2023 Food Industry Summit Speakers

VP Industry and Customer Development, Kimberly-Clark North America

Denny joined the leadership team at Kimberly Clark in March 2015 as Vice President, Industry Affairs and Customer Development where he is responsible for leading the company’s efforts with business and industry initiatives in developing strategic retailer collaborative partnerships. Internally, his focus is on developing and mentoring the next generation of leadership.

Most recently, Denny served as Senior Vice President, Government Affairs and Industry Collaboration with Hillshire Brands, Previously, Denny served the industry as the Executive Vice President, Industry Affairs and Collaboration at the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) and Vice President, Customer Development and Industry Affairs for Nabisco and then Kraft Foods North America. In addition, Denny also served 15+ years as the Executive Director and Tournament Chairman of Kraft Nabisco Championship, the first major on the LPGA tour and one of golf’s crown jewels, where he was responsible for total development and implementation of sales, marketing, media, and all operational aspects of the event.

Denny began his career in the food industry in 1976 when he joined Standard Brands in Pittsburgh, PA as a field sales representative. During the past forty years, Denny has held several business and customer development and organizational leadership positions with Nabisco Brands in both retail and food service business segments, including Senior Vice President, National Customer Teams; Vice President, Sales, Broker Categories; and then with Kraft Foods as Vice President, Sales and Customer Logistics for its Direct Store Delivery segment based in Chicago.

A native of Aliquippa, PA, Denny holds a bachelor degree in business communication from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania where he majored in journalism and participated in intercollegiate baseball, serving as captain for two years. Denny earned his executive MBA degree in business and organizational communication at Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management.

Denny serves on a variety of industry advisory boards such as co-chair FMI Industry Collaboration Council, CGA Executive Committee Board of Directors, and NACDS Retail Advisory Board to name a few. 

Denny and his wife Marsha make their home in a Chicago suburb where they are involved in many community and service related events and charities. The Belcastro’s have three adult children – Chris, Craig (Jen) and Courtney (Danny) and two grandchildren – Beckett (6) and Camden (4).

President, Profitero and Campbell Soup Company Board Member

Sarah is a visionary leader with a proven track record of driving tremendous growth in multiple disruptive environments during the past 20+ years. She is the former Chairwoman and CEO of digital marketing agency, 360i, which under her leadership grew from 30 to 1,000 people and was recognized by Ad Age as a top 10 national advertising agency every year that she was CEO and President. Prior to joining 360i, she founded Kayak Communications, a consulting firm for startups.

Sarah also spent almost 10 years at Net2Phone, one of the world’s first providers of VoIP technology, in a series of senior leadership positions. Sarah is a member of the board of directors for Campbell Soup Company. She has been recognized by Ad Age’s “40 Under 40,” and Adweek 50, and has been inducted into the AAF Hall of Achievement and Word of Mouth Marketing Hall of Fame. Sarah also has taken the stage at Cannes Lions Creativity Festival and Fortune Most Powerful Women Next Gen Summit, among others.

SVP, Head of Category Leadership – Advantage Intelligence

Jason Potter leads Category Leadership for Advantage Intelligence, a world-class category leadership center of excellence and data-enabled team that supports clients and customers in the development and execution of go-to-market strategies grounded in category and shopper insights.

Potter joined Advantage in August 2021 as VP, Analytics, Insights and Intelligence for Advantage Sales after serving as Sr. Director, Category Leadership at Danone North America where he advocated for a holistic category leadership approach, elevating Danone from # 6 to # 2 in the Advantage survey category management and shopper marketing rankings.

He began his career at E&J Gallo Winery in their top-tier leadership development program gaining foundational expertise in category management, shopper insights, sales and Lean Six Sigma process improvement. In subsequent roles at Kraft, ConAgra, Mondelez and Jack Link’s, he worked alongside management consultants on high-profile organizational initiatives and partnered with retail to optimize distribution, drive millions in growth, and eliminate trade spend gaps.

Potter holds an MBA from Goizueta Business School, Emory University and BSBA, Marketing from Appalachian State University. He lives in Northern NJ with his family and enjoys sports, food and wine, traveling, and spending time with his family.

