Our Leaders

As a consultant since 1998, Bob Burke provides assistance in bringing natural, organic and specialty products to market across most channels and classes of trade. This includes work in strategic planning, growth strategies, writing sales, marketing and business plans, budgeting, pricing, building distribution, broker selection and management, organizational development, strategic options, branding and trade spending management. He is also the co-author and co-publisher of the Natural Products Field Manual, Fifth Edition  and The Sales Manager’s Handbook. Prior to consulting, Bob was with Stonyfield Farm Yogurt for 11 years as Vice President, Sales & Corporate Development and Vice President, Marketing & Sales. He has held marketing positions with Colombo, Inc. and Sperry Top-Sider. He received an MBA from Babson College.

Clients: Have had the privilege of working with and learning from exciting companies such as: Annie’s Homegrown, Oregon Chai, Snyder’s of Hanover, United Natural Foods, No Pudge!, Kraft Foods, Bayer Consumer Care Division, ConAgra, Kellogg’s, General Mills, Stacy’s Pita Chips, Kettle Cuisine, Small Planet Foods, New Hope Natural Media, Bushes Beans, Equal Exchange, Nantucket Offshore/Stirrings, Immaculate Baking, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, Dancing Deer Bakery, The Natural Dentist, Rice Select, EcoFish, PMO Wildwood, S.C. Johnson, Blake’s All Natural Foods, Megafood/BioSan, Mighty Leaf Tea, Lesser Evil Snack Co., Theo Chocolate, The Jane Goodall Institute, Kashi, Project 7, Vermont Butter and Cheese, Yoghund, Bord Bia, American Halal, Orgain, Turtle Island, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Bausch + Lomb, Boehringer Ingleheim, Harbar, LLC, Rhino Foods, Stonehouse 27, Pfizer and others.

He currently serves as an outside director for Stonyfield Farm, EcoFish, Nutrabella, and American Halal. He is a former director of Equal Exchange, Stirrings, LLC, Pulmuone-Wildwood and the NASFT – National Association for the Specialty Food Trade. He also serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of Nutrition Business Journal. He is also on the board of directors of the Boy’s and Girl’s Club of Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Bob was named one of the “Top 25 Business Builders of the Natural Products Industry for the last 25 years” by Natural Foods Merchandiser Magazine.
Bob has been qualified as an expert witness in federal court on the subject of the sales and marketing of natural, organic and specialty products.

Bob has delivered presentations, seminars and moderated panels at leading trade shows and conferences such as Natural Products Expo East & West, The NASFT’s Winter and Summer Fancy Food Shows, OTA’s “All Things Organic Trade Show and Conference”, Natural Products Europe in London, Bord Bia in Dublin, Canadian Consulates in Boston and Chicago, Kosherfest in New York, The Soyfoods Conference, Agrifood Trade Services in Nova Scotia, Saskatoon and Quebec, the CHFA Expo East in Toronto, the Global Access Advisors conference in Melbourne, Australia and has been a featured trainer and speaker at Management Venture Institute forums. He is also a presenter and panelist at the Stonyfield Entrepreneurial Institute Boot Camp. He authored the NASFT’s White Paper on Trade Promotion.
Bob also runs full day seminars on “Becoming a more Effective Sales Manager in the Natural and Specialty Channel” and “Financing your Natural and Specialty Products Company.”

Renee Ng Parker is a Director at Armonia where she helps to manage a portfolio of private equity investments, projects, and initiatives geared towards positive environmental change and local and sustainable food. She serves on the Board of Five Acre Farms, is the Board Secretary for Maple Hill Creamery, and serves on the Board of Trustees at Whitby School in Greenwich, CT. Prior to Armonia, she worked on strategy, operations, and finance initiatives at the Wall Street Journal Digital Network and Forbes.com and in investment banking at Citigroup. Renee received a BS in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.Armonia and their general partner Larry Lunt have been active in the consumer sector, having been shareholders in Blue Buffalo Pet Products (bought out by General Mills for $8 Billion in 2018) , Vital Farms, which recently went public on the NASDAQ(VITL ), and Teton Ranch.

