Food Executive ProgramJuly 13-18, 2025 in Ithaca, NY

Amy Nordstrom is the Head of Sales for Frozen Foods for Nestlé USA. In this role, Amy leads the Sales account teams, Category Leadership, E-Commerce and Category Strategy for Frozen Foods. In her prior role, Amy was the Vice President of Sales leading eight Customer Sales Teams within the Grocery, Club, Value and Natural Channels for all categories within the Nestlé Sales Organization. Amy began her career with Nestlé in the Nestlé Sales Management Development Program with the Nestlé Food Company. She has since held various roles with increasing responsibility beginning with Customer Management roles in Dallas, Chicago and Los Angeles and Category and Shopper Development Management driving our Nutrition businesses though 4P development and execution nationally within all channels.
From 2000-2002, Amy was on an international assignment located in London, England working with a cross-functional, worldwide team as part of an ambitious, multi-year global restructure and best-practice standardization project for Nestlé S.A. In 2011, Amy was promoted to Director of the Publix Customer Team for Nestlé USA in Tampa, FL and then moved to Fayetteville, AR as Director of the Walmart Customer Team for Nestlé USA. In 2016, Amy was promoted to Division Vice President, Category & Shopper Development supporting the Nestlé Pizza and HOT POCKETS® businesses based out of Cleveland, OH, with responsibility for category, customer and shopper marketing strategy, trade development and pricing strategy. Amy earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin, a Masters of Business Administration from DePaul University in Chicago and is a graduate of the Food Industry Management Program at the University of Southern California.

Gordon Reid serves as President of Stop & Shop, a great local brand of Ahold Delhaize USA. Founded in 1914, Stop & Shop now has more than 400 stores across the Northeast and employs nearly 54,000 associates.

Prior to joining Stop & Shop in 2019, Gordon Reid served as President of Giant Food and led the brand to the number one market share position in each of its local markets. Under his leadership, the company made healthy eating easier and affordable, while also growing home delivery and transforming the shopping experience with the customer top of mind.

Reid has more than 35 years of international retail experience. Before joining Giant Food, he worked as CEO of China and Deputy Regional Director of North Asia for The Dairy Farm Group in Hong Kong. Previously, he spent time at Tesco in various leadership roles and worked in a variety of countries such as Hungary, India and China. He also previously worked at Boots in the United Kingdom for 15 years, where he held general management roles, and at A.S. Watson Group spending time in Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea. He started his career as a pharmacist in 1984.

Reid holds a bachelor’s of science in pharmacy from Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, U.K., and a Master’s of Business Administration from Nottingham University Business School in the U.K. He serves on the Board of Directors at the Greater Boston Food Bank and Partnership for a Healthier America. Reid also serves on the National Academy of Sciences’ Roundtable for Obesity Solutions representing Stop & Shop, which was the first-ever grocery retailer to join this group in their work to address the obesity crisis. Gordon and his wife reside in Boston, Mass.

Sara Wheeler is the VP of Commercial Development for Nestlé USA. Sara has a 25+ year career at Nestlé holding numerous sales roles across several businesses within Nestlé including PetCare, PowerBar, Nutrition, Confections, and Beverages. Sara also spent a year working on the PetCare business for Nestlé Korea. Her most previous role was Vice President/General Manager for Sweet Earth, a business within Nestlé USA. In this role, she worked to bring this recent Nestlé acquisition to scale and capture the opportunity in the dynamic space of plant-based foods to drive long-term, profitable growth for the category. Sara’s focus is working with customers to drive long-term category growth and helping us better serve consumers in their lives. Within Nestlé, Sara is passionate about strength in culture to help achieve our best performance as an organization. Sara is originally from Central New York and ‘home’ is Seneca Lake. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication from Cornell University, 1995. While at Cornell, Sara was the Captain of the Alpine Ski Team for three of her four years. She was a USCSA All-American ski racer.

Sara and her family currently live in McLean, VA. She’s married with three awesome kids: Neve and Flora, 11, and Ben, 14. They love to ski, ride bikes, and spend as much time outdoors as possible. Sara’s mid-life crisis is cross-country mountain bike racing in classic weekend warrior style.

As VP, Sales Growth & Capabilities, Clare Galvao is responsible for the strategic planning process and driving synergies across the Sales Center. She sits on the US Sales Leadership Team and leads the Category Management, Trade Strategy & Sales Planning, E2E Commercial Operations, Commercial Capabilities, Portfolio Strategy, and Business Reporting & Analytics teams at Kellanova.

Clare has been with the company since March 2020.

