Tending Leaders Chapter

Deb Luster

James Gravelle

Founder and President of Natural FoodService Brokerage, LLC (NFSB) (2004 – 2022) A brokerage firm specializing in natural and organic products and solutions to food service distributors, contract management companies, corporate campuses, colleges and universities, hospitals, medical centers, and hospitality venues.  

James represented brands from companies such as Organic Valley, Natures Path, Wallaby Yogurt, Coleman Naturals, San-J, Kettle Foods, Clif, Sunridge Farms and many others. Successfully achieved placement and continued sales into Google, Apple, Twitter, Square, Tesla Motors, Spacex, Warner Bros., Sony Studios, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Asilomar, UCSF Medical Center, Mission Bay Hospital, Stanford, UC Berkeley, University of Southern California, Harvard. James’ food service leadership produced incremental sales increasing bottom line profit. 

Neil Blomquist

As an extension of that experience, he has established a consulting company, Sustainable Solutions, to specialize in the development and marketing of sustainable business solutions for the industry. Mr. Blomquist spent 10 years on the board of directors of the California Olive Oil Council, and holds board positions on the American Botanical Council and Natural Habitats. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in business management and economics from the University of South Dakota.

Mark Griffin

Ken Lee

Since 1995, Ken Lee has pioneered the introduction of heirloom and specialty rice to the food trade in North America. Lee has specialized in creating supply relationships with smallholder farmers in developing countries who had no previous export experience, playing a key role in capacity building and promoting more inclusive value chains. A member of Social Venture Network, Lee is a frequent speaker at trade and educational events such as the National Cooperative Grocers, International Association of Culinary Professionals, Culinary Institute of America, Clinton Global Initiative, Global Philanthropy Forum, and Yale Global Health & Innovation Conference.  Prior to founding Lotus Foods, Lee worked in the insurance industry and as a financial consultant. He is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island.

Caryl Levine

Caryl Levine is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO behind Lotus Foods, one of the most innovative, organic and fair trade specialty rice brands in the country. After a 17-year career fundraising in higher education Levine now leads Lotus Foods marketing and sales and is primarily responsible for the image and positioning of the Lotus Foods brand, the development of all packaging and merchandising materials. Recipient of the 2014 Specialty Foods leadership award for vision, Levine has been an invited speaker around the world and most recently at the 2015 World Food Prize, the 2014 Clinton Global Initiative mid-year meeting, the 2013 Social Venture Network Conference and the 2012 Bioneers Conference.  Levine is a founding member of the Whole Grain Council and a member of the Social Venture Network. She holds a MPA in Public Administration from the University of Hartford.

Angela McElwee

Sheryl O’Loughlin

From 2015 to 2019, Sheryl was CEO and “Chief Love Officer” of REBBL, the first plant-based, super herb adaptogen beverage company. In partnership with Not for Sale, a nonprofit dedicated to creating a future without human trafficking, REBBL works to create regenerative and just supply chains.

Sheryl is co-founder of the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (J.E.D.I) Collaborative. She is also co-founder and board chair of the Women on Boards Project, a nonprofit with the mission of empowering women business leaders and improving diversity and inclusion at the board of directors’ level across consumer brands. Both non profits are focused on supporting and advocating for a more inclusive industry and economy to drive innovation, growth, profitability and justice.

Earlier in her career, Sheryl served as the CEO of Clif Bar and Company. There she led the concept development and introduction of Luna, the first whole nutrition bar for women, which became a $70 million business in three years and continues to be a core brand in the company’s portfolio. She went on to co-found and serve as CEO for Plum, Inc., a healthy, organic food company that aims to nourish kids “from the high chair to the lunch box.” In 2013, Plum was successfully sold to Campbell Soup Company.

After Plum, Sheryl was the Executive Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and she held a faculty position at Sonoma State University, where she taught hundreds of aspiring entrepreneurs and other professionals.

Sheryl currently serves on the board of directors for Pet IQ Inc. (NASDAQ: PETQ) and the board of non-profit One Step Closer (OSC) as well as the advisory board of S. Martinelli and Company, a family-owned company. She is also a member of the Forbes San Francisco Business Council. Previous boards include Zuke’s Natural Dog Treats, thinkThin Nutrition, Sugar Bowl Bakery, Gardein Plant-based Nutrition, FoodStirs Junk Free Bakery, Once Upon A Farm, American Sustainable Business Council, and the Harvest Innovation Summit. Sheryl supported Zuke’s, Gardein and thinkThin to successful exits.

