Derek is a marketing leader with a proven track record of driving revenue growth and brand equity in highly competitive categories, spanning from establishing a mid-market company’s marketing function to being at the helm of a billion-dollar brand, consistently achieving positive ROI, expanding channels, leading cross-functional initiatives, and launching innovative marketing strategies.
He has a demonstrated ability to lead strategic thinking, optimize marketing processes, increase marketing sophistication, and develop high-performing teams.
Particularly experienced in leading teams through major change and growth, with a track record of successfully filing newly created positions and accomplishing many “firsts” for brands, helping them manage and accelerate growth while demonstrating agility and collaboration.
At both Dean Foods and Keurig Green Mountain, Derek was fortunate to be there during a time of transformative change. He was at Dean Foods while it was working to turn its acquisitions from a fragmented local dairy industry into a CPG-style brand-led company.
He then entered Keurig Green Mountain just as K-Cups were exploding into people's homes; when he joined, they were about $500 million in revenue, and about six years later, they were just shy of $5 billion through a combination of acquisitions and organic growth, and he was the first brand manager on the flagship Green Mountain Coffee brand as it went from regional to national.
Then at FoodScience, he walked into a loose collection of people "working on marketing stuff" and built the marketing function nearly from scratch, bringing in agencies, research-based insights, implementing improved processes, and leading the company through a digital marketing transformation, eventually becoming Vice President of Marketing and setting it up to be acquired by a private equity firm.
This experience gives him a bit of a unique perspective of having both "built the road and put traffic on it" when it comes to marketing. Unlike many others with big company/brand experience, he didn't have the benefit of decades of well-established marketing processes and market-leader brand strength – he has been either part of the team figuring it out or led the effort. In addition, nearly every role he held didn't exist before filling it - he's always been a trailblazer and someone not afraid of having to figure things out.
This positions him well to bring a combination of “big brand” best practices with entrepreneurial spirit to small and mid-sized companies looking for marketing leadership.
Derek has been a Kansas City Barbecue Society Certified Barbecue Judge since 2004 and, in 2011, started the Flatlander Barbecue Competition barbecue team along with his wife and other family members.
He has been an aficionado of barbecuing, smoking, and grilling since his teen years and currently owns four smokers, two charcoal grills, a gas grill, and a gas griddle.
His passion for cooking over "live fire" inspired the name "Spark + Pop," as natural charcoal is almost ready when it is sparking and popping. That state of being ready to "get cooking" represents the type of brand that Derek likes to work with - those that are filled with potential and need a little bit of expertise to get the best results.
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