Webinars

A farmer of forty years, growing up in the wholesale produce business, Harry T. Jones loves the land. He is no stranger to business succession planning, having led three rounds of family buyouts which ended up in an eventual exit to a public company. He served as CEO of Blackberry Patch, a specialty food producer serving farm markets and other niche retailers, for twenty years. Today you can find Harry producing content and mentoring leaders to maximize their impact at CultivatingImpact.biz.

Carmela was born in Lithuania and immigrated to Toronto in 1981. She graduated from the Schulich School of Business at York University prior to attending Law School at the University of Toronto. After working at Stikeman Elliott LLP and then in private practice, Carmela joined CMS Ontario Ltd. in 2007.

Subsequently Carmela joined Upper Crust, a manufacturer of a variety of gourmet bakery products sold globally and has been in the role of President since 2013. Upper Crust is a privately owned and operated Canadian company that has grown into a multinational bakery manufacturer part of an alliance with several other Ontario companies collectively operating in five plants in Ontario and employing over 1,500 people. With combined sales of more than $500 million annually, Upper Crust has enjoyed a significant growth for the last several years, primarily due to the successful launch of innovative and on-trend products consumers demand and crave. Upper Crust is one of the largest manufacturers of croissants and bagels in North America and is one of Canada’s leading producers of frozen dough and baked products including artisan bread, danishes, puff pastry, cookies, cinnamon rolls, muffins and cakes. Upper Crust is proud to manufacture premium quality bakery goods for the Foodservice and Retail market channels.

Suzy Badaracco, President of Culinary Tides, Inc., is a foresight expert with over 19 years of experience in trends intelligence and predictive forecasting. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminalistics, an Associate degree in Culinary Arts, and a Master of Science degree in Human Nutrition. Suzy's expertise is further enhanced by her training in military intelligence, Chaos theory, and predictive analysis techniques.

Under her leadership, Culinary Tides, Inc. has become a premier consultancy in the food industry, renowned for its ability to accurately predict and profile trends across various domains, including food, beverage, consumer behavior, health, government, and technology. The firm specializes in identifying the birth, origin, trajectory, and longevity of trends, enabling food industry partners to strategically navigate the market. By revealing relevant patterns, Culinary Tides, Inc. empowers clients to develop products that resonate with customers, creating effective entrance, navigation, and exit strategies. Suzy Badaracco's insights and innovative methodologies have established her as a leading figure in foresight and trend forecasting.

Lisa Jackson, Director of Marketing at FlavorSum, brings more than 30 years of market and consumer research experience to IDDBA members. She has supported innovation activities for major CPG and private brand organizations by providing insights that help create connections and build brand loyalty. Her goal with this presentation is to help IDDBA members identify relevant and targeted flavor trends in the dairy, deli, and bakery categories.

I am a Vice President Retail Sales at Sabatino Truffles, a leading producer and distributor of premium truffle products in North America. With over five years of experience in this role, I have a proven track record of driving retail sales growth across a wide range of sales channels and markets. My core competencies include managing diverse sales operations, cultivating and nurturing key partnerships, forging strong distribution relationships, and breaking into new markets with new product categories. I have successfully partnered with prominent retailers such as Trader Joe's, Amazon, Costco, Whole Foods, The Fresh Market, HEB, and more, leading to substantial sales increases. I am also adept at working with distributors, brokers, and suppliers to ensure optimal product quality, availability, and delivery. My mission is to expand the reach and awareness of Sabatino Truffles and its products, and to deliver exceptional customer service and satisfaction.

Sandi Halo brings energy, insight, and decades of experience to every brand she partners with on their digital signage journey. She thrives on helping businesses harness technology to drive real success—and she makes the process enjoyable from start to finish. From uncovering what makes a brand unique to defining the KPIs that guide smart decisions, Sandi is equal parts strategic and spirited. Her love for what she does isn’t just obvious—it’s contagious.

