Debra Stark is the founder and co-owner (with her son, Adam Stark) of Debra’s Natural Gourmet, a natural product store in West Concord, Massachusetts, which opened in 1989. National television shows like 20/20 have featured Debra’s Natural Gourmet, and Inc. Magazine selected it as one of the five home-town powerhouse businesses! Debra has been the subject of articles in Investor’s Business Daily, Cooking Light and Yankee Magazine, in addition to natural product industry trade magazines such as Natural Food Merchandiser.

When she felt sleep was highly over-rated (1992), Debra founded Stark Sisters Granola, a company which manufactures award-winning, gourmet granolas praised by the likes of Bon Appetit, The Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune. 

Often asked to speak about food and its connection to health, Debra is the author of three cookbooks, the last called "Blue Ribbon Edition; from our kitchen to yours."

Most recently, she is proud to have launched a cooking show, Eat Well Be Happy, available at www.DebrasNaturalGourmet.com for folks around the world. Eat Well Be Happy is also airing on public access television around the country. A woman with a mission, Debra wants to bang the drum for the products she knows and loves. She wants to be a voice for organic, non-GMO and food that is delicious and makes people happy and healthy.

What is she most proud of? The friends she has made in the industry. The partnerships forged and all her hardworking staff holding down the fort in the store! When asked about her philosophy of life, Debra has quipped, “I need a secretary, live-in masseuse, and a personal trainer.  But mostly, like the rest of us, I am trying to find balance and harmony.” 

In the late 1960s, Drake Sadler was a social activist working for the Office of Economic Opportunity in Northern California setting up Head Start centers, family planning services, community health clinics and food cooperatives. While living in the coastal redwood forest, he met Rosemary Gladstar, third-generation herbalist (known today as the godmother of modern herbalism). 

The young couple was part of a movement of back-to-the-land baby boomers seeking an alternative lifestyle, including natural foods and herbal remedies. Together they shared a vision for the rebirth of herbalism and the business principles of right livelihood. In 1974 they co-founded Traditional Medicinals.

Believing that educated and empowered people could change the world for the better, their mission was to promote the knowledge of traditional herbal medicine, while creating equitable and sustainable trading partnerships with the mostly impoverished and indigenous people around the globe who collect and grow medicinal plants. These shared beliefs formed the sacred purpose and mission of Traditional Medicinals which are infused into the operating principles of the company today, serving as a successful model for responsible business.

Traditional Medicinals has pursued the rigorous process of getting 98 percent of all its 160 herbal ingredients certified organic, and many are also certified Fair Trade or Fair Wild. With the planet desperate for new social business models that are non-exploitive and environmentally sustainable, the herbal experts at the company are constantly working to improve herb quality and social conditions in Traditional Medicinals’ supplier communities.

After decades of leadership, in 2008 Drake transitioned away from company management and is now almost exclusively focused on indigenous community empowerment through the Traditional Medicinals’ Foundation. Combining much needed social support with financial return, the foundation makes investments in food and water security systems, health care, education and training, economic development and gender equality.                                                             

For Drake, Traditional Medicinals is a vision realized!    

To observe Joar Opheim in his daily life, you wouldn’t immediately know that he is a man who has helped shape standards for an industry, or that he has a personal mission of global proportions and a plan to fulfill it.

The CEO and founder of California-based Nordic Naturals, Opheim is devoted to family and friends and is most comfortable at home, bantering with his two teenagers, or on the tennis court, enjoying a match with a friend. He often arrives at company headquarters wearing athletic shorts, a T-shirt and tennis shoes. He measures his success by the number of people around the world being helped by the products his company makes.

Contrary to his humble demeanor, Opheim is a pioneer and visionary in the dietary supplement industry. His passionate commitment to quality, research and education, and to his mission to eliminate the global omega-3 deficiency, has fueled Nordic Naturals’ success. In turn, that has pushed the omega-3 industry to improve product purity, taste and quality. The latter, he believes, may be the company’s largest contribution to the industry.

