People on the Move: Stratum Nutrition, Aker BioMarine, and more

15-Jul-2019 - Last updated on 15-Jul-2019 at 15:40 GMT

Two new additions in Stratum Nutrition’s sales team, a new vice president of sales for a post-workout beverage brand, and a new c-suite member for a food technology start-up, here’s a short list of people on the move in the industry in recent weeks:

Stratum Nutrition: Kyle Hicks, Solutions Consultant

Kyle Hicks has joined the Stratum Nutrition team as Solutions Consultant in the company’s sales department. He is responsible for prospecting potential clients. “I look forward to generating new, consistent pipelines for our sales department,” explains Kyle, “so that we might better diversify our portfolio of clients.”

“Kyle hit the ground running and has already shown his background, personality, process-driven mindset, and work ethic,” says Andrew Rice, Director of Product & Brand Strategy. “He will play a huge role in turning this new position for the company into something that contributes a great deal to developing new business relationships and opportunities.”

Stratum Nutrition: Allison Guidry, Regional Sales Manager

Allison Guidry has joined the Stratum Nutrition team as Regional Sales Manager. Before joining the Stratum Nutrition team, she worked at Deerland Probiotics and Enzymes as the Business Development Manager – International.

“With my experience as a domestic and international business development manager in contract manufacturing,” says Allison, “I understand the process of launching a product and what a brand goes through to get to the end goal. I hope to offer this knowledge to help our customers launch successful products and continue to contribute to a great team here at Stratum!”

“We are very excited to have Allison join the Stratum Team,” says Chris Haynes, Director of Global Sales. “2019 is going to be a busy year of growth here at Stratum and Allison figures in prominently to be a big part of that growth. Allison’s experience in the industry will allow her to contribute quickly.”

O2 Sports Recovery Drink: Kimberly Burck, VP of Sales

O2 Sports Recovery Drink, a post-workout beverage brand, has named Kimberly Burck as vice president of sales. With 10 years of experience in the food and beverage space, Burck comes to O2 from General Mills, where she last served as national account manager for Annie’s.

In her new role, she will spearhead the growth of O2 distribution into key grocery and health food stores as well as boutique fitness studios throughout the country.

“We’re excited to have Kimberly on our team, and to leverage her expertise in the natural CPG category across the natural, traditional and specialty retail channels,” said Dave Colina, CEO and founder of O2.

“Her impressive track record of building successful programs for startups as well as supporting large, nationally-recognized CPG brands speaks for itself, and that coupled with her passion for the fitness space will make her a key asset to O2 as we continue to expand our presence across the country and enter new fitness markets.”

“I’m very proud and excited to join the great team at O2, and to combine my CPG background with my passion for fitness and wellness,” Burck said.

“I see significant opportunity in the area of active recovery beverages in the grocery channel, and I’m looking forward to being involved in the space with a brand that’s spearheading change within the beverage industry. While O2 has strong brand recognition in the CrossFit industry, there’s endless opportunity with boutique gyms in the HIIT, yoga, and spin verticals that will be exciting to explore and develop as well. I’ve been building strong better for you brands through retail sales programs for ten years, and I’m looking forward to building upon that momentum, so that athletes everywhere can experience the benefits O2 provides.”

Aker BioMarine: Shauna Cecilia McNeill, EVP of Innovation

Shauna Cecilia McNeill has been named Executive Vice President Innovation at Norwegian firm Aker BioMarine. In her role, she will have responsibility for the company’s on-going programs to research, develop and commercialize new krill derived products and applications.

Joining Aker BioMarine in 2017 as Director of Product Development, Innovation & Marketing, Shauna has been instrumental in the company’s development of a new product line, which has now grown into an internal product accelerator, as well as its broader work to develop innovative, sustainable products derived from krill.

Motif Ingredients: Michele Fite, Chief Commercial Officer

Motif Ingredients, a food technology company launched in February this year, has appointed Michele Fite, as its new chief commercial officer. Fite will lead commercial strategy and execution for Motif, building and leading teams in business development, marketing, sales and product management.

Fite brings nearly 30 years of diverse experience across food and consumer goods, including infant formula, weight management, sports nutrition, medical foods and dietary supplements.

She has held leadership roles at a number of companies including DuPont, Solae and Nestle. Fite was the founding CEO at Cadena BioSciences, a start-up focused on gut microbiomes. Most recently she served as President of Kerry's Dairy & Culinary division.