Our Team

Brooks Nguyen is a business development expert with more than 20 years of experience in the food industry. She specializes in defining operation goals and creates strategic plans to achieve them. Her passion is maximizing profit and supporting management.

Following her passion for food, Brooks moved to California to study pastry at the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena, CA. The combination of food and people was irresistible and a career path in the food industry was set. Her work experience includes restaurants, bakeries, distribution sales, manufacturer sales, and consulting start up food companies. Brooks’ passion for sales, sweets, and food manufacturing led her to start Dragonfly Cakes, a mail-order cake company. At Dragonfly Cakes she developed partnerships with national distributors, e-commerce companies, and drop-ship partners. After 12 years she sold the business, and the cakes live on in Washington state.

When not working, Brooks spends her free time with her husband, two teenage children, and two dogs. She loves to travel, read, sit at the beach, and share delicious food with friends.

Edward began his foodservice career in 1974. He spent four years in restaurant operations and management. Edward then worked in the retail deli/bakery business, where he set up and managed in-store operations for a 14-store chain. He had a 13-year career in the wholesale bakery industry and then did consulting work for foodservice distributors and manufacturers for 5 years.

In 1996, Edward helped to begin a foodservice marketing group that became the largest pizzeria distribution network in the United States. Edward has possibly sold, marketed, and tasted more pizza than anyone in the United States over the last 20 years. A dynamic speaker, Edward captures audiences with a mixture of fun, facts and personal challenges for improvement. A well-known and respected sales trainer, he has developed several programs for food sales representatives designed to increase sales and improve customer relationships.

Born and raised in Baltimore, Md., Edward’s career in the food industry spans more than 40 years. He holds a B.S. in Economics and an M.S. in Administrative Management and enjoys the outdoors, hiking, reading, playing the bass guitar and volunteering on behalf of organizations that feed the hungry.

With 30 years of experience in the food industry, Greg bring several facets of the trade to The Food Connector team including merchandising and supply chain management experience with foodservice distributors and produce companies. On the sales and marketing side, Greg worked at several innovative cheese and dairy producers over the years and was involved with both commodity market items and value-added product development projects.

Before joining The Food Connector, Greg worked with Cookietree Bakeries, a leading cookie and brownie producer. He developed unique solutions for several regional, national, and international clients and focused on customer service with a quick-to-market mentality.

Greg understands that the manufacturer, the distributor, and the customer are all part of one team. He brings new, creative, and collaborative aspects of product development and marketing to his practice each day.

In his free time, Greg plays golf, enjoys dinner parties with good food, wine, and friends, and working on the family cabin with his wife, Tricia. They raised two college graduates, but still have a feisty Puggle named Jake at home who keeps them busy.

Hannah Feldman joined The Food Connector in February 2020 as a marketing intern. She worked in a part-time position for a year and a half, beginning as a Marketing Associate before moving up to her current position as Production Manager.

Hannah graduated from Dominican University of California with a BA in Marketing and Management as well as most recently obtained her MBA. In her current role, she manages several client portfolios, helping to drive lead generation and online growth. Hannah has a passion for leadership, collaboration, and learning new things.

Hannah currently lives in Marin County and has a big passion for horses. She has competed nationally since she was 8 years old, attributing to her hard work, dedication, and responsibilities. Hannah also enjoys trying new foods, reading, and watching sports.

From 1975-1989, Jeff and his wife built a successful wholesale bakery, Rachel’s Brownies. They sold through convenience stores, specialty stores, grocery, retail, and food service. In 1989, they successfully exited selling to GoodMark Foods, who hired him into a senior leadership role in marketing and their executive team. GoodMark Foods was sold in 2003 to ConAgra Foods, a 29-billion-dollar house of brands.

Jeff remained as their EVP of snack marketing. He managed the marketing for a $400MM snack portfolio, including Slim Jim® and David’s® Sunflower Seeds that eventually merged into a $1B new snack division along with Orville Redenbacher and Act II Popcorn.

Jeff was VP of Marketing for Cheerwine, a 100-year-old family-owned, regional soft drink brand selling primarily through Pepsi’s distribution network and other food service channels. He was an advisor to Noble, a grower of tangerine juice and other ready-to-drink specialty juice drinks.