Former CIO/CTO at Supervalu, Cadbury, Sysco

Wayne has spent his entire 40-year career in the food industry, and from every angle: CPG, grocery retail, and foodservice. He currently serves on the Boards of Stater Bros. Markets, a Southern California grocery retailer and Jake’s Finer Foods, a Houston based foodservice distributor. From 2012 to 2019 he was EVP and CIO/CTO at Sysco, the world’s largest foodservice distributor. 

Prior to Sysco, Wayne was EVP and CIO at SUPERVALU, then a $38b USA grocery retailer and wholesaler. In his first CIO role, Wayne served as the Global CIO at Cadbury PLC, a $10b British multinational confectionery company that operated in over 60 countries.

Wayne spent the first 20 years of his career at Nabisco, where he learned the CPG, food, grocery, and retail business from the ground up.

Wayne was inducted into the CIO Hall of Fame in 2017. He earned a BS from Lehigh University, and an MBA from Seton Hall University’s Stillman School of Business.

Co-Founder & Co-Host, The CPG Guys Podcast

Peter is the Partnership Acceleration Lead at Flywheel Digital, the world’s leading real-time platform that powers eCommerce for both retailers and the brands they sell. Prior to joining Flywheel, Peter held leadership roles at Fetch Rewards, PowerReviews, CVS Health, dunnhumby, IRi and priceline.com. Peter is a frequent presenter at industry events and company meetings. He speaks on all things related to excellence on the digital shelf.

Peter holds a BA from Wesleyan University, a 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.

Co-Host, The CPG Guys Podcast

Bryan Gildenberg is the host of the CPG Guys Fast Forward podcast and host of "the Gildenberg Omnicomment," a weekly video series appearing Thursdays on The CPG Guys LinkedIn page. He is the founder & CEO of Confluencer Commerce. Previously, he served as the SVP, Commerce, for the Omnicom Commerce Group (OCG), a community of best in class consultancy, creativity and capability in retail, shopper and commerce marketing, focused on driving sales growth through increased conversion. Prior to Omnicom Bryan led global retail research for Kantar’s retail practice. His perspective has been featured on broadcast media such as CNBC, Fox Business, and the BBC, and he is frequently cited in a range of U.S. and global business publications. An engaging speaker, Bryan has addressed thousands of industry/corporate meetings over his near 25-year career. A particular area of focus for Bryan is the US drugstore channel and he has significant expertise in the marriage between retail and healthcare. Bryan has been a frequent speaker at major drugstore industry events and has a long-standing partnership with the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS).

Bryan earned an MBA summa cum laude from Babson College and an undergraduate degree from Cambridge University in Cambridge, England.

Chief Customer Office, Wakefern Food Corp.

Steve Henig, Wakefern’s Chief Customer Officer, has been an innovator with the nation’s largest retailer-owned cooperative throughout his career. In his current role, Henig works with Wakefern members, leaders and associates to create a single, consistent brand voice for customers. He oversees Wakefern’s Advertising, Social Media, Brand Strategy, Consumer Affairs, E-Commerce, Sales Planning and Analytics and Insights teams.

Henig previously served as Vice President of Digital Commerce and Analytics and was responsible for Wakefern’s e-commerce initiatives, app development and analytics. He made innovative changes to the company’s online shopping service, Order. Pickup. Deliver., and helped ShopRite become the first supermarket in North America to implement an automated micro-fulfillment center to enhance online service. Before that, he served as Vice President of Corporate Merchandising and Marketing for Wakefern.

Henig began his career with Wakefern’s General Merchandise division in 1991 and later joined the company’s Leaders in Training program. He has held positions over the years in the Dairy, Deli, Grocery Marketing, Corporate Merchandising and Marketing divisions. Henig earned a Bachelor of Science degree in political science at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) and a Master of Business Administration at Monmouth University. In addition to his responsibilities at Wakefern, he is currently an adjunct marketing professor at The College of New Jersey. He also serves as Vice Chairman of the National Grocers Association Board of Directors.