Club, and the Canadian and Australian markets opened, with enterprise relationships at HP and Microsoft.
- Sqribe Technologies (1995–1998). Top direct salesperson worldwide; closed the company’s largest direct enterprise deal, with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Board fit
What an operator brings.
P&L, capital, and distribution
- Audit and finance. Twenty-two years of P&L ownership, plus a nonprofit turnaround from multi-year deficits to a $1M surplus and $13.2M of debt retired.
- M&A and integration. Five brand acquisitions through NutriScience, all retained and operating, and the merger of two Scouting councils into the Greater Los Angeles Area Council.
- Consumer and retail. Category firsts, national retail distribution, top SPINS rankings, Trader Joe’s best-seller status, and an Inc. 5000 growth record.
- People and rooms. Two decades facilitating confidential CEO peer groups at TIGER 21, YPO, and EO: the discipline of getting a board to the real conversation.