Jeff worked in the wine industry and led the global marketing for the private equity portfolio company Nomacorc®, now called Vinventions®. They own several brands, including the leading synthetic wine-closure (cork) company closing billions of wine bottles. Through innovative B2B marketing strategies, in-depth trade research, and conference marketing, he helped raise global brand awareness of new and disruptive brands. In this capacity, he worked with wineries, retailers, distributors, wholesalers, and DTC brands.

He advises B2B startups, portfolio companies, various food, beverage, healthcare, consumer electronics, technology, non-profits, toys, and transportation.

Jeff has extensive experience advising startups to billion-dollar companies in different food industry channels. He recently completed an assignment with The Wall Street Journal’s CMO Network.

Jeff graduated from The University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. and M.A. in Communications from The Annenberg School.

For more than two decades, Joe DeBilio has delivered results for food operations, warehousing, and distribution companies. DeBilio has helped clients nationwide, both large and small, improve profits and EBITDA, reduce operations and finance costs, maximize sales management, undertake mergers and acquisitions, right-size headcount and introduce labor incentives, and recruit management. He brings real world experience to every project, working ten years as president of a food distributor that served multiple states, where under his leadership annual sales tripled to $36M which included rapid growth in street, multi-unit, and chain account revenue.

With his broad experience and deep knowledge, clients have relied on DeBilio to optimize systems and facilities, develop contracts and financial agreements, and create marketing and revenue programs. He has won the National Distributor of the Year Award and held board positions at a national food distribution buying group and federal credit union. DeBilio is the founder and serves on the board of the children’s medical research charity 3for99.

Kim brings more than 30 years of graphic design experience to The Food Connector team. Since 2015, she has been responsible for designing promotions, sell sheets, web sites and trade show booths. Currently she oversees visual branding, ensuring that our clients’ marketing materials effectively communicate the brand and message. She understands that design isn’t just about looking good — it must consistently deliver the message.

She began her career as a production assistant for a statewide association, producing a monthly magazine and promotional materials. She then spent 10 years at a public affairs / public relations agency where she was responsible for website design and development. In 2003 she became a freelance designer, developing print collateral, logos and web sites for a wide range of businesses, associations and public relations agencies.

Kim graduated from California State University Sacramento with a master’s degree in English. She lives on the Northern California coast with her husband and two dogs, and occasionally sneaks away from her computer to enjoy the ocean and the redwoods.

Leonard has over 30 years of experience working for multiple media outlets in the San Francisco Bay Area, including as a Publisher, Ad Director, and Online Manager at various newspapers. His last position was the Director of Business Development at the San Francisco Chronicle, where he was responsible for creating and managing new products, generating $20 million in ad sales in three years.

Since 2008, he has provided marketing expertise to more than 35 companies as a partner at Big Cat Advertising, where he specializes in generating leads through creative, targeted and cost-effective promotional campaigns. Since joining The Food Connector in 2012, Leonard has helped build the foodservice client base by utilizing his experience in advertising, publishing and customer service. Besides handling the marketing programs for key clients, he has also planned and overseen a number of events and site tours for large groups.

Since co-founding one of the first golf websites on the internet in 1995, Leonard relishes the challenge of creating content for new sites. He has been involved in hundreds of website developments and enjoys combining his marketing and publishing skills to tell engaging stories for clients.

Leonard still enjoys golf and is an avid handball player and hiker. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and served six years as a U.S. Army officer.

Lexi Prokopius joined The Food Connector in January 2021 as a Junior Graphic Designer. After working part-time for a year, she transitioned into a full-time role as a Graphic Designer.

Lexi earned her BA in Graphic Design from Baldwin Wallace University. In her current role, she creates and manages a wide range of design projects, including client websites, print materials, and social media content. She is passionate about bringing creative ideas to life and helping clients elevate their brands through thoughtful, impactful design.

Lexi lives in Cleveland, Ohio, where she enjoys coaching and playing volleyball, spending time with her two dogs, and relaxing by the lake.

