Aaron has been an owner of Grandy Organics for over 20 years and became the sole owner in 2022. During his career as an entrepreneur, he has proudly built sustainable partnerships with customers, vendors, local businesses, his local bank, and his team. He is also proud of the company’s commitment to renewable energy. In 2015 Grandy Organics installed 288 solar panels to power their facility. In 2017, he won the EPA Merit award for revitalizing a vacant school in Hiram Maine. Since moving into the facility over 8 years ago the company has doubled its employment and its revenues. In 2020 he won the SBA Maine business of the year award. In 2023 he announced an expansion at the facility including a 10,000 sqft warehouse and new production line. All of this will allow the company to grow exponentially in the years to come. He loves growing a business in rural Maine with his team and plans to continue to do so moving forward.

Karen Getz is passionate about creating delicious, innovative foods from unique ingredients.
She has demonstrated her creative skills from farmstead cheese using fresh warm milk directly
from the cows to delicious crisps made with milled Maine buckwheat. Her creations have
enabled two businesses and won coveted awards from the American Cheese Society, the
Specialty Food Association, and Natural Products Expo’s Nexty. She has been featured in
articles, cheese books, and on television, including The Morning Joe Show on MSNBC. Despite
her success and awards, what she loves most is working with her team and baking tasty treats
for family, friends, and co-workers. In her quiet time, she relaxes by Sashiko stitching, playing
with her pomapoo, Henry, and exploring Maine’s rugged coastline with her husband, Steve.

As Editor-in-Chief of BevNET, Jeff Klineman oversees the organization's reporting across all of its websites, as well as BevNET Magazine. Jeff also plans, curates, and hosts the BevNET Live and NOSH Live conferences. Jeff previously worked as a newspaper reporter for the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, the Boston TAB, and the Metrowest Daily News, and has freelanced for publications like Slate, Boston Magazine, Self, George, Commonwealth, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy. He is a graduate of Yale University and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. A frequently-cited expert on the beverage industry, Jeff has also twice been named in Forbes as one of the 25 Most Influential when it comes to Consumer and Retail Companies.

Lisa is a foodie at heart, growing up in an Italian family where food was the glue that bound everyone together, and living for years in France where she savored the cuisine with devout reverence. Having spent 20 plus years developing strong relationship and marketing skills in senior sales positions for large companies in complex industries, Ocean’s Balance has provided Lisa with a platform to unleash her tenaciousness and sales skills in a business that she feels incredibly passionate about that combines her love of food and protecting the environment. Besides building strong relationships with retailers, chefs and distributors, Lisa loves creating new seaweed recipes and experimenting with new products. She also can be seen out on the water in the middle of winter helping on the farms, which is a far cry from dining in a Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris, but more rewarding in other ways.

Lisa earned a Master in International Political Economy from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and a B.S. in Economics and French from Lehigh University. She is the Vice president of the Board of Directors of the Alliance Française du Maine.

Joshua Scherz has deep expertise in all grocery channels brick and mortar and Ecomm for the
specialty and natural CPG industry. Dedicating the last 25+ years to building and growing brands
informed by forward-thinking products sourced from marginalized international and domestic
communities in Grocery, HBA, and Frozen.

Specifically, Joshua founded and grew the BELA Brand Seafood company from inception. Joshua
managed PeaceWorks Foods, the precursor to KIND Snacks, as its President for a decade. In
addition, currently, Joshua holds the role of strategic advisor to ZIBA Foods; a dried fruit & nut
company that is sourced from small farmers in Afghanistan and supports a workforce that is 85%
women from the shop floor to the C-suite. Joshua managed Be Fine Food Skincare in the drug
channel calling on Walgreens and CVS, and managed sales of Laloos Goat Milk Ice Cream from its
early days in the natural trade. A passion for product attributes and performance along with the mission, Mr. Scherz has been at
the forefront of trends holding a significant role in companies.

“The best part of working in this industry is the people and the relationships that have matured
over the past decades...."