Biographies

William Rosenzweig, CEO

Will is a seasoned entrepreneur with demonstrated success in the functional food and beverage industry. In 1990, Will co-founded and served as President and CEO of The Republic of Tea, an award-winning specialty tea business and is co-author of the best selling business book The Republic of Tea: How an Idea Becomes a Business. (Doubleday 1992) In his corporate career, he served as Senior Vice President for Odwalla, Inc., the nation's leading super-premium juice brand that was acquired by Coca Cola in 2001. Will has been involved in starting and growing a wide variety of entrepreneurial ventures. In 1998, he was one of the founders of Venture Strategy Partners, a $25 million venture capital investment fund which was the first institutional investor in Stonyfield Farms before it was sold to Danone. He has also been an active contributor, director or advisor to Trinity Springs Water, Whole Foods Markets, Jamba Juice and Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, and was the founder of the Build Brand Value Conference. Will has been on the faculty of the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley since 1999 and teaches the MBA course in Social Entrepreneurship.

Peter Mattson, Product Development

Pete is a 40-year veteran of the food industry and founder/chairman of Mattson & Company, the leading new product development company in the food and beverage industry. He and his company are responsible for developing Starbucks Frappucino, Mrs. Fields Cookies, Orville Redenbacher Popcorn, Del Monte Orchard Select and Boca Burger. Mattson & Company’s current clients include all of the major North American food & beverage companies including: Kraft, Nestlé, Best Foods (Unilever), ConAgra, Cargill, Kellogg and Campbell’s. Mattson & Company also serves foodservice operators as well as key mid-size food companies and foodservice operators. Brand New Brands leverages Mattson & Company’s product development services and consumer concept and organoleptic testing capabilities at its Foster City, California facilities to create its portfolio of great-tasting and healthful functional foods and beverages.