Prior to this role, Clare led Channel & Customer Strategy for Kellanova, and Sales Continuous Improvement for Kellogg, which included establishing two separate sales organizations as a result of spinning off the cereal business. Prior to joining Kellogg North America, Clare was on the Global Growth Team leading Global Channel Strategy & Capabilities.

Prior to joining Kellogg, Clare spent 11 years at Coca-Cola in various sales and marketing assignments across four countries and three continents – including Sales roles in USA, Brand Management in Central Europe (Czech/Slovak); Venue Operations & Licensing at Expo 2015 in Italy; Channel & Customer Development in Thailand; and she led Commercial Strategy & Planning for a top US bottler.

Clare is the mother of one daughter; she and her husband reside in Glencoe, IL. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota – Carlson School of Management and her MBA from the Institut Universitaire Kurt Bösch (Switzerland) and University of New York in Prague.

Jim Dorey is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Inserra Supermarkets since 2022. In this role Dorey provides broad leadership for the strategic direction and operation of the company. He has primary oversight for operational functions, strategic growth, human resources, information technology, government relations, legal, new business development and community relations.
During his tenure Dorey has helped the company to achieve significant growth and financial success. Inserra Supermarkets is a privately held company with sales in excess of $1.5 Billion in sales. The company operates over 30 retail locations in the NY Metro market.
Prior to Inserra Supermarkets, Jim was the President of Price Rite Supermarkets, a registered trademark of the retailer-owned cooperative Wakefern Food Corp which operates more than 50 stores in the tri-state area and New England. Earlier in his career at Wakefern, Dorey rose the Real Estate Manager position through the ranks of Director of Perishables, Vice President of Marketing and Executive Vice President before being promoted to President.
Jim is all-in with the company’s people-first philosophy. “Inserra and the ShopRite stores are embedded in the community, this is truly a family business where the interests of our associates, our customers and our community drive our business. This is a company that takes care of the community, that looks out for its associates and neighbors. It is awesome to be part of that.”
Throughout his career, Dorey sought to expand his business skills as well, completing the Leadership at the Peak program of the Center for Creative Leadership and the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School. Jim grew up in Northern NJ and graduated from Montclair State university, where he remains active and supportive.

Mark Baum currently serves as Chief Collaboration & Commercial Officer & Senior Vice President, Industry Relations for FMI – The Food Industry Association. In this role, Baum engages retailer, manufacturer, supplier, and service provider C-Suite executives to further trading partner collaboration, leading to operational improvements and growth opportunities across all segments of the food retail supply chain.
Baum is known for his intricate knowledge of almost every aspect of the food, beverage, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and retail industry. He is also recognized as one of the foremost experts in the design, management, and execution of strategic and commercial sales, marketing, and merchandising models across consumer facing industries.
Additionally, Baum is a Managing Partner of MARCAT Group, LLC, an advisory firm specializing in the active outdoors marketplace. Prior to that, he was a Partner and led the CPG/Retail Practice at Diamond Management & Technology Consultants (NASDAQ: DTPI), now owned by Pricewaterhouse Coopers, LLP (PwC). Earlier, he was Executive Vice President of the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA). Formerly, Baum was the President & CEO of the Association of Sales & Marketing Companies (ASMC). He joined GMA in 2001 after leading the merger with ASMC.
Earlier in his career, Baum served as Vice President, Sales and Marketing for Retail Insights, a division of Maclean Hunter Media/Progressive Grocer Associates – producers of Supermarket Insights, Convenience Store Insights and Restaurant Insights – and prior to that, held significant management positions at Food Distributors International. Baum’s career in the food, beverage, and CPG industry spans over 35 years and began at Paragon, a New York based snack food/candy distributor. Mark Baum serves on the Board of Directors of KeyImpact Sales & Systems, a national foodservice broker in the United States. He is an Industry Venture Partner (IVP) with Loft Growth Partners, a private-equity firm, providing growth capital and industry expertise to emerging branded consumer products businesses. To promote diversity initiatives, Baum is a Founding Champion of the NextUp, a CPG/Retail industry organization dedicated to providing career opportunities for women and minorities. Baum also is a Director on the Board of Oswego State University (NY), his alma mater.

Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Fox 5’s Good Day New York, and is a regular commentator on CNN and CNBC. He hosts the Shelly Palmer LIVE livestream.

Shelly is a prolific author. Along with his daily newsletter, his books include, the Amazon #1 Bestseller, Blockchain – Cryptocurrency, NFTs & Smart Contracts: An executive guide to the world of decentralized finance and Television Disrupted: The Transition from Network to Networked TV, the seminal book about the technological, economic, and sociological forces that have changing everything about the the business of television, Overcoming the Digital Divide: How to use Social Media and Digital Tools to Reinvent Yourself and Your Career, and Digital Wisdom: Thought Leadership for a Connected World.