Born and raised in Norway, Opheim has always been aware of the importance of high-quality omega-3 fatty acids in the diet. That awareness became personal when, as a teenager, he discovered the power of fish oil to help him manage gymnastics injuries. It sparked a lifelong passion for omega-3s and their health-giving properties. Recognizing the lack of quality fish oils in the United States when he first arrived to pursue his MBA, he was inspired to found Nordic Naturals.

Opheim believed his company could control quality during every step of the process of manufacturing fish oil, from boat to bottle. He embarked on this quest with a commitment to sustainability, transparency, purity and freshness. It was a formidable task and a capital-intensive commitment, but he proved it could be done.

Nordic Naturals oils are manufactured at the company’s state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Arctic Norway. Built to pharmaceutical-grade standards, the plant includes a certified lab where products are tested more than 80 times throughout the manufacturing process. Finished oils are sent to the company’s bottling and encapsulation plant in San Diego—another modern facility complete with a certified lab. As part of Opheim’s commitment to transparency, the company provides Certificates of Analysis that include all lab results, including third-party test results, for every product. Finally, products are shipped from the company’s LEED Gold Certified headquarters, located in Northern California and designed to look like a Norwegian fishing village.

An ethical leader with a passionate commitment to quality, Opheim has truly raised the bar in the omega-3 industry and brought forth a new definition of fish oil quality. He is firm in his plans to continue to own and operate Nordic Naturals, involving his children in the business and keeping it in the family for decades to come. As far as he’s concerned, he’s just getting started.

For 33 years, husband and wife James A. and Carol May have led Wisdom Natural Brands, the parent company of SweetLeaf Stevia products. James, founder and CEO, was the first to bring stevia leaves to the U.S. from Paraguay in 1982. Since then, he and Carol, Wisdom Natural Brands’ president, have been intricately involved in every aspect of stevia development in the U.S., from the rainforest to retail shelves.

James and Carol’s belief that stevia could make a marked difference as a better-for-you sweetener inspired James to leave his career as a healthcare executive to create Wisdom Natural Brands in 1982. With Carol’s steadfast support and savvy business sense, James started their now international company out of their garage in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Since then, he and Carol have spent years exhaustively researching the nutritional value of stevia leaf extract and solidified stevia’s commercial viability. Their devotion to bringing stevia to the forefront as a sweetener fostered the exponential worldwide growth of SweetLeaf. The Mays turned a small company into a multi-million-dollar international brand with a presence in more than 25 countries, earning James global recognition as “The Father of Stevia” and a foremost authority on the benefits of this natural sugar alternative. As president of Wisdom Natural Brands, Carol oversees strategy, operations, finance, marketing, branding and new product development, guiding the company to broad and more natural sweeteners and products.

James’ work with stevia growers has contributed to sustainable agriculture in Paraguay. He has been recognized by the president of Paraguay and the Stevia Federation of the Americas for transformational work there and for spawning and leading a new industry. The Specialty Food Association awarded him the Leadership Vision Award, and he was honored with the prestigious Visionary Award by the American Herbal Products Association. James May was awarded the prestigious Stevia World International’s Lifetime Award. Carol continues to win international awards for her leadership in business and innovation, including six global Stevie Awards in categories including Lifetime Achievement in Business and Female Executive of the Year. In 2015, Wisdom Natural Brands was awarded the President’s “E” Award in Washington D.C. for significant contributions toward the increase of U.S. exports.

As pioneers in the stevia industry, the Mays revolutionized the sweetener market. Their innovative water-based extraction method keeps SweetLeaf Stevia free of the aftertaste of artificial ingredients. As a result, SweetLeaf is the only stevia brand consistently winning international awards for taste and innovation. SweetLeaf was also the first stevia brand to earn GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) status from the FDA, and Wisdom Natural Brands was awarded a Top Wellness Company Trailblazer Award for its innovation of liquid stevia products.

