People on the move: Güdpod, Vitamin Shoppe, Chemi Nutra, and more
Güdpod: Christopher Rohde, CEO
Güdpod, a company that developed a countertop appliance to blend functional beverages three years ago, hired Christopher Rohde as its new CEO.
Rohde previously served as the company’s chief operations officer and is a member of its board of directors. In his new role, he will oversee all business operations including product development and innovation, marketing, operations and strategic partnerships.
“Chris has a clear vision for Güdpod and has the right experience to bring that vision to life,” said Güdpod founder and chairman Gian-Carlo Ochoa, Ph.D. “Under his leadership, the company will take its next important steps toward reaching its fullest potential.”
A veteran of the nutritional supplement industry, Rohde joined Güdpod in 2016 and was instrumental in securing the company’s partnership with Glanbia Performance Nutrition to market the functional beverage technology featuring Glanbia’s well-known brands such as Optimum Nutrition, BSN, thinkThin and Amazing Grass.
A retail launch is planned for later this year. Immediately prior to Güdpod, Rohde was chief operations officer for Innophos Nutrition; prior to that, he was vice president of operations for Triarco Industries.
Plasma Nutrition: Benoit Turpin, VP of Business Development
Plasma Nutrition, a start-up that treats ingredients with atmospheric plasma to increase its bioavailability, hire Benoit Turpin as its VP of Business Development.
In his most recent post, Turpin was the VP of Sales and Marketing at Milk Specialties. Bringing over 30 years of experience in the dairy and ingredients industries, Turpin also spent several years in leadership and sales positions at companies including Lactalis, Kantner Ingredients, and Protient.
In addition to his strong background in the US market, Turpin also brings extensive international experience. Born in Normandy, France, and fluent in French, English, Spanish and some German, he is “uniquely suited to grow ioWhey Protein both domestically and internationally,” according to a statement by the Plasma Nutrition.
Persona Nutrition: Robin West, MD, Medical Advisory Board
The head physician for the Washington Nationals Baseball and Washington Redskins Football teams joined the medical advisory board of L Catterton-backed personalized supplement subscription company Persona Nutrition.
Dr. West will provide expert insight into sports nutrition research to help innovate new performance-focused nutrition programs for Persona’s subscribers.
“We are honored to have Dr. West lend her extensive medical experience to our customers’ wellness journeys,” said Jason Brown, founder and CEO at Persona nutrition.
“Dr. West’s contributions will impact millions of Americans who want to optimize their daily nutrition. Whether you’re a weekend warrior or a serious athlete, our medical advisory board is leveraging the latest nutrition research coupled with decades of patient experience to guide us in creating the highest quality and most precise nutrition recommendations for our vitamin pack subscribers."
Chemi Nutra: Alfredo “Al” Reyna, Sales Manager
As new sales manager at Chemi Nutra, a specialty ingredient supplier, Al will be responsible for developing and growing US and global business relationships with existing and new companies and customers.
His portfolio or products includes ingredients widely used in dietary supplements, sports nutrition, functional beverages and shots, medical foods, and pet nutrition.
Al comes from the health and hospice field, employed last with Brookdale Home Health and Hospice, in various field coordinator positions, where he met with medical staff and facility coordinators to design hospice and medical care programs for in-need patients and families.
“By utilizing his professional sales and marketing experience, and his strong personal dedication to health, nutrition, and fitness, Al will be a valuable addition to our technical sales and marketing activities at Chemi Nutra. Al’s focus will be to offer our novel, science supported, customer profit and growth focused, formulation and marketing concepts to our valued customers,” said Scott Hagerman, president of Chemi Nutra.
Prova: Michael Courts, Southeast Sales Manager
Flavor company Prova hired Michael Courts as the company’s Southeast Sales manager. In this role, Courts will be managing key accounts for Prova in the Southeast United States, as well as developing new accounts within that territory.
Prior to joining PROVA, Mike was most recently at FONA International, working on building that company’s business base in the sports nutrition category of the food and beverage industry.
Mike’s earlier experience includes roles in R&D, Product Development, Operations and Quality Control at Nutrex Research of Oviedo, Florida, a $50M company focused on engineering sports nutrition and weight loss supplements.
Mike holds a M.S. degree in Exercise, Sports Nutrition & Supplementation Physiology from the University of Central Florida and a bachelor’s degree in Business Financial Management from Florida Gulf Coast University.
The Vitamin Shoppe: Neal Panza, Senior Vice President, Retail Sales & Operations
Neal Panza brings to The Vitamin Shoppe over two decades of experience driving sales and retail operations with a successful track record of improving results. He will report to Sharon Leite, Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. Panza was most recently at Williams-Sonoma where he was responsible for rebuilding a key market for the company. Prior to that he was at Brookstone where he was brought in to rebuild and revitalize the brand experience for the retail stores. From 2006 through 2015 he was employed at Gymboree Corporation, a 1,400 store chain, where he had increasing responsibility culminating in Vice President of Stores.
“Neal has worked for great Brands and brings valuable experience to effectively lead store turnarounds and transform organizations to sales cultures,” said CEO Leite. “He has a proven track record of developing and executing programs that drive profitable sustainable comparable same store sales growth. Neal will be a tremendous asset to The Vitamin Shoppe's commitment to our customers and he is the right leader to build on the strength of our store Health Enthusiasts to ensure we deliver the personalized experience that our customer's expect.”