Patrick Mooney is Vice President of Health and Beauty Care and Non Foods at Wakefern Food Corp., the nation’s largest retailer-owned cooperative with supermarket banner brands that include ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace, The Fresh Grocer, Dearborn Market, Gourmet Garage and Fairway. In his role, Mooney leads merchandising efforts that deliver in-demand, on-trend products for an exceptional customer shopping experience.
Mooney most recently served as Vice President of Merchandising Support, where he supported cooperative-wide merchandising programs and established best practices for sourcing, commodity tracking and vendor cost management in the Vendor Management Office.
Prior to that appointment, Mooney worked as director of Sales Planning, where he centralized and executed a variety of successful marketing programs. He also worked as a manager in Corporate Merchandising and was responsible for executing weekly promotional and planning initiatives for stores.
Mooney joined Wakefern as a Leader in Training in 2009, and has held various roles in the company’s Information Technology, Health and Beauty Care, and Grocery divisions.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from The College of New Jersey and resides in Allentown, New Jersey.

Bryan Gildenberg is an industry expert, keynote speaker, and advisor on the commerce landscape. With over 25 years of experience helping retailers, brands and their trading partners adapt to and win in the changing retail world, Bryan is a trusted subject matter expert on both physical and digital retail, including retail ecommerce. Today, Bryan leads the North America business for Retail Cities –  a global retail research business aimed at helping brands and retailers predict, map and capture the next $10 trillion of retail growth coming before the end of the decade. In addition, his enterprise and thought leadership brand Confluencer Commerce seeks to help leaders lead the major transformation of the next decade – the confluence of retail, media and content.

Bryan is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and private events, and his perspective has been featured in dozens of media publications and news outlets such as CNBC, the BBC and Fox Business. He is a former co-host of the popular CPG Guys podcast and a recognized expert in the changing commerce, commerce media and retail landscapes.

Bryan spent over 20 years as Chief Knowledge Officer for Retail at Kantar, the world’s leading marketing data and analytics company. He also served as SVP of Commerce for Omnicom’s retail marketing agencies.

Bryan holds an MA with Honors from Cambridge University and an MBA from Babson College in Wellesley, MA.

Peter V.S. Bond works as Partnership Acceleration Lead at Flywheel, a division of Omnicom. Prior to Flywheel, Mr. Bond was the Senior Vice President of Commercial Strategy and Business Development at Fetch Rewards, a mobile loyalty platform. He has also held leadership roles at PowerReviews, CVS Health, dunnhumby, IRi, and Priceline.com. Mr. Bond holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University, an MBA from The Stern School of Business at New York University, and Executive Education certificates from the business schools at Columbia University and Cornell University.

Parag Shah is co-founder and Chief Growth Officer at Think Blue, a consulting firm that helps transform businesses by melding digital innovations with traditional expertise.

Formerly, at The GIANT Company, Mr. Shah led the Center Store and Omnichannel Merchandising initiatives, guiding a dedicated team to blend traditional retail excellence with digital innovation, significantly enhancing both customer experience and business performance. Mr. Shah’s tenure at Wakefern Food Corporation saw him ascend through various pivotal roles, culminating in a vice-presidential position where he spearheaded initiatives that transformed merchandising practices and nurtured collaborative success across the cooperative.

Beyond his professional endeavors, Mr. Shah is passionately committed to mentorship and advocacy, particularly focusing on educational empowerment for underprivileged communities and fostering diversity within the industry. His goal is to inspire and uplift, sharing the knowledge and insights he’s gained to nurture the next generation of industry leaders.

Over 23 years of experience developing & activating Customer-centric Retail Analytics across merchandising, marketing and operations for leading global retailers to inform retail business strategies, integrate into operational processes and have a clear path to tactical execution, which makes him a true trailblazer in the customer-centric retailing space

Focuses on uncovering deep insights to boost sales and profit through sustainable business results in the Retail and FMCG sectors using data science applications, project management, and financial modelling to generate incremental value for clients

One of the founding members of Precima, a customer-centric analytics solutions company. Built the business to over $100M in annual revenue globally within 12 years before being acquired by NIQ in January 2020

Graduate of University of Toronto – BSc., Mathematics & Statistics

Managing NIQ’s Retail Analytics portfolio, working closely with commercial retail teams to build and deliver best-in-class solutions as a combination of advanced analytical software and consulting services for a portfolio with over $1 Trillion in combined annual revenue