Sheryl earned her Bachelor of Business Administration from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and her Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. An avid camper and traveler, she lives in Santa Rosa, California, with her husband, Patrick, and their two sons.

Learn more at www.sheryloloughlin.com

Edouard Rollet

Prior to launching Alter Eco in the US, Rollet was a Senior Trade Attaché at the French Embassy in New York where he specialized in foreign investment, new ventures, media, marketing and mass retail. He has also consulted for the communications department of the UNICEF in Dakar, Senegal. Rollet holds an MBA from The European Institute of Business (IEA-Paris) and an MA in Mass Communications from the University of Florida.

Born in Lyon, France, Rollet moved to the US two decades ago. He enjoys traveling, the outdoors and exploring street food and restaurants around the world. Rollet resides in Mill Valley, Calif. and is married to Ilse Keijzer, founder of Alter Eco Pacific, which serves the Australian and New Zealand markets.

Frederick Schilling

In 2001, Frederick founded Dagoba Organic Chocolate, the first chocolate brand in the United States that not only rooted the triple bottom line principles of Planet-People-Profit to that industry, but also opened the door to using chocolate as a canvas for embracing exotic flavors and promoting single origin chocolate, giving rise to the chocolate industry as we know it today.

After selling Dagoba Organic Chocolate to the Hershey Company in 2006, Frederick then went on to co-found three more influential global companies in the organic market.

In 2008, Frederick teamed up with Diego Badaró, a 3rd generation cacao farmer, to start AMMA Chocolate, a vertically integrated chocolate company with operations in Bahia, Brazil.  The mission of AMMA is to use cacao as a catalyst for rainforest preservation and restoration.  Today, AMMA is regarded as Brazil’s premiere chocolate brand, recognized for its contribution to the country’s environmental and social efforts and for its quality.

Frederick also co-founded Big Tree Farms in 2008; based on Bali, Indonesia, with his business partner Ben Ripple.  BTF is now Indonesia’s largest organic food company, operating the largest organic coconut supply chain in SE Asia with over 10,000 small holder farmers.  BTF is the global pioneer of coconut blossom nectar-based sweeteners, the fastest growing alternative organic sweetener and coconut aminos.  BTF also built, which at that time in 2011, was the world’s largest Bamboo structure.

In 2015 Frederick co-founded Medisun Farms, a hemp cultivation enterprise with a focus on growing organic feminized hemp for the production and extraction of CBD and other valuable cannabinoids.  In 2018, Medisun Farms and Kler Solutions merged to create Klersun.  Today Frederick is CEO of Klersun, which has become a major ingredient solution provider in the emerging hemp-cannabinoid industry.

Kate Tierney

Kate Tierney is currently the President of KSW Global Chocolate Imports (KCI) out of Springfield, MO. KCI is importing delicious European chocolate into the US and Canada. Previously, Kate helped launch Verse Chocolate. Verse is an exciting new low sugar premium chocolate company that was introduced into the market in 2021. Prior to 2019, Kate was President of Alter Eco Americas, PBC, a San Francisco-based artisanal food company dedicated to the advancement of the fair trade food model in countries with emerging economies. Kate was also formerly with United Natural Foods (UNFI Nasdaq) for over 15 years. UNFI is the largest national distributor of Organic and Natural products in the US. Kate served in various positions with UNFI and was the Vice President of Sales for the Western Region, where she managed a team of 80+ personnel and over $2.4 billion in annual sales.

Kate received a certificate in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) from St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto in Canada in 2009 and completed the Executive CSR program at the Harvard Business School in 2007. Kate received an Executive Certificate in Accounting for Leadership from Stanford University in 2015. She was on the board of directors for Mindful Meats in Marin CA and Uncommon Cacao in Berkeley CA. She acts as an advisor to the board of Manna Tree Partners and White Leaf Provisions. She holds a BA in Political Science with a minor in International Relations from the College of Charleston in Charleston, S.C.

Kate lives in Savannah, GA with her wife of 23 years, Kara Powis. They enjoy boating in the coastal waterways and experiencing the great quality of life the low country offers.

Alison Vercruysse

Cynthia Tice