Lloyd has over 25 years of experience in the foodservice industry and brings a deep understanding of how manufacturers and distributors can stand out and grow sales. Lloyd ran a family-owned bakery supply distributor for 15 years and has had a successful career in sales and sales management with a national foodservice distributor and several manufacturers supplying the pizza industry. Lloyd is a dynamic speaker and effective sales trainer who excels at showing how to sell on value, not price.

Lloyd is passionate about the food industry and the creativity of chefs and bakers. His career has allowed him to create lifelong friendships with artisans that are constantly innovating and delighting their customers.

Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii Lloyd is a graduate of UC Santa Cruz (Go Banana Slugs!) and enjoys playing Pickleball, mountain biking and road cycling, and horseback riding.

Since 2018, Matt has executed marketing programs for food distributors, manufacturers, and commodity boards, crafting captivating copy for foodservice websites and managing the development of email campaigns, digital newsletters, social media content, and print sales collateral. Matt excels at managing client editorial calendars to spotlight key products and industry trends, driving targeted traffic to dynamic landing pages. He’s also adept at developing innovative promotions for lead generation and revenue growth.

His academic achievements include a Summa Cum Laude Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and dual Master’s Degrees in Business Administration and Business Analytics from Dominican University of California, all while competing as a Division 2 collegiate golfer. He is proficient in WordPress, Constant Contact, Mailchimp, and a variety of social media management platforms.

In his free time, Matt enjoys watching college football, wine tasting, and running.

Michelle is an authority in both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Her extensive experience in marketing, new product development, and strategic communications makes her perspective unique and sought by many companies and organizations.

As a leader in the field of research, Michelle has served with distinction on various professional boards, including Board member, Marketing Research Institute International; Chairman Emeritus, American Marketing Association Foundation; Chairman, American Marketing Association, National; President, American Marketing Association, Chicago Chapter; and Member, U.S. Census Bureau Scientific Advisory Council.

Michelle has a BA in Advertising and an MBA in Marketing and International Business from the University of Illinois. She is certified as a Master in Marketing Research by the Insights Association. Michelle completed her certificate in mobile marketing research from the University of Georgia through MRII. She received her qualitative training from Sharpen the Focus.

Website Innovations

A seasoned Silicon Valley veteran with over two decades of experience, Ron began his journey after graduating from UC Berkeley’s engineering program. Starting as a printed circuit board test engineering manager, he steadily advanced to manufacturing program management, including a notable tenure at Sun Microsystems. Ten years ago, Ron pivoted to pursue his true passion: software design and development.

Today, he brings his unique blend of technical expertise and leadership experience to the food industry, specializing in innovative website solutions that help culinary businesses thrive in the digital age. With years of focused website development experience, Ron offers comprehensive digital solutions including WordPress theme development, secure hosting setup, site analytics, SEO optimization, and a complete toolkit of web technologies to transform his clients’ visions into engaging online realities.

Beyond his professional work, Ron is passionate about sharing his knowledge through mentoring and teaching WordPress to others. He thrives on discussing website development and exploring new digital possibilities. When time and weather permit, you’ll find him pursuing his other passion on the golf course.

Ryan’s professional career for the past twelve years has revolved around digital marketing, website development, and digital advertising. He has served clients from diverse industry verticals, in nearly all facets of online marketing; with a focus in B2B. His expertise covers SEO (search engine optimization), analytics (measurement & analysis), UX (user experience) conversion tracking (analytics to measure success rates), and website development.

An industry veteran with over 22 years of marketing experience, Seri McClendon founded Clean Agency in 2002 from her passion for environmental policy and science. She married both disciplines—communications and global sustainability—into an integrated agency serving the consumer products business sector. As a partner with The Food Connector, Seri’s expertise in the intricate relationship between commerce and the environment equips her to guide clients in resource conservation and profit enhancement through innovative business practices. Clean’s client portfolio boasts industry leaders in food and sustainable food packaging such as Nestle USA, Dreyer’s, and Orora Packaging Solutions.

Seri holds a master’s degree in geography with a specialized focus on industrial ecology, complemented by a bachelor’s in marketing. Additionally, Seri’s involvement in the USC Center for Sustainable Cities advisory board has resulted in innovative solutions that enhance the natural environment, economic vitality, and social equity of cities worldwide.