Jason English is currently the Founder and President of South Street Advisers where he consults with CEOs and CFOs, primarily in the Consumer-Packaged Goods (CPG) industry. He has advised on M&A and business transformation initiatives as well as Investor Relation practices. Prior to launching his own firm Mr. English spent 14 years at Goldman Sachs. He began his career at Goldman in 2010 covering the Packaged Food sector before expanding his coverage to encompass the Household and Personal Care sector (HPC) in 2012. In 2016 he was promoted to Managing Director and in 2018 he was elevated to be the Consumer-Retail Business Unit Leader where, in addition to maintaining his core coverage responsibilities of the Packaged Food and HPC sectors, he assumed a broader managerial oversight role of the business unit which encompasses retail, restaurants, gaming, leisure and lodging sectors.

Mr. English began his Wall Street career at Bear Stearns in the Spring of 2007 as a junior analyst on the Packaged Food team. His team was one of the few lifted out and into J.P. Morgan in the subsequent acquisition. He became the top internal salesforce ranked junior analyst at J.P. Morgan and was promoted to Vice President in 2010 before being recruited away to Goldman.

Mr. English spent nearly a decade working within the CPG industry in roles of increasing responsibility within the marketing/Brand Management organizations of Campbell Soup (in its Pepperidge Farm division), InBev US, Atkins Nutrition and Kellogg prior to pursuing a career on Wall Street. At InBev he played an integral role in turning around the Rolling Rock brand before being promoted to Brand Manager of the Dos Equis and Sol brands. And at Kellogg Mr. English began his career as the Brand Manager heading up the firm’s frozen innovation efforts before being promoted to the Sr. Brand Manager on what was at the time the company’s second largest US cereal brand (Frosted Mini Wheats).

In addition to his role at South Street Advisers, Mr. English is also an active member of the Board of Directors at Wisdom Analytics, an early-stage growth company that is deploying artificial intelligence to transform the Revenue-Growth-Management and Trade-Promotion-Optimization practices within the CPG industry.

Mr. English holds an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business and began hist study of the CPG industry as a Food Marketing Fellow while earning his BS from Cornell University’s Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. Mr. English remains involved with Cornell where he lectures annually at the university’s Food Executive Program. And in his free time Mr. English has coached his son’s recreational baseball and basketball teams. He holds series 7, 63, 86 and 87 FINRA certifications and a National Alliance for Youth Sports (NAYS) coach certification.

Ed McLaughlin is the Robert G. Tobin Professor of Marketing Emeritus at the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. He served as interim dean of Dyson from July 2020 to July 2021 and from June 2016 to June 2017. McLaughlin directed Dyson’s undergraduate business program, the largest undergraduate major at Cornell, for 20 years. He also served as the faculty director of the Food Executive Program (now in its 56th year) and directed Cornell’s Food Industry Management Program. He is a distinguished expert in the efficiency of food distribution systems who has worked with food industry companies, trade associations, and public policymakers over many decades.

Dan Hooker is a global retail and consumer packaged goods executive with broad experience across diverse business environments and formats, leading traditional food retail operations and merchandising, as well as product development, consumer and category analytics, sourcing and procurement, global trading, national sales, and e-commerce. An outstanding strategist and general manager, he has led the successful startup of multiple diverse businesses. Known for and recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on retailers’ proprietary brands, Mr. Hooker has shaped clients’ programs across four continents and eight classes of trade. His passion is in helping companies recognize their unique DNA and positioning then creating actionable marketing and sales strategies essential for their success.

Miguel I. Gómez is the Robert G. Tobin Associate Professor in the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University. He is Director of the Food Industry Management Program, globally recognized as the premier food industry education and research program. Professor Gómez has an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Applied Economics from the University of Illinois.

Professor Gómez concentrates his research program on two interrelated areas under the umbrella of food marketing and distribution. The first is Food Value Chain Competitiveness and Sustainability. His work in this area involves multidisciplinary collaborations for the development models to assess supply chain performance in multiple dimensions, including economic, social, and environmental. The second is Food Value Chain Negotiation. Here, Professor Gómez combines theory and outreach methods to analyze food markets from farm to table, emphasizing key concepts such as demand response, consumer behavior, buyer/seller negotiations, market power, and retail performance. In addition, his research extends to economic development and environmental economics, examining incentives for and barriers to smallholder farmer participation in food value chains and sustainability of food systems, with emphasis in Latin America. Professor Gómez’s applied research efforts aim at enhancing market opportunities for fruit and vegetable products, benefiting producers, food processors/distributors, and consumers worldwide.