From the beginning, the Mays made the health and well-being of consumers the number one priority for their company. Consequently, they have developed one of the most trusted consumer products on retail and kitchen shelves today. SweetLeaf Stevia Sweetener, with zero calories, zero carbohydrates, a non-glycemic response and no artificial ingredients, has become an ally for consumers managing diabetes and obesity, and for those embracing a better-for-you lifestyle. In the U.S., SweetLeaf is the No. 1 stevia brand in the natural sweetener category.

Since 1997, Brenda Watson has dedicated herself to the natural health industry, to producing the highest quality and effective products possible, and to the thousands of consumers she has personally helped get their health back on tract.  Her knowledge is surpassed only by her enthusiasm and ability to engage her audience—whatever the medium.

Brenda started her journey through discovering how to heal her own health issues with natural remedies. That was the catalyst that has lead Brenda down the path to her passion to help others heal, focusing in on the digestive system.  Brenda has personally traveled around the country teaching, educating and lecturing on the significant impact the digestive system has to the rest of the body--so much so that she has earned the nickname, “Diva of Digestion."  Everyday consumers mention to retailers how much Brenda Watson has helped them.

Most people in the natural health industry and consumers alike know Brenda Watson as the founder of the digestive supplement based company Renew Life Formulas. Since 1997, Renew Life has grown into the No. 1 manufacturer of probiotic formulas amongst many of its other superior digestive wellness products. Those of us who know Brenda know how much influence she has had throughout this industry. It was Brenda who brought the attention of the industry to the extreme importance of the digestive system as it relates to the health of the body as a whole. It was Brenda who first broke into mainstream media in 2005 to educate the public on preventive and natural health care. From that time, she completed and aired six very successful public television programs. Her show “The Road to Perfect Health," which aired in 2010, especially resonated with the general public and was responsible for an entire industry rise in the sales of probiotic formulas. 

Recently, Brenda has turned her focus to another very important matter--the health of your pets.  She and her husband Stan have founded Vital Planet Pets, with a main product being probiotics for dogs and cats. With the same determination and drive that they put into Renew Life Formulas, Brenda and Stan are excited to see Vital Planet Pets quickly becoming a brand name in the natural retail market. Who knows, she may soon be known as the “Princess of Pets."

A pioneer in natural and organic cosmetics and personal care for over 45 years, Aubrey Hampton made his mark in the natural products industry with Aubrey Organics, the groundbreaking brand of hair, skin and body care products that bears his name. Aubrey passed away in 2011, but his important legacy continues.

Aubrey’s connection to natural products goes back to his roots in rural Indiana—to his father, a part-time organic farmer, and to his mother, an herbalist who made her own beauty products at home. During the lean years of the Depression, she began selling her handmade soaps and lotions to friends and neighbors to help make ends meet. As demand grew, she recruited then 9-year-old Aubrey to help out.

From these small beginnings in his mother’s farmhouse kitchen came the spark that would change Aubrey’s life. At 18, he relocated to New York City, where he pursued a degree in organic chemistry from New York University. In 1967, while recovering from a serious car accident, he sought relief by mixing a therapeutic bath soak to ease his aches and pains. He blended peppermint, eucalyptus and ground wild ginger root, plus a long list of tonic herbals into his tub, and the first Aubrey Organics product was born.

For his second creation, he looked to his college thesis on the effects of glycogen on the hair for inspiration, formulating one of his signature hair care products, GPB Balancing Protein Conditioner—still a best-seller. With these products in hand, he made the rounds to New York City health food stores and hair salons, ushering in a new era in natural hair and skin care.

Through the years, Aubrey’s list of industry “firsts” is impressive. He was first to develop a product line with organic rose hip seed oil from Rosa Mosqueta, a South American mountain rose, and first to introduce products featuring such beneficial ingredients as milk protein, jojoba oil, evening primrose oil, Matcha green tea and sea buckthorn oil.

Nearly every natural products store in the U.S. carries Aubrey Organics’ products, which are also sold throughout Canada, Europe and Asia. In 1994, Aubrey Organics’ manufacturing plant was certified as an organic processor by Quality Assurance International. In 2004, they became the first U.S. company to earn the European BDIH Certified Natural Cosmetics seal. Today, many Aubrey Organics’ products bear USDA, NSF and NPA certifications, proof of the company’s commitment to highest quality organic and natural ingredients.

