november 3-6, 2024
chicago, illinois, usa
New at PACK EXPO International, Emerging Brands Central will feature free educational sessions with industry experts, designed for brands who are scaling their manufacturing operations.
Located in West Building, Booth W-20049
Sessions will cover a variety of topics such as:
Plus, take advantage of our free expert advisors who will be on-site during the show.
(Note: more Emerging Brands Central programming will be added in mid-September)
Take advantage of this rare opportunity to meet industry expert advisors one-on-one at Emerging Brands Central. With decades of combined CPG experience working for companies like PepsiCo, Dannon, General Mills, Del Monte, Nestlé, and Kraft, our advisors are available for complimentary one-on-one private consultations to provide personalized advice for YOUR brand’s specific need. Come prepared with your questions to maximize this unique opportunity!
Appointments are now available! Click the button below to schedule yours today. Advisors will also be on site for drop-in appointments (as available).
Program Manager, Food Finance Institute
Jamie Valenti-Jordan is the Program Manager for the Food Finance Institute, which provides business resources and training for food and ag entrepreneurs. Prior to this, he has spent his 20 year career at Campbell Soup, Del Monte Foods, and JUST in process R&D, engineering, and operations before starting Catapult Commercialization Services Inc, an 80-person consulting group focused on providing technical and operational solutions for food and beverage companies. During his career, he has installed over $100M in capital equipment, commercialized over 2000 products, and received a patent in tomato peeling. He teaches Food Engineering and Food Processing at Mount Mary University. He serves on the Board of Directors for IFT and is a strong advocate for emerging and scaling brands. He also serves as Den Leader for his son and Dungeon Master for his weekly D&D campaign.
Principal Consultant, Waterfall Ventures LLC
Consultant to food and beverage companies on new product manufacturability and project management. Dedicated career to food/beverage industry working for over 40 years as technical leader with several world class organizations – Frito-Lay, Ocean Spray Cranberries, Diageo, Dannon, Tropicana and PepsiCo Beverages North America. Retired June 2022 from PepsiCo as Director of Supply Chain Engineering, this role was responsible for capacity-related capital improvement projects at over 60 manufacturing sites.
Experienced in acquisition of small businesses and integrating them into larger business. Successfully scaled up R&D ideas to launch new beverage products. These world class companies trusted me in spending over $750 million on food and beverage projects. Started consulting business to give back my engineering experience in helping small businesses meet their aspirations.
Principal, Launch Partners, LLC
Launch Partners Consulting specializes in enhancing manufacturing operations with focused consulting in equipment selection, line layout, and plant design. Our approach to driving business growth involves addressing complex challenges through innovative optimization strategies and custom equipment solutions.
With a solid understanding of industry dynamics, we provide insightful and strategic guidance to improve efficiency, productivity, and scalability. Explore how our expertise in engineering and process improvement can support your business in navigating today’s competitive landscape.
Consultant
Proven new product and package innovator in the consumer products field with 28 years experience at a Fortune 50 company (Procter & Gamble). During that time, I delivered more than $1Billion to the bottom line and secured more than 70 patents. Key strength is identifying unmet consumer needs in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) market, marrying those to technologies, and creating new businesses.
I was an inventor of ThermaCare, Press 'n Seal, AeroFlexx, Air Capsule shipping package, and have enabling inventions on numerous other marketed products (Bounty, Tampax, etc).
Consultant
In the ever-changing world of Packaging & Manufacturing for over thirty years, Robby excels at removing chaos from the process by providing coordination, support and direction to projects ranging from simple manufacturing optimizations to national launches of major brand platforms. After 23 years supporting Bush Brothers & Co. in their Packaging, New Product Development,Process Innovation and Commercialization spaces, Robby now provides independent guidance on Packaging Strategy Development, Manufacturing Partner Engagement and New Product Launch Execution to a variety of companies. Robby is also a certified John Maxwell Team Speaker and Coach, and a contributing editor to Contract Packaging Magazine where he writes about key aspects of strong partnerships between brand owners and contract manufacturing and contract packaging providers.
