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Pearl Buck once said, “The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore, they attempt the impossible — and achieve it — generation after generation.” Judging by the accomplishments of the dozen or so 30-somethings that make up this year’s group of Hot Shots, we think she was on to something. These go-getters are working to improve the quality of the food we eat, harnessing the power of technology and building enduring relationships. They also share a remarkable inability to take no for an answer! Read on to learn more about what makes this next generation of industry leaders tick.
Lisa Heard
Spearheading the recent launch of InnovAsian’s new Del Corazón Latin American food lineup ranks as Heard’s top professional achievement to date. But it also meshes well with her personal commitment to trying new things and always striving to learn more about different cultures, places and people. “Our two brands — InnovAsian and Del Corazon — give consumers an opportunity to introduce new cuisines to their families in a very approachable way,” she explains. “But getting someone to try a new food might spark a passion to learn more…. I’m so proud to be a part of that.”
Her colleagues are happy to have Heard on the team as well, calling her the embodiment of someone who drives a brand from the heart. “A brand owner from the start, Lisa has permeated the brand management of our risky new venture like a pro — not overly confident, fact-based in her approach, more organized than a Container Store and never having to be asked more than once to do anything,” says a supervisor. “Thank you for your passion, servant leadership and teamwork — and your drive to take Del Corazon as far as we can take it.”
Heard believes the sky’s the limit, thanks in part to the diverse team InnovAsian has assembled. “Different perspectives are so important in this industry,” she explains. Young people may not have as much experience as older colleagues, but they still bring a lot to the table, including first-hand knowledge of the next generation of shoppers. So don’t be afraid to give them a chance, she says.
That’s the same advice she would give to young people hoping to build a successful career in this industry. “If you’ve ever asked ‘What if…’ take that as a sign that you should do it!” she says. “Taking chances is how you get the most out of your personal and professional lives.”
Emily Groden
Groden never planned to make waffles for a living. But after spending a year following the birth of her daughter tinkering with recipes, she decided to leave her job as a corporate lawyer and share her fruit-and veggie-packed, whole grain version with the 33 million other moms with children under age 11. “I knew I couldn’t possibly be the only one who wanted a better option for my kids,” she says. And thus, Evergreen was born.
Recognizing the importance of the middle ground between “farm to table” and “ultraprocessed,” Groden is committed to taking a ubiquitous, inexpensive product that Americans love and making it more nutritious. “That’s how we make a real impact on the way Americans eat and, therefore, the health of generations of Americans to come,” she says.
Just four years after its launch, Evergreen products are sold in approximately 3,500 stores nationwide. How did Groden get there with zero CPG experience? In some ways, she says, her inexperience and willingness to question the status quo gave her an advantage. “I bring a fresh perspective to old challenges and am not afraid to do things differently.” As a former Division I swimmer (and Ironman finisher!), Groden says she’s also very coachable, and that’s been a tremendous help in a notoriously challenging industry. “I embrace my weaknesses and have surrounded myself with a team of people with experience scaling brands from less than $1 million to eight and nine figures…. I value them and their ideas and want to empower them to use their unique experience, expertise, passion and creativity to build Evergreen with me.”
Beyond creating a stellar team, Groden says grit and determination are key to her success. “I never hear ‘no’ as anything more than ‘no for today’ and an invitation to try again tomorrow,” she says. That’s her advice for other budding entrepreneurs as well. “If you want something, you have to go out and get it for yourself. Pretty much everything we’ve accomplished to date can be traced back to a cold e-mail or phone call. It can be scary to put yourself out there. But the only way to guarantee you won’t succeed is to not take the shot.”
Christopher Acosta
As the grandson of Rouses Markets’ founder Anthony Rouse, Acosta and his cousins grew up visiting stores.“He’d load us into the car and then put us to work corralling carts and shelving products,” he recalls. Acosta started working part-time at 16, but after college (and a few jobs in other industries), he joined the family business, working his way through the ranks to his current position as director of center store. His favorite part of the job? “Those lightbulb moments,” he answers.
“I was born in ’88, so like many of my peers, technology comes pretty naturally to me,” Acosta explains. “But two of the three category managers on my team are my parents’ age,” so they didn’t grow up with computers, let alone artificial intelligence. “They’ve both been excellent mentors to me, so it’s really rewarding when I can return the favor by helping them use technology to increase their efficiency. I love to see the lightbulbs go off when they ‘get it,’” he adds.
