Executive Leadership Forum: October 15-17, 2023

October 15-17, 2023 | The Broadmoor | Colorado Springs, Colorado

Executive Leadership Forum: October 15-17, 2023

October 15 - October 17

Executive Leadership Forum
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Optional Recreation

SNAC International’s Executive Leadership Forum is the premier education, insights, and networking event for C-suite leaders in the snack food industry. Set amidst the beauty of the Colorado mountains, CEOs, founders, senior executives, and emerging leaders gather with their peers to learn from each other and from outside experts about the state of our industry, the economy, and larger global issues.

A conference that allows executives to sharpen their business strategy as well as to step back from the daily grind and build relationships through networking activities, a revamped agenda in 2023 creates a business-first approach while maintaining the connection opportunities that make the event unique.

The Biggest Names in the Snack Industry

Industry-leading experts discussing the industry’s most impactful trends, the 2024 election, sustainability, retailer relationships, and other important management and global issues.

Unparalleled Networking

Conversations are a trademark of the Forum, on and off the stage. You’ll meet with peers across the industry—exchanging ideas and insights that will help you navigate the future.

No Sales Pitches

An exclusive event that provides an environment conducive to meaningful connections with senior-level industry peers. To foster a close-knit networking experience, attendance is limited to 130 executives. 

WHAT TO EXPECT

  • A new format provides all the same great content and networking but with a schedule that allows participants to opt into, or out of, as much recreation as they like. Optional networking opportunities will bookend the event on Sunday and Tuesday. Attendees who only want to attend the conference portion of the event can arrive Sunday evening and depart Tuesday afternoon. Attendees who want to take advantage of additional networking that allows them to explore the surrounding beauty of Colorado Springs can arrive Saturday evening and depart Wednesday morning.
  • ELF’s premier content continues with industry-leading experts discussing the industry’s most impactful trends, the 2024 election, sustainability, retailer relationships, and other important management and global issues. 

  • New this year is the introduction of SNAC Rising Stars where senior executives can identify and nominate up to two emerging leaders from within their companies to attend ELF. Those who attend would benefit from high-level exposure to industry leaders and SNAC International’s value on behalf of the industry. These first-time attendees must be nominated by a SNAC member senior executive, and will be provided a 50% discount to attend upon acceptance into the program. Note: IT IS NOT required for the emerging leader nominee to have attended SNAC’s Emerging Leaders Programs with Georgetown University.

  • Our WinS (Women in Snacks) programming is expanding to include several female speakers, and a WinS sponsored Monday breakfast. We are looking forward to substantially growing our female attendance. First time female attendees will be provided a 50% discount off the normal registration rate.

We look forward to you joining us!

SCHEDULE-AT-A-GLANCE

Sunday, October 15

      • 9:00am-12:00pm—SNAC Committee Meetings (By Invitation Only)
        1. 9:00-10:00am—Executive Committee Meeting
        2. 10:00am-12:00pm—Board of Directors Meeting
        3. 12:45-4:45pm—Optional Recreation
        4. 5:30-6:30pm—SnackPAC Reception
        5. 6:30-9:30pm—Opening Reception and Dinner

Monday, October 16

    • 7:30-9:00am—WinS (Women in Snacks) Breakfast with Guest Speaker Rachel Pacheco (Female Attendees / By Invitation Only)
    • 9:00am-4:00pm—Educational Sessions
    • 6:15-10:30pm—Open Evening & Dine Around
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Tuesday, October 17

    • 8:00-9:00am—Breakfast
    • 9:00am-12:00pm—Educational Sessions
    • 12:00—Adjourn
    • 12:30-5:30pm—Golf Tournament/Optional Recreation
    • 6:30-9:30pm—Closing Reception and Dinner
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SPEAKERS

JIM STENGEL

Marketing Thought Leader, Global Marketing Officer, Procter & Gamble (2001-2008)

The Purpose Path to Growth
Tuesday, October 17  |  11:15am – 12:00pm

Jim Stengel, Marketing Thought Leader, Global Marketing Officer, Procter & Gamble (2001-2008)

Stengel is the former global marketing Officer of $76 billion Procter & Gamble, where he oversaw an $8 billion advertising budget and had organizational responsibility for nearly 7,000 people. Stengel is best known for reinvigorating P&G’s marketing culture, leading innovation and his commitment to building leading-edge marketing capabilities. In his seven years as global marketing officer, he personally led the transformation that has firmly established P&G as one of the most admired brand-building companies in the world. P&G sales doubled during Stengel’s tenure.