An award-winning author and playwright, Aubrey’s books include "Natural Organic Hair and Skin Care," "What’s in Your Cosmetics" and "The Take Charge Beauty Book," as well as two collections of original plays. Throughout his long career, he created more than 200 formulas. In an era of mass-produced, synthetic beauty products, he found deepest inspiration in nature, a philosophy still reflected in the pioneering company he founded all those years ago.

In 1986, Bob Quinn’s company Montana Flour & Grains introduced the natural food industry to an ancient wheat obtained from Egypt called khorasan (similar to durum wheat).This grain was marketed under his brand name, KAMUT, the ancient Egyptian word for wheat. Through the trademark and his company Kamut International, Bob has been able to preserve an ancient grain and guarantee it has not been genetically modified or altered. KAMUT Brand khorasan wheat is grown under strict production guidelines and is exclusively grown organically

Today, there are over 2,000 different KAMUT Brand khorasan wheat products marketed through the world, providing a new, sustainable crop for many organic farmers.

Continuing to be at the forefront of farming developments, Bob works closely with various agricultural research institutions on testing of crops, including dry land vegetables for local markets, as well as new farming methods. These systems may be the next wave adapted to the northern plains and will provide a substitute for the use of conventional fertilizer, pesticides, summer fallow and diesel fuel.

On a mission to educate and farm eco-consciously, Bob is currently working on a project designed to grow and process high oleic safflower on his farm, sell it to restaurants and then recover the waste oil to run all his tractors and combines. His goal is to develop a model that could be adapted to farmer owned co-ops throughout rural America.

Bob is recognized as a progressive leader in promoting organic and sustainable agriculture throughout the state of Montana and the rest of the world. Bob helped form Montana’s first Organic Crop Improvement Association chapter in 1987 and served as its first president as well as on the international board of directors, receiving its outstanding member award in 1991. He was the 2007 recipient of the Montana Organic Association Lifetime of Service Award. He served on the first U.S. Department of Agriculture National Organic Standards Board and has served on a USDA agriculture research advisory committee. The Organic Trade Association awarded Bob with the “2010 Organic Leadership Award” for his contributions in the “Growing Organic Agriculture” category, and in 2013, he was named the recipient of Rodale Institute’s Organic Pioneer Award.

Kamut International celebrates 30 years exhibiting KAMUT wheat at Natural Products Expo West 2016. Bob continues to farm and promote organic and sustainable agriculture, locally produced food and fuel as well as promoting the idea that food should be our medicine and medicine should be our food. He promotes food production systems based on producing high nutrition and quality rather than high yields. For Bob, experimenting with crops is the most enjoyable part of farming. He earned a PhD from the University of California at Davis in 1976 and studied to be a plant scientist. Academically, his first love is growing plants, and his whole farm is his laboratory. His love of the land continues to fuel his desire to change the agricultural landscape of America—one grain at a time.

Dr. Muhammed Majeed is, quietly, a groundbreaking figure in the nutritional and cosmeceutical ingredients industries. As the founder of both Sabinsa Corporation and Sami Labs, his commitment to utilizing science to discover why traditional Indian herbs are beneficial, and then expanding their applications, has resulted in an array of unique branded ingredients backed by more than 100 patents across the globe.

After graduating from Kerala University in India with a BS in Pharmacy, Dr. Majeed immigrated to the U.S. in 1975. He continued his graduate studies in Long Island University, New York (M.S.) and St. John’s University, New York (PhD), specializing in industrial pharmacy.

After 14 years in research with Pfizer Inc., Carter-Wallace and Paco Research, Dr. Majeed founded the Sabinsa Corporation, a research-oriented pharmaceutical and nutraceutical company. in 1988. In 1991, he set up Sami Labs Limited, a research group, in Bangalore, India.  Under his leadership, Indian Ayurvedic herbs were studied in depth, confirming traditional benefits and often finding new ones, as well as developing proprietary extraction methods. The company expanded into cultivation to insure a steady supply of raw materials grown to control common agricultural adulterants, structuring the program to improve the lives of many rural farmers in India.