Acosta is also passionate about carrying on his grandfather’s legacy by continuing to grow the Rouses brand. But it’s not just about him or his family. As one of the largest independent grocers in the country, Rouses employs approximately 7,500 people to whom Acosta feels a responsibility. “If we’re not growing sales year over year, building new stores or gaining market share, jobs could be lost,” he explains. “Plus, we’re literally feeding communities where we operate — something like a million shoppers each week.” In fact, says Acosta, a full-service Rouses Market is opening this month in Picayune, Miss. “It’s literally a game-changer for that town,” reminding him of the importance of what he and his team do every day.
But Acosta thrives on the challenge and truly loves what he does. His advice to industry newcomers: Always be willing to listen, think before you speak, and if you’re lucky enough to have good mentors, learn all you can from them.
Jason Mosley
Since being accepted into Nestlé’s Leadership Development Program years ago, Mosley has spent his entire career working with mission-driven companies dedicated to creating high-quality, impactful products. From Chobani and Vital Farms to Beyond Meat and, now, Pitaya Foods, he has been instrumental in advancing brands that align with his core values and products he would proudly feed his own children.
Known for his ability to implement systems that encourage seamless cross-functional collaboration, Mosley excels at elevating retailer relationships and capitalizing on data-driven insights to unlock new business opportunities. His strategic approach has not only helped established brands achieve remarkable growth but also opened doors for innovative start-ups.
As senior vp of sales at Pitaya Foods, Mosley continues to shape the industry landscape through his contribution to a strategic blueprint designed to help the company achieve both short-term wins and long-term success. But he also gets immense satisfaction from mentoring emerging leaders and sharing his knowledge of the industry, believing that “collaboration and a shared commitment to mission-driven values are the keys to driving meaningful success.
“I have been lucky to be around incredibly talented and wonderful people throughout my career,” Mosley adds. “At both large and small CPGs, I have learned from so many people — regardless of their responsibilities. So it’s my goal to continue to give back and mentor others in the industry, building up the next generation of CPGers!
Mike Renna
Some people have entrepreneurial blood running through their veins. Renna is one of those people. He began his career at Michael Angelo’s Gourmet Foods, founded by his father, Mike Sr. After the popular national brand was sold in 2017, Renna and his family identified a clear need for cold storage, particularly in Central Texas. Enter Triple Temp Cold Storage. “Our mission remains true to our roots: to uphold the high standards we set in food manufacturing and bring that same dedication to the cold storage 3PL industry,” he says.
Reflecting on his professional start, Renna says that Michael Angelo’s was a demanding place to work. Ultimately, however, “It cultivated incredible talent,” with many former employees going on to senior management roles in prestigious organizations with a collective market cap in excess of $15 billion.
Professional lessons learned have shaped Renna’s leadership philosophy. “Leading isn’t about barking orders; it’s about painting a clear picture, empowering your team, and holding everyone accountable,” he says. “This approach is the opposite of micromanagement. It taps into the insights and situational awareness of the team on the ground — often, they are the ones with the most valuable perspective.”
Renna uses the word “I” sparingly, preferring to emphasize the team. He lists “helping those in need” as a passion shared by his entire team, which actively volunteers with the Central Texas Food Bank.
Jasen Urena
In an effort to get some business experience before seeking a “real job” after graduation, Urena started working part-time at NestFresh parent company Hidden Villa Ranch while still in college. Eighteen years later, he’s still there, after rising through the ranks to his current position as vice president of the NestFresh division. But working in so many different departments over the years — from sales and marketing and operations to production and farmer relations — allowed Urena to learn the business from the ground up and also help shape its future.
While he credits much of his professional success to “amazing mentor Mike Sencer,” Urena says his willingness to “do any job, be part of any project or take on any responsibility” early on in his career likely played a role as well. “Not only did it give me more visibility to the rest of the company, it gave me very valuable experience.”That’s why he says it’s so important for young people just starting out to “ask a lot of questions and show an interest in the long-term goals of your organization.”
