Greg Niemann Email & Phone Number

New Ulm, Minnesota, Us

As one of six Board Members I am responsible for contributing to governance and strategic oversight to ensure the organization meets its long and short term goals. I collaborate with fellow Board members to resolve short and long-term challenges and influence overall strategic direction for the business. My specific areas of focus and contribution are in Sales, Marketing, Strategic ideation and planning, and organizational behavior. August Schell Brewing Company is the 2nd oldest family owned and operated brewery in the United States, est. 1860. The brewery owns, manufactures, and markets Grain Belt Premium and Schell's brands.

Fond Du Lac, Wi, Us

Food and beverage manufacturers rely on Grande Custom Ingredients Group as the go-to source for innovative dairy-based ingredients that solve formulation challenges in a wide variety of applications. The combination of specialty products with unique functionalities and the skills and expertise of our team is what makes us unique in the marketplace and highly valuable to R&D and production teams across the country.Our line of natural, dairy-based products are made using the highest quality milk in the industry from Grande producer dairies. We have complete control of the production process, from milk collection right through to shipping. And our focus on quality throughout is obsessive: we can say without a doubt that our dairy-based ingredients exceed the highest quality standards.https://www.grandecig.com/about-us

Chilton, Wisconsin, Us

Lead global sales, marketing, and customer service. Briess sells and markets a broad range of malt, grains, and other plant-based products to the Food and Brew industries. Key responsibilities include: Strategy and plan development and execution; New business development; People management (six direct reports and 20+ indirect reports); Process improvement; Developing culture, people, and team

Chaska, Mn, Us

Recruited into turnaround leadership role to drive customer development initiatives and sales across retail grocers, warehouse clubs, extreme value retailers, mass merchandisers, private label and contract manufacturing, dollar channel, online/e-commerce, Ingredients, and foodservice channels. Accountable for P&L management, pricing, consumer marketing including promotions, advertising, new item development, trade spend, category management, customer marketing, and shopper insights for Gedney, Del Monte and Cains brands. Successfully managed sales nationally, up to 18 direct/indirect reports, nine brokers, and a marketing agency.• Key contributor to three consecutive years of profitability after nearly a decade of losses.• Established new category management and consumer insights capability and leveraged it to reverse declining sales trends.• Delivered significant annualized trade promotion savings in first year while growing branded volume with key customers through new trade promotion strategies and tactics.• Worked with industry marketing leaders to identify and leverage core brand equities resulting in the re-launch of the Gedney State Fair brand. Campaign included radio ads, outdoor media, events, and in-store activities. Resulted in 20% CAGR in sales.• Established new business opportunity process and pipeline resulting in more efficient resource usage and faster turnaround time. Utilized the process to lead the cross-functional team to close 15 major new business opportunities in 24 months, generating a 20% sales increase.• Led team that developed a new employee recognition program focusing on core company values.

Arden Hills, Minnesota, Us

Responsible for over $100M in consumer packaged goods sales. Accountable for management of over $10M trade budget, shopper marketing, team development, customer relationship development and provision of data-driven, actionable customer solutions and insights, trade promotion strategy and planning.SALES TEAM LEADERSHIP FOR KEY ACCOUNTS• Directed a team of Sales Managers and food brokers in North Central US for key accounts including Target, SUPERVALU, Meijer, Roundy's, Schnucks, HyVee, and other retail accounts. GREW CPG SALES• Grew sales volume by $1.5M in first year despite a declining customer base through team collaboration and focus on core product merchandising goals.• Integrated the acquisition of a new brand into the product line. • Delivered 130/140 (93%) distribution on key strategic new product launch exceeding goals. KEY CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT• Developed a collaborative new trade marketing approach with a key customer that turned declining Deli business from a 3% decline to an 11% increase.• Gained new distribution at Target Stores by leveraging category data.• Collaborated with targeted key customers to gain 100% distribution on new yogurt brand.

Arden Hills, Minnesota, Us

Directed a start-up sales team of four direct sales managers and one indirect report, one broker, and multiple trading companies generating ~$300M in B2B commodity and value added product sales. Led all sales outside of the US (focusing on China, SE Asia, Korea and Mexico), including sales strategy and plan development, customer target identification and acquisition, customer segmentation, cross-functional support, business prioritization, pricing development, customer negotiations, team development, drove new product and capability development. MARGIN AND SALES GROWTH• Negotiated with customers resulting in margin growth of 5X vs. prior year on a key product line• New global business exceeded margin goals vs. plan.• Delivered ~$225M in new business on a startup product line.• Expanded customer base to generate 75% sales growth on 2nd largest product line• Collaborated on creative risk management scenariosKEY CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT• Generated and qualified leads resulting in sales to 40 new customers. • Collaborated with customers and cross-functional team to ensure business and customer-specific product requirements were met.• Identified, championed, and led discussions regarding joint venture opportunities with a major international customer resulting in a ~$16M contract in year #1INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT• Worked across disciplines to develop infrastructure to support new business, including sales lead development process, customer profiles, business forecasting/planning, product development prioritization• Worked with Marketing and Transportation Departments to develop pricing processes for accurate and timely price quotations to customers on fast-paced commodity business• Worked with Credit Department to develop new alternatives for customer credit terms, which led to new business• Worked with HR Department to find, hire, and train new talent in China and Southeast Asia• Led contract development for a new broker partner in Southeast Asia

Arden Hills, