
John Baist, Consultant
John Baist is a sales and marketing executive with over 27 years of CPG experience. He has broad channel experience and has developed comprehensive branded and private branded sales and marketing strategies for public, private and private equity held organizations including Shearer’s Foods, Lance, Inc., Mission Foods, Barilla America, Van den Bergh Foods, Pillsbury, and General Mills. John has solid experience with integrating sales organizations, organizational development, process and business development, category/trade strategy and strategic planning. He has worked with Direct, DSD and independent distributor selling organizations. John has an entrepreneurial and collaborative leadership style and is regarded as a strong communicator and creative problem solver. He has worked on a number of acquisition sales integration projects throughout his career and has significant experience with change management practices and principles.

Rick Baker, Consultant
Rick Baker is a retired sales and marketing executive from R.J. Reynolds and Co-Founder/Partner of The RiverHorse Group, a consultancy dedicated to assisting clients in strategy development, optimizing execution, driving leadership excellence, culture evolution and improving organizational effectiveness. Rick brings comprehensive knowledge and experience in developing core strategies and plans for executional excellence in a highly competitive and restricted business environment. Rick also is highly experienced in change management within regular business environments as well within mergers and acquisitions.

Margaret Bath
Margaret Bath is a senior level Research and Development executive with a strong global leadership background in Innovation and Quality roles at the Kellogg Company. She has a proven track record of using various consumer tools to identify unmet consumer needs and then bringing multiple functions together to bring solutions to the marketplace. Margaret spent seventeen years with the Kellogg Company, including over twelve years as their Chief Technology Officer. As the Company’s CTO, she globalized the Company’s R&D and Quality network. During her tenure, the global staff increased by almost 50% to over 900 professionals and the operating budget increased by approximately 20%. Under Margaret’s leadership, R&D was consistently recognized by the business as a strategic enabler of delivering strong and sustainable top-line and bottom-line results.

Wendy Burden
Wendy is a transformational leader with proven ability to drive growth and change in both Fortune 500 and early stage companies. She has demonstrated leadership for Finance, Operations and Strategic Planning. Wendy is a collaborative leader and strategic business partner who excels at turnarounds, transformations and start ups. She has a strong track record of achievement in consumer products, specialty retail, mobile commerce, medical devices and healthcare.

Rick Cross, Consultant
Rick Cross is a retired sales and marketing Vice President from R.J. Reynolds and Co-Founder/Partner of The RiverHorse Group, a consultancy dedicated to assisting clients in strategy development, optimizing execution, driving leadership excellence, culture evolution and improving organizational effectiveness. Rick has a wealth of knowledge and experience in leading analysis and operationalizing Consumer and Trade Marketing strategies and overall business plans, as well as in business development, driving competitive advantage, and leading significant company-wide change management. He excels at taking a holistic approach to business opportunities and challenges while working collaboratively across functions and operating companies to turn innovative thinking into meaningful action and positive results.
Gener Bernier

Gisele Candito, Consultant
Gisele Candito has over 30 years of experience in the beauty industry with expertise in marketing, operations, procurement, new product development and sales support. She has served in a diverse set of senior leadership positions with L’Oreal, Coty and Prestige Cosmetics, and has established her capabilities in many areas of Consumer Products including marketing, customer relations, domestic and international supplier relations, supply chain and packaging. Ms. Candito has a great deal of passion for helping companies develop and implement processes around all aspects of new product development including ideation, costs, marketing, packaging, procurement, customer service and S&OP.

Randy Donaldson, Operations & Engineering
Randy Donaldson is a retired engineering and operations executive from consumer products industry leaders, Unilever, Elizabeth Arden and Cosmetic Essence. Randy founded Breakthrough Consulting Services to help clients develop strategies to accelerate performance, diagnose barriers, manage business expansions and contractions, improve their cost structure, and develop a culture of continuous improvement. Randy’s diverse blend of operations and engineering experience allows for the development of actionable solutions that optimally apply technology and human capital. Randy is an engaging and collaborative leader who emphasizes and reinforces the value of every team member’s commitment and need to contribute to the business’ objectives.

Ed Fox
Ed Fox is an executive in the Generics and Healthcare industry. He has deep expertise in strategic sourcing, IT strategy, M&A and vendor selection. Previously, Ed served as the VP of North America Indirect Strategic Sourcing for Mylan. Ed is passionate about helping organizations improve their metrics and measures for outsource partners.

Beth Ritter

Thomas Turner, Consultant
Thomas Turner has over 22 years of business management and senior leadership experience in all aspects of international supply chain functions. Thomas also has in depth knowledge of sales and marketing strategy, program execution, and financial operations. He has significant experience in project management, operating expense management, capital budgeting, capacity and resource planning, team development, warehouse systems and customer service. Thomas has worked with Fortune 500 manufacturers and retailers in North America, UK, Canada and Mexico and has applied international business experience in China and UK.
Maureen Usifer
Maureen has over 30 years experience leading finance organizations for consumer products companies. She was previously CFO for Seventh Generation and for a subsidiary of Church & Dwight. Maureen has led the due diligence and integration of several acquisitions overseeing mergers and acquisitions for Church & Dwight. She has been involved with integrations for SAP, trade promotion management systems and budgeting software. Maureen is passionate about gross margin improvement, cost optimization and cash flow management.