In October 2008, Jim Stengel shocked the marketing world by leaving his prestigious role as global marketing officer at Procter & Gamble. This bold move was Stengel’s first step on a new mission to share his passion for growing business through a focus on higher ideals.

To continue on his mission, Stengel has embraced a variety of exciting roles: President/CEO of The Jim Stengel Company, LLC, author of Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World’s Greatest Companies, speaker, and advisor to several companies.

LEARN MORE ABOUT JIM

BRIAN BELSKI

Chief Investment Strategist, BMO Capital Markets

What Kind of Economy Are We In?
Monday, October 16  |  9:45 – 10:30am ET

Brian Belski, Chief Investment Strategist, BMO Capital Markets

Brian, Chief Investment Strategist and leader of the Investment Strategy Group, provides strategic investment and portfolio management advice to both institutional and private clients. Brian’s group produces several investment strategy publications on a regular basis, with particular focus on both the U.S. and Canadian equity markets.

In his more than 32 years in the investment industry, Brian has held various senior strategy and research roles, including positions at Oppenheimer & Company, Merrill Lynch, and Piper Jaffray.

Brian is frequently quoted in the financial press, including regular appearances on CNBC and BNN, and is renowned for his accuracy as a strategist.

Brian has been ranked as a Top Gun analyst by Brendan Woods since 2016. He holds a B.Sc. degree from St. Cloud State University and splits his time between the BMO offices in New York and Toronto.

LEARN MORE ABOUT BRIAN

SALLY LYONS WYATT

Executive Vice President and Practice Leader, Circana

What’s Up in Snacking?
Monday, October 16  |  10:30 – 11:15am ET

Sally Lyons Wyatt, Executive Vice President and Practice Leader, Client Insights, Circana

Sally Lyons Wyatt has more than 25 years of industry experience and is a recognized thought leader on shopping and consumption trends. She is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and has a particular expertise in the evolution of meal trends as well as snacking.

As an executive and practice leader for IRI's Client Insights division, Lyons Wyatt is responsible for driving integrated initiatives as well as measuring their success within the practice areas of consumer strategy, consumer/customer insights and consumer relationship management (both traditional and online). She has held a number of key roles during her 15-year career with IRI, including the overall management and development of global account teams that provide service to Fortune 500 companies, including PepsiCo and Campbell's.

LEARN MORE ABOUT SALLY

SETH MASKET

Professor; Director, Center of American Politics, University of Denver

American Politics & the 2024 Election
Monday, October 16  |  12:30 – 1:30pm ET

Seth Masket, Professor; Director, Center of American Politics, University of Denver

Seth Masket is a professor of political science and director of the Center on American Politics at the University of Denver. He is the author of Learning from Loss: The Democrats 2016-2020 (2020), The Inevitable Party: Why Attempts to Kill the Party System Fail and How They Weaken Democracy (2016), and No Middle Ground: How Informal Party Organizations Control Nominations and Polarize Legislatures (2009), as well as a textbook on political parties (2021).

He teaches courses on political parties, campaigns and elections, and congressional procedure. His research has appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, the British Journal of Political Science, State Politics and Policy Quarterly, and other publications. Masket also contributes to FiveThirtyEight, Politico, the Denver Post, and the Los Angeles Times, and his work has appeared at the Washington Post, the New York Times, and elsewhere. He is currently writing a book on the Republican presidential nomination contest of 2024. He received his PhD from UCLA in 2004.

LEARN MORE ABOUT SETH

RACHEL PACHECO

Management Professor, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University

Simulation: Leadership & Group Decision-Making
Monday, October 16  |  2:00 – 3:15pm ET

Rachel Pacheco, Management Professor, McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University

Rachel Pacheco, PhD is an award winning author and management professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. Rachel is deeply passionate about ensuring that leaders, executives, and managers have the practical tools required to build thriving teams and develop inclusive and resilient cultures. A former Chief People Officer, Rachel serves on the board of directors and board of advisors for numerous start-ups and high growth organizations.

Her first book, Bringing Up the Boss: Practical Lessons for New Managers, focuses on translating academic research and data into immediately useable tools for practitioners. Rachel’s second book, currently underway, explores how managers bring meaning, authenticity, and their own self-discovery into the workplace.