Professor Gómez’s work has been published in top journals, including Science, Management Science, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, World Development, and Food Policy. His research program has been funded with over 100 research grants, including the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Professor Gómez has won several prestigious teaching and research awards, including the Rising Star Faculty Award of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University. He has consulted for multilateral development institutions such as the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the Interamerican Development Bank.

Sarah Wolfolds is the Andrew Paul Sesquicentennial Faculty Fellow and assistant professor in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. Before joining Cornell in 2016, she received her doctorate in Strategy from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Mathematics from Swarthmore College. Professor Wolfolds spent time working at both the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors prior to attending graduate school.

Professor Wolfolds’ research examines the interaction between for-profit and nonprofit organizations in industries where they coexist. While nonprofits may want to differentiate themselves when faced with additional nonprofit competition, it is unclear whether they would want to differentiate themselves or converge toward for-profit competitors. Her research addresses this issue by considering the different financing models, human resource systems, and objectives of nonprofit organizations, as compared to for-profits, in the mixed industry of microfinance. Professor Wolfolds’ recent research also examines issues surrounding financial exclusion in the United States.

Professor Wolfolds was awarded a grant by the Strategic Research Foundation to further pursue her dissertation research.

Drew Pascarella is a lecturer of finance at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, where he currently leads the Investment Banking Immersion program and is the faculty director of the Fintech Intensive. In addition, Mr. Pascarella has taught Core Finance, Mergers and Acquisitions (Executive MBA level), Investment Banking Essentials (undergraduate level), and Lectures in Finance. Mr. Pascarella is also heavily involved with executive education initiatives, working with global corporate clients on finance hard skills and Fintech training. Mr. Pascarella was the 2014 recipient of the Class of 1992 Apple Award for Teaching Excellence.

Prior to his arrival at Johnson in 2012, Mr. Pascarella spent 15 years working at bulge bracket investment banks. Mr. Pascarella has advised clients on over $35bn of merger and acquisition transactions and led equity, convertible, and debt financing transactions totaling over $9bn in proceeds. Most recently, Mr. Pascarella was a director in the Technology Investment Banking group at Citi. Notable transactions include the formation of Nokia Siemens Networks (largest JV in corporate history), Nokia’s $8.1bn acquisition of NAVTEQ (largest acquisition by a Finnish corporate) and associated €1.75bn debt IPO, Andrew Corporation’s $2.6bn sale to Commscope, Lucent’s $1.625bn convertible bond offering, and sale of multiple private businesses to Cisco. While at Citi, Mr. Pascarella was an active participant in the Investment Banking Associate Training Program, developing and delivering hard and soft skills courses. Prior to joining Citi, Mr. Pascarella was a technology project manager at Goldman Sachs, where he led the design, development, implementation, and support of global trading technology systems.

In addition to his duties at Johnson, Mr. Pascarella is managing director and head of East Coast Banking of Vista Point Advisors.

Mr. Pascarella holds an MBA from Cornell University and a BBA in computer information systems from James Madison University.

David Feldshuh has served as a Professor of Theatre at Cornell University for more than 30 years. His course, “Leadership Presence: Acting in Public,” leverages theater techniques to train scientists, leaders in education and business, and anyone else wanting to enjoy more effective communication of their ideas and passions. Professor Feldshuh has been recognized as a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow, Cornell’s highest teaching award.

Professor Feldshuh began his professional career as an actor and director at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. He then earned a Ph.D. in theater (focusing on creativity and actor training) followed by an M.D. degree, specializing in Emergency Medicine. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Emergency Medicine and spends part of each week as a practicing physician.

Professor Feldshuh is the author of three widely produced plays, most notably “Miss Evers’ Boys,” a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. As an HBO movie, “Miss Evers’ Boys” received 12 Emmy nominations and won five, including Outstanding Made-for-Television Movie.

Dr. Li Chen is a Professor of Operations, Technology and Information Management and Breazzano Family Term Professor of Management at Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. Dr. Chen’s research interests concern supply chain management, operations strategy, and Bayesian methods for predictive and prescriptive analytics. He has published research works in top journals in the operations management field, such as Management Science, Operations Research, and Manufacturing, Service and Operations Management. Prior to joining Johnson School, Dr. Chen was an Associate Professor of Business Administration at The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. Before his Duke appointment, Dr. Chen spent four years at TrueDemand Software, a supply chain software company in Silicon Valley, where he was the cofounder and lead scientist of the company. Dr. Chen obtained his PhD in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University in 2005.

Adam Brumberg splits his time between consumer behavior research and the food industry management program. He runs student programs, co-teaches “Supply Chain Strategy,” and is an active leader in executive education programs.