Kevin Cordia brings a rare blend of hands-on technical expertise and big-picture product strategy to the table. Drawing on 18 years of IT experience and a deep passion for full-stack application development, he’s spent his career building smart, scalable solutions that solve real business problems. Kevin’s strength lies in seeing projects from every angle—whether he's writing code or leading engineering efforts—and turning that insight into results that drive growth. At LSI, he puts this full-spectrum skillset to work, crafting end-to-end solutions that help customers meet their strategic goals.

Ron Smith is a digital storyteller at the intersection of design, media, and retail. With a Master’s in Advertising and a passion for reinventing how people interact with physical and virtual spaces, he brings ideas to life across screens, stores, and experiences. His award-winning work has powered campaigns for global brands like Coca-Cola, NIVEA, Cadillac, and McDonald’s. Today, Ron leads the Digital Content Team at LSI, where he blends creativity with strategy to craft dynamic content that captivates and connects.

Matthew Barry is an Insight Manager at Euromonitor International, specializing in food and beverages products. He has presented to industry groups like the International Coffee Organization, the US Agricultural Export Development Council, the International Fresh Produce Association, and the American Dairy Products Institute. His analysis of the industry is often shared in business and trade press, including The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and The New York Times. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Knox College and a master’s degree from Harvard University’s Extension School.

Jonna has been an innovator in the fresh foods space for nearly two decades driving the evolution of consumer-centric decision making and big data analytics throughout the perimeter.

Jonna joined Circana in 2016 and leads Circana’s Fresh Foods practice which unlocks the big data power of Circana for perishables suppliers and retailers. She spearheaded developing Circana’s Integrated Fresh solution for sales and shopper tracking across total food and beverage, in partnership with IDDBA and other industry leaders.

Jonna has talked fresh foods to outlets such as NPR and CNN and many others. She co-authors the monthly IDDBA and fresh industry articles with 210 Analytics’ Anne-Marie Roerink and was one of Progressive Grocer’s 2020 Top Women in Grocery.

Jack Ince attended UW River Falls and graduated with a bachelor’s in history. Jack leads the IDDBA’s data and research efforts, he organizes our weekly data and trends webinars, What’s in Store, and recently launched the IDDBA’s DataByte|GlobalScope dashboard.

Marcelo Garza is the Director of Retail Sales at VV Supremo, a family-owned company specializing in authentic Hispanic cheeses and chorizo since 1964. With over 20 years of experience in the consumer-packaged goods (CPG) industry, Marcelo has built a diverse career, holding leadership roles in sales across top-t*er organizations in both retail and food service. His expertise spans management, team building, market development, field sales, strategic implementation, and fostering internal collaboration. Throughout his career, Marcelo has developed a keen business acumen that has contributed to his success in driving sales growth, building high-performance teams, and executing strategic initiatives. His leadership approach combines a passion for the industry with a commitment to delivering results and nurturing long-term relationships with clients and partners. When not working, Marcelo is dedicated to his family. He enjoys spending time with his wife, Maria, and their two children—Marcelo Antonio (13) and Itzel (16). As an active coach and cheerleader for his kids, you’ll find him on the soccer field or at the dojang. The Garza family shares a love for the outdoors, including camping, sporting events, festivals, and walks with Mimi, a Toy Poodle.

Steve Pombert has worked in the manufacturing field for over 25 years. He spent half of that time in corporate roles and the other half in software and services. Some of his career highlights include overseing the build out of the largest pea protein plant in the world, Roquette Manitoba, and facilitating and coaching over 50 Kaisen Improvement Events. He has also implemented over 20 MES solutions worldwide.

Josh is the fourth generation of the Bickford family that will lead Clyde’s Donuts nearly 100-year-old legacy. After graduating from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he excelled at managing wholesale client relationships in the financial industry before returning to the family business. Upon joining Clyde’s in 2009, Josh brought a relentless focus on process improvement and efficiency, resulting in improvements to product quality and safety as well as operational effectiveness. As Executive Vice President, Josh leads and drives the strategic initiatives for the company and is eager and excited to work alongside the next generation of bakery professionals.

Eric Le Blanc is the SVP of Marketing at Category Partners, LLC; a retail sector, business insights company founded in 2008, which specializes in driving growth by executing consumer and market research, data analytics and technology solutions.