Many herbs that have become massive industry success stories were pioneered by Sabinsa, such as garcinia cambogia, coleus, curcumin and black pepper extract. The company was one of the first to successfully develop and commercialize a shelf-stable probiotic nearly 20 years ago.

Today, Sami is a research, development and manufacturing group in the areas of standardized herbal extracts, cosmeceuticals, probiotics, spice extracts, minerals, fine chemicals, phytochemicals and specialized drug intermediates used in the nutritional, pharmaceutical and food industries. It has factories in Kunigal, Nelamangala, Dobaspet, all in the state of Karnataka, and in Genome Valley in Hyderabad. The combined companies have nearly 1,000 employees.

Sabinsa Corporation is committed to keeping the spirit of innovation alive in the industry, through sustained intellectual property creation and protection efforts. Sabinsa’s facilities are cGMP compliant and NSF certified. To ensure ingredient quality and conserve biodiversity, cultivation efforts in over 40,000 acres of land in India are undertaken, along with nearly 6,000 farmers in place. Several green processes and initiatives including supercritical extractions are used to reduce environmental impact. Sabinsa also holds memberships in multiple industry trade associations.

In the decades since Dr. Majeed founded Sabinsa Corporation, the company has consistently exemplified the ideal best practices in the herbal ingredients industry. The company’s demonstrated commitment to quality, science and innovation serve as an example of how companies should conduct themselves in order to quiet industry critics. This included funding clinical studies on their own products and censuring borrowed of science and intellectual property theft. As the industry matured and “commoditization” of healthful ingredients became the norm, Sabinsa was among the few companies that decried the associated inevitable decline in ingredient quality and emphasized branding and standardization to ensure safety, efficacy and consumer confidence. He foresaw today’s global supply chain challenges and the difficulties created by supply chain quality failings.

Dr. Majeed gives back in many ways, perhaps most significantly through the Dr. Majeed Foundation. A major objective of the foundation is to facilitate a support base for children from poor families for their education, irrespective of their caste, creed or religion. Funding for schools to have proper infrastructure is another major task to which his foundation is dedicated.

Bill Weiland is the founder, president and CEO of Presence Marketing/Dynamic Presence. Bill has committed his entire adult life to furthering the wellness lifestyle movement. Bill developed an interest in natural foods during his mid-teens when he lost a bet: His sister wagered $10 that he couldn’t go a full day without eating candy.  When he broke down at 3:00 in the afternoon and ate a Jolly Rancher, he decided to start exploring healthier food options.

He started working in a natural food store when he was 16 and began reading books on nutrition and healthy living at a fervent pace. Paavo Airola, Norman Walker and Paul Bragg were some of the early natural food enthusiasts who influenced his lifestyle choices, along with the inimitable Dr. John R. Christopher, an early pioneer in herbal medicine.

After nearly a dozen years of working in the natural products industry, in varied roles within the sales and retail sectors, Bill launched Presence Marketing in January 1990. He is surrounded by a dedicated cast of creative and intelligent people who carry out the mission of bringing healthy products to consumers with great energy, passion and resolve. Bill’s uncompromising obsession for sustainable agriculture, healthy foods and integrated medicine are key drivers behind his commitment to continue building a world of clean products that everyone can have access to.

Named by Forbes as one of the Top 25 Most Influential Kingmakers in Consumer and Retailer Companies," Bill has grown Presence Marketing/Dynamic Presence into the largest independent natural and organic products brokerage in the U.S. In working with leading national brands as well as successful startups, Bill has a keen eye on consumer and product trends driving the rapidly growing healthy lifestyles market. Bill also is a leading supporter of consumer transparency and GMO labeling. 

He has two children – Bill, who is actively involved in our industry, and Molly, an energetic teenager who is active with cheerleading and taste-testing new products. His passion for the natural food industry is only rivaled by his love for his family, his generosity towards others and his unbridled enthusiasm for living life to the fullest with passion and joy. Oh and ping pong… he is currently perfecting his game and there is an open invitation to anyone who would like to challenge him to a match.