Outside the office, Urena and his wife are committed to helping children in need and are big supporters of a non-profit called Olive Crest that shares that goal (he’s part of an American Egg Board grocery roundtable that supports the charity). On a more personal level, however, Urena and his wife began mentoring a teen who was aging out of the foster system seven years ago. “We’ve been helping support her any way we can since then.”
Louis McEneny
Every experience is an opportunity to learn, but many go through our entire professional and personal lives with little interest in the lessons being taught. Not so McEneny, who shares the most important lesson he’s learned since joining Texas Tamale in a sales role before moving to operations and then becoming company president six years ago. “You are never really done,” he says. “When you graduate school, you are not done learning. When you make a sale, you never stop servicing the account. When you hire an employee, you are never done training them.”
McEneny says he’s been given many professional opportunities, some of which may have come before he was sure he could handle them. But rather than shrink from tough jobs, he saw challenges as a means “to learn and grow” as a member of a team. Success, he believes, is a collective effort. “Without my team, advisors, and friends in the industry, I would not be where I am today.”
McEneny’s openness to listening and learning has been central to Texas Tamale’s success. “Building a successful team requires different perspectives and opinions to achieve the best possible outcomes,” he says.
The emphasis on education extends to Texas Tamale’s philanthropic efforts promoting literacy in the company’s hometown. “We collect used books door-to-door during the holidays and donate them to schools, charities, and libraries across Houston,” says McEneny. “In many cases, the difference between a child being literate or illiterate is one book they enjoy reading at a young age.”
(yeah, we know…but he was 39 when he was nominated)
Stephen Piazza II
Piazza is only 40 years old, but he’s been working in the family business, S.A. Piazza & Associates, for 30 years. “Starting when I was 10, I worked in our facilities every summer, every Christmas and every spring break,” he recalls. Later, he started helping out after school and on the weekends. It was during that time that Piazza developed a passion for the business and a commitment to producing exceptional pizza that consumers would be proud to serve their families.
Since his early 20s when Piazza officially joined the payroll, he’s worn nearly every hat imaginable at S.A. Piazza, from mastering logistics to selling products to overseeing new building projects. But that experience helped turn him into a respected leader whose boundless energy and enthusiasm have been integral to the success of Wild Mike’s.
The brand is poised to become a national leader, prompting the company to begin thinking about ways to give back. Piazza is passionate about family and spending time with his kids, so the choice was obvious. “In the spirit of taking care of all the young Wild Mike’s Pizza Rebels around the country and beyond, we launched the Wild Mike’s Ultimate Kids Foundation in 2023, with a slice of the profits from every purchase going to children’s charities that make kids’ lives better,” he says.
Hailey Swartz and Jason Rosenbaum
When Rosenbaum gave up meat for health reasons in 2020, he struggled to find a restaurant-quality veggie burger at the supermarket. So he decided to fill that gap himself with the help of Actual Veggies co-founder Swartz, who was itching to start her own business after working with entrepreneurs at her last job. The partners brought Swartz’s brother on board as COO, and in just four years, the threesome went from hand-packing burgers in Rosenbaum’s tiny New York City apartment to managing a thriving brand currently available at more than 6,000 retailers and restaurants.
“What began as a passion project has transformed into a successful, sustainable company,” says Rosenbaum, who remains committed to clean eating. “Many grocery store products are marketed as ‘healthy,’ but their ingredient lists reveal a myriad of unpronounceable additives. I truly believe that you are what you eat,” he continues. “So we prioritize using real, whole foods.”
In addition, says Swartz, the two continue to “advocate for transparency in food labeling and ingredients, pushing the industry toward higher standards.”
While a genuine passion for what they do combined with “really good timing” has helped Swartz and Rosenbaum take their company to where it is today, trusting their instincts in the absence of any real CPG experience has paid off, too. But they’re ready to take it to the next level. “The next big goal is to expand our product line and make Actual Veggies a household name synonymous with healthy, delicious foods,” says Rosenbaum.
To make that happen, says Swartz, they hope to create win-win partnerships with retailers to drive more consumers to the freezer for fresh, delicious whole foods. “We’re incredibly passionate about making products that are easy to get on the table, taste delicious and are truly healthy.”
J. Patrick Coyne
While teaching in China, Coyne spent a lot of time hanging out at a dumpling shop near his school. “I loved the approachability and the convenience of the product,” he says. So Coyne decided to bring the concept back home with him. He started with a single dumpling shop in Washington, D.C., and eventually added three more before launching a line of frozen dumplings that could be enjoyed by consumers all over the country.