LEARN MORE ABOUT RACHEL

JESS NEWMAN

Senior Director of Agriculture & Sustainability, McCain Foods

Sustainability Journey at McCain Foods Monday, October 16  |  3:15 – 4:00pm ET

Jess Newman, Senior Director of Agriculture & Sustainability, McCain Foods

Jess Newman is the Senior Director of Agriculture & Sustainability at McCain Foods, the world’s largest manufacturer of frozen potato products and appetizers. Her team of agronomists and field representatives are responsible for all the vegetable crops purchased directly from farmers. They also implement McCain’s 2025 sustainability goals related to agriculture: 100% of farmers implementing regenerative practices, 25% reduction in farming CO2 emissions intensity, 15% improvement in irrigation water use efficiency in water-stressed regions, and the launch of three Farms of the Future.

Jess is passionate about sustainability in agricultural supply chains. Her philosophy is to meet farmers where they are and help them move along the sustainability spectrum – while creating profitability too! Talking to farmers is what energizes her. She has worked at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Ecologic Institute, New York City Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, Booz & Company, Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), and Anheuser-Busch.

LEARN MORE ABOUT JESS

HECTOR DE LA BARREDA

Senior Vice President, Chief Global Business Platforms and Process Optimization Officer, The Hershey Company 

View from a Category Leader: Hershey Tuesday, October 17  |  9:00 – 9:45am ET

Hector De La Barreda, Senior Vice President, Chief Global Business Platforms and Process Optimization Officer, The Hershey Company

Hector De La Barreda is responsible for leading enterprise business systems and commercial processes. As a seasoned senior executive with deep operational and general management experience, he guides the strategic direction of ways of working and process optimization for our teams around the world.

His record of success in Hershey’s international markets includes leading the growing Mexico business for many years and most recently leading Hershey Canada, the company’s second largest market, through a business transformation. He also led the company’s International Regional Markets (Latin America, Asia, Europe, Middle East & Africa). De la Barreda was most recently the President of fast-growing Amplify Snacks Brands – a key growth driver for Hershey.

Prior to joining Hershey, he served as CEO of a Coca-Cola joint venture that specialized in the dairy business. Before that, he led the Latin America Commercial Development team for Coca-Cola FEMSA, the largest Coca-Cola Bottler in the world.

De la Barreda has been a Board member of CONMEXICO, Enactus Mexico and recently in Food & Consumer Products of Canada. He holds a bachelor’s in actuarial sciences and post-graduate degree in Finance, both from the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM).

LEARN MORE ABOUT HECTOR

FRANK YIANNAS

Former Deputy Commissioner, Food Policy & Response, U.S. Food and Drug Administration

The Future of a Safer, More Sustainable Food System Tuesday, October 17  |  9:45 – 10:30am

Frank Yiannas, Former Deputy Commissioner, Food Policy & Response, U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Frank Yiannas is the former Deputy Commissioner for Food Policy and Response at FDA, where he was the principal advisor to the FDA Commissioner in the development and execution of policies related to food safety, including implementation of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). His leadership role within the agency covered a broad spectrum of food safety priorities, such as outbreak response, traceback investigations, product recall activities, and supply chain innovation across the full spectrum of FDA-regulated products.

Prior to his time at FDA, Mr. Yiannas held leadership roles with two industry giants: Walmart and the Walt Disney Company. At Walmart, which he joined in 2008 and served for over a decade, Mr. Yiannas was the Vice President for Food Safety. In this role, he led the effort to make Walmart the first U.S. retailer to require suppliers to achieve certification against one of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) benchmarked food safety schemes. At Disney, where he worked for 19 years, he was the Director of Safety and Health. During his tenure, Disney received the prestigious Black Pearl Award for corporate excellence in food safety from the International Association for Food Protection. 

A microbiologist, Mr. Yiannas received a B.S. in microbiology from the University of Central Florida and a Master of Public Health degree from the University of South Florida.

LEARN MORE ABOUT FRANK

CHRISTINE COCHRAN

President and CEO, SNAC International

Welcome and State of the Association
Monday, October 16  |  9:00 – 9:45am ET

Christine Cochran, President and CEO, SNAC International

Christine Cochran leads SNAC International with responsibility for overall direction, strategy, and management. As the President & CEO, she oversees the group’s work across its three pillars: education, advocacy, and networking.