Greg Leonard has over 40 years of leadership experience in the natural products industry, serving much of that time as a senior executive for Tree of Life, one of the largest wholesale distributors in the business. During his career, Greg gained deep experience in all aspects of natural products distribution including sales, marketing, logistics and the development of key natural and organic brands. While at Tree of Life, Greg led highly successful sales, marketing, procurement and product development teams. He contributed to the growth of Tree of Life from $2 million in annual sales when he joined the company in 1974 to over $2 billion in sales by 2002.

Perhaps of greatest significance was the leadership that Greg provided in the final years of Tree of Life, re-connecting the company with the independent natural food retail segment on which that company was founded. Greg led the creation of a value proposition and an ethical and transparent way of doing business that added considerable value to Tree of Life prior to its sale. Later, Greg was a key participant in the transfer of ownership of Tree of Life to KeHE Foods. After joining KeHE in 2010, Greg led the successful integration of Tree of Life’s natural food store business into KeHE Distributors, providing the company with a foundation upon which KeHE has been able to build continuing success serving this important group of retailers.

Over the course of his career, Greg has actively led his company’s contribution to many initiatives of importance to the industry. Greg has served several terms on the board of directors of the Natural Products Association; he was point person for his company’s support of the Organic Foods Production Association of North America (later the Organic Trade Association), the Non-GMO Project and the Independent Natural Food Retailer Association.

Since leaving corporate life, Greg has continued to have an active role in the natural products industry working closely with key independent retailers on strategic planning and as an advisor on matters associated with business development. Greg has also led successful strategic planning and organizational development efforts for several non-profit organizations in his home town of Jacksonville, Florida. Greg continues to serve as a senior advisor to KeHE.

Mark Retzloff is a pioneer in the organic and natural foods industry with a 46-year career starting and managing successful companies. He is co-founder and chairman of Alfalfa’s, Boulder-based natural foods stores. He also co-founded Aurora Organic Dairy in 2003, and currently serves on their board. He is the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resource and Environment practitioner in residence for 2014-2015 and 2015-2016. He is currently senior partner and co-founder of the Boulder Farm Team consulting firm, which works with companies in the natural, organic, local and sustainable food and product sector.

Mr. Retzloff started his career in natural foods retail, as co-founder of Eden Foods, Rainbow Grocery and the original Alfalfa’s Market, which merged with Wild Oats Markets in 1996. In 1990 Mr. Retzloff was chairman of the Organic Food Alliance, which was instrumental in passing the 1990 Organic Food Production Act in D.C. Mr. Retzloff went on to become one of the co-founders of Horizon Organic Dairy. There he served as chairman, CEO and president international. He then became chairman of Rudi’s Organic Bakery where he helped execute a successful turn-around.

He lends his knowledge as a board member and advisor to emerging companies which have included Blue Horizon Organic Seafood, Tempt Hemp Milk, Sambazon Acai, Evol burritos, Boulder Ice Cream, BlueSun BioDiesel, Traditional Medicinals, Uncle Matt's Organic Juice, Goddess Garden, Haystack Mtn. Goat Cheese and Crocs Footwear. Mr. Retzloff is a founding partner at Greenmont Capital Partners, and founder and former chairman of The Organic Center, and he is a board member of RSF Social Finance. Mr. Retzloff sits on the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment, Dean’s Visiting Committee and is chairman of the advisory board for the University of Michigan’s Center for Sustainable Systems. He also serves on the board of the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship and the Center for Education and Social Responsibility at University of Colorado’s LEEDS School of Business. He is also a member of CSU’s CASE, Center for Advancement of Sustainable Enterprise. 

Mr. Retzloff received his B.S. degree in environmental studies from the University of Michigan and has received several awards, including the Organic Trade Association’s Lifetime Leadership award, the Boulder Chamber of Commerce's Lifetime Achievement Award and Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Naturally Boulder’s Lifetime Achievement Award and was inducted into the Boulder County Business Hall of Fame.