Farha Aslam is Founder and Managing Partner at Crescent House Capital, an investment and strategic advisory firm that focuses on the agriculture, energy and food processing industries. Earlier, she was a Managing Director at Stephens Inc. where she led the firm’s food and agribusiness equity research team and built a top-tier research franchise that spanned the grain, ethanol, protein, and packaged food sectors. Prior to Stephens, Ms. Aslam was a Vice President at Merrill Lynch, where she led research coverage on some of the best known dairy and meat conglomerates in America, including  Dean Foods, Tyson, Pilgrim’s Pride, Smithfield Foods, Sanderson Farms, Hormel, and Del Monte. Ms. Aslam is a member of the Consumer Analyst Group of New York and the Association for Investment Management and Research.  Farha currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Pilgrims Pride a leading poultry processor (bought out by JBS SA in 2021) ; Calavo Growers, Inc(CVGW). an international consumer goods and farm products company; Farmers Fridge; and  PSSI, a company focused on food safety. She is also a nonprofit board member at Developments in Literacy. A graduate of the University of California, Irvine with a BA, Economics, she also holds a Master of Business Administration from Columbia University.

John is a seasoned consumer food industry senior executive and Private Equity Operating Partner of CREO Capital Partners (www.creocapitalpartners.com), a $600 million PE Fund with primary focus in the consumer and food sectors. John brings to American Halal over thirty years of packaged goods marketing, sales and general management experience across public, private, family and private equity engagements. Before joining CREO, John was CEO of Empire Kosher, America’s largest Kosher poultry company. John currently leads three food portfolio companies as Operating Partner for Creo Capital Partners and has worked in both turnaround and growth assignments for private equity firms J.W. Childs and Riverside Partners. John has demonstrated strong strategic leadership and team skills and the ability to successfully apply marketing and management disciplines to untraditional, emerging and turnaround companies.

Ms. Paoli was a co-founder and former Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vermont Pure, a leading bottled water brand. She co-founded Vermont Pure in 1991. Prior to founding Vermont Pure, Ms. Paoli was the Assistant Corporate Director for Construction and Development for Property Resources, one of New York City’s top building developers, where she was the developer on billion dollar plus real estate projects. Prior to that Ms. Paoli had her own law practice whereby she had represented clients in more than 300 real estate transactions. Ms. Paoli received a B.S. degree from the University of Pennsylvania, a Juris Doctorate degree from New York Law School and a Master’s of Science in Real Estate Development from Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture and Planning. She is also a decade long member of Social Venture Network and a dedicated socially conscious entrepreneur. Ms. Paoli is a charter member of the American Institute of Islamic and Arabic Studies and often speaks at interfaith forums on both female perspectives on Islam as well as bridges between interfaith communities.

Tariq Farid is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Edible Arrangements International, the pioneer and purveyor of high quality, artistically designed fresh fruit arrangements, which does over $600 million in sales and has over 1,100 stores worldwide in over 11 countries.  Tariq Farid was inducted into the Connecticut Immigrant Heritage Hall of Fame in 201 and in 2017, was also inducted into the prestigious list of Hall of Fame by International Franchise Association. Tariq Farid is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Franchise Association (IFA) and was named Entrepreneur of the Year by the IFA in 2009. He established the Tariq Farid Franchise Institute at Babson College—, which resides under The Arthur M. Blank School for Entrepreneurial Leadership at Babson College.

Tariq also created The Tariq & Asma Farid Foundation to support causes both at home and around the world. The Foundation’s contributions have benefited dozens of programs and services, including hospitals, schools, community centers, soup kitchens and revitalization efforts, as well as organizations addressing poverty, childhood cancer and leadership opportunities for youth. Tariq also started Edible Cares® as a way for Edible Arrangements® stores and corporate offices to give back on both the local and national level. This included the establishment of the Edible Cares® Fund, which provides needed assistance to Edible Arrangements® store employees, friends and families in times of extreme need - whether due to natural disasters, family misfortunes, illness or other causes.