At the Grain Foods Foundation, Cochran served as Executive Director for nine years where she developed an evergreen research platform to ensure the organization had evenly distributed and highly repeatable communications and public relations performance. The combination cemented the Foundation as a reliable thought leader, which opened further opportunities with outside partners.

As the baking and milling industry experienced consolidation, she identified leadership opportunities for the organization and used those successes to grow support and ensure a stable revenue stream.Cochran also proactively managed the liquid reserves and earned an extra three percent per year for over four years in historically low interest rates. In 2017, she established an endowment earning eight percent per year while taking minimal risk. And she ensured the organization met its annual savings goal of 10 percent each year, something the organization had not done before her arrival.

Collective organizations often encounter challenges with free-riders, strategic positioning, and consensus building. Cochran turns these challenges into opportunities while ensuring routine functions are executed efficiently.

LEARN MORE ABOUT CHRISTINE

KAREN HUGHES

Leading Communication Strategist; Counselor to President George W. Bush (2001-2002); Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs (2005-2007)

SnackPAC Reception Guest Speaker Sunday, October 15 |  5:30 – 6:30pm

Karen Hughes, Leading Communication Strategist; Counselor to President George W. Bush (2001-2002); Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs (2005-2007)

One of the world's foremost communication strategists, Karen Hughes specializes in strategic messaging, crisis communications and executive positioning with clients ranging from global corporations to Fortune 500 CEOs. Hughes has also served as counselor to President George W. Bush and Under Secretary of the State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. For her work in Washington D.C., Hughes has been described as "the most powerful woman ever to serve in the White House" (Dallas Morning News) and "the most powerful public diplomacy czar in decades" (The Boston Globe).

LEARN MORE ABOUT KAREN

ELF 2022 Recap: The Next Normal, Emerge Stronger

Over 130 snack industry executives and guests gathered for the 46th annual Executive Leadership Forum (ELF) in Sea Island, Georgia. The 2022 program featured an all-star line up of speakers who helped members navigate through supply chain challenges, sustainability, the economy, the digital transformation by presenting unique perspectives from thought leaders and industry leaders. Thank you to our generous sponsors for making the event successful.
 
Presentations are now available to watch and download, as well as session summaries and photos below. 
See all ELF 2022 Event Photos
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ELF 2022 Program Recap

Macro Economic Outlook
Brian Beaulieu, CEO of ITR Economics, shared valuable current economic market trends showing easing supply chain issues and a steady decline of inflation costs, making way for lower interest rates to now start investing in your business.
Listen to Recorded Session
Read Additional Session Insights
Supply Chain Crisis: Resiliency and Opportunity
Industry executives Chris Adderton, Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, Coreen Frolish, Regional VP Manufacturing, Campbell Soup Company, Heather Hawkins, VP of Operations, Transplace, and Rob Miller, EVP of Supply Chain and Operations, Eagle Family Foods, joined a panel to discuss the challenges pre- and post-pandemic with more on the current state of labor availability, overall transportation costs, and the pressing need for a shift to automation.
Listen to Recorded Session
Read Additional Session Insights
The Future of Snacking at Mondelēz
Brigette Wolf of Mondelēz International highlighted SnackFutures, a new program bringing value to startups by humanizing the approach to drive mutual growth alongside an innovative set of tools, resources, and culture to help them succeed.
Listen to Recorded Session
Leveraging Digital Transformation and Future Trends
Leonard Brody, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman from Caravan discussed the causes that reset the operating system of Earth, and his outlook on the possibility of “our own roaring 20s” coming in the next 10-18 months.
Listen to Recorded Session
A Report from the Front Lines of Sustainability
Nate Shepley Streed with Vontier spoke about embracing and accelerating smart sustainable solutions for the road ahead, the importance of pushing all parts of ESG, and the need for transparency about your sustainability strategy and advancements.
Listen to Recorded Session
The Future of Work Begins with Conscious Leadership Today
Holistic Leadership Strategist, Virginia “Ginny” Clarke, rounded out the program with her outlook on the Great Resignation, the impending recession, and the need for conscience leadership to redefine hiring and retention methods for both the organization and employees.
Listen to Recorded Session

Details

Start:
October 15
End:
October 17

Venue

Colorado Springs, CO
1 Lake Avenue
Colorado Springs, CO 80906 United States + Google Map

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