But it was the successful introduction of the company’s second product line, frozen bao buns, that really validated Coyne’s commitment to taking a more modern approach to the Asian frozen foods category (think fun flavor combinations, sustainably sourced ingredients, etc.). In fact, he says, that’s one of the things young entrepreneurs bring to our industry: a fresh perspective that has the power to revitalize even the most mature product categories.
So what’s the secret to Coyne’s success? “Just a willingness to keep going and not throw in the towel,” he answers. “In the seven years since we opened our first dumpling shop, there have been too many ups and downs to count. But we just kept going.” He adds, “We’ve been willing to learn from our mistakes, adapt and press on through a good amount of discomfort as we make our way forward.”
Meghan Barton
With her sights set on law school, Barton never imagined that a required Marketing 101 class would eventually lead to a career in the grocery industry. But 10 years to the day after she moved to Cincinnati to start a job at Advantage Solutions, Barton was promoted to her current position at Kroger where she manages the retailer’s $2 billion+ frozen treats business. Not bad for a woman who didn’t know what a broker was and had never heard of Kroger when she was asked to interview for that very first job!
Before moving to Kroger, Barton spent several years at 84.51 where getting as close to customer data as possible was her goal. “Now, in merchandising at Kroger, I finally get to make decisions based on customer data and to develop strategies that influence future customer experiences,” she says.
The daughter of a fiercely independent small business owner mom, Barton is passionate about empowering women. “It’s hard to believe that in 2024 I’m often the only woman in the room, especially with the trade. It’s an interesting dynamic to be the decision-maker in a room of (mostly) men who often have three times my years of experience,” she says. “Microaggressions are everywhere, but I’ve learned to either push back in a way that’s comfortable to me or keep the peace by working hard and letting my success speak for itself.”
Her experience in a male-dominated industry is one of the reasons Barton is so committed to the youth cheerleaders she coaches. “I reinforce to them that girls can do and be anything,” she says. “Being a positive female role model is my most important job.”
Mohan Valluri
Create something of enduring excellence. That is the core of Valluri’s business philosophy. It helps explain how this executive, with a background in electrical engineering and intelligent systems, helped transform Alamance Foods from a traditional food manufacturer into a leader in food technology, with commitments to sustainability and innovation as distinguishing traits.
“The future of our industry hinges on our ability to innovate responsibly, balancing growth with environmental stewardship,” says Valluri, who earlier this year was named to PLMA’s Private Label Hall of Fame in the category of Next Gen Private Label Leader.
Alamance Foods’ reputation for innovation has been built with “a deep focus on the fundamentals: having the right people in place, fostering a culture of discipline, and maintaining a clear vision for the future,” according to Valluri.
His long-range view distinguishes Valluri from many of his peers in the food industry, regardless of age. “True leadership is about creating something that endures. It’s about striving for excellence, not for its own sake, but to build something lasting and impactful… The food industry is ripe for transformation, and there’s no better time to be part of this exciting evolution,” he says.
Karla Quandt
High levels of grocery retailing success require that those charged with leading retail teams meet regularly with customers, both in their stores and out in the community. Enter Quandt, who has a reputation for actively engaging with shoppers and responding in ways that build strong loyalty toward her and the Hy-Vee team she leads in Belton, Mo.
Quandt says that the top priority for her and her team is to deliver the highest level of service to customers shopping at the store. Achieving that requires attentive listening followed by action. For example, “I had a regular tell me how much he wished we would carry peach ice cream,” she recalls. “That day, I contacted all of our ice cream vendors to find a peach-flavored ice cream for him. Belfonte was able to bring in theirs within two days, and our customer was over the moon happy we had this in stock for him. That is what it is all about.”
Quandt’s Hy-Vee further proves its responsiveness in its frozen and refrigerated sections. “We focus not only on everyday items but also specialty items to provide more variety and selection than you could find in most other retailers,” she explains.
Quandt’s work in the community has also earned accolades. The Belton Chamber of Commerce honored her with its 2023 Member of the Year award after the store partnered with the chamber and a local church to deliver 200 steak dinners to Belton’s first responders on Christmas Day.
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