Prior to joining Category Partners in 2023, Eric worked for nearly 20 years leading Tyson Foods’ marketing efforts in the Deli channel, with responsibilities spanning from consumer and shopper marketing, trade marketing, customer planning and development, and business strategy. In this capacity he pioneered the use of data and insights in the Deli channel at Tyson Foods, including original and innovative studies and methodologies that led to new and sometimes surprising insights into consumer behaviors and attitudes in this section of the store. He served 5 years on the IDDBA Board of Directors and has been recognized as an industry thought leader.

Eric is a native New Englander and a current resident of Western New York, where he lives with his wife of 36 years and fluctuating portions of their four grown children. When no one is looking, Eric is a writer, musician, and hobby farmer.

Tom Barnes is the chief executive officer of Category Partners, LLC; a retail sector, business insights company founded in 2008, which specializes in driving growth by executing consumer and market research, data analytics and technology solutions.

Tom has successfully led Category Partners by developing strategic partnerships, proprietary data reporting tools and adding primary consumer research capabilities to Category Partners services. Since taking the reins at the end of 2016, Category Partners has more than doubled its annual revenue.

Prior to joining Category Partners in 2013, Tom held a senior position at Wada Farms Marketing Group leading a major retailer account group for more than 9 of his 13 years with the company.

Tom got his career start in the IT field. His IT background, coupled with his subsequent experience in perishables industry sales and marketing, has afforded him a unique and valuable perspective on the relationship between data management, business insights and success in the retail perishables arena.

He was raised in Pocatello, Idaho, and is a proud Idaho State University Bengal. Tom currently hails from Idaho Falls, Idaho where he and his wife are doing their best to raise their five beautiful children. Tom loves to run, coach sports of every kind, and simply be with his kids every chance he gets.

With a career path rooted in organic farming, sustainable food systems and natural health, Kristen has always had an affinity for honoring local food & living in community that shares in the value of good food & taking care of the land. Kristen firmly believes that our food choices have a profound impact—not only on the health of our body and mind but also on the well-being of society, the welfare of animals, and the sustainability of our planet. When Kristen isn't working on all things marketing and events for Driftless Provisions, you likely will find her on outdoor adventures, reading, gardening, and enjoying quality time with Ryan and their littles, Aldo & Eleanor.

Sarah Weise is the CEO of award-winning marketing research agency Bixa and the bestselling author of InstaBrain: The New Rules for Marketing to Generation Z. For nearly two decades, Sarah has been a guide to hundreds of leading brands including Google, IBM, Citi Ventures, Cox Communications, US Army, and Ogilvy. Sarah helps brands ask the right questions to achieve a laser-focus on their customers and build experiences that are downright addictive. She's appeared in Business Insider, NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, Yahoo! Finance and BBC and is an instructor of 15 LinkedIn Learning courses in Marketing, UX, and Brand Storytelling.

Recognized as one of the industry's "Jaw-Dropping Marketing Speakers," Sarah is a mainstay on global marketing influencer lists and keynote stages. Wherever she goes, Sarah’s infectious enthusiasm and magnetic speaking style inspires and teaches leaders how to grow their business, transform their communities, and leave a legacy.

Valentin has a broad professional background that includes work in the legal, computer, and art sectors and holds an MBA. As Zina's Fine Foods' third-generation CEO, he fosters innovation and expansion while carrying on the family's tradition of excellence and workmanship. Valentin, who was a lifelong supporter of the business before he joined, is committed to upholding its legacy while broadening its appeal. Since joining the company in 2012, he has been instrumental in developing strategic alliances with significant retailers, expanding the brand to more than 6,000 retail locations, and making sure Zina's is dedicated to serving handcrafted, premium food. He places a high value on finding the greatest ingredients, avoiding commercial shortcuts, and preserving the human touch in food preparation since he has a profound passion for culinary workmanship. Valentin, who is imaginative, committed, and a born motivator, is constantly looking for ways to improve Zina's Fine Foods while adhering to its family-oriented principles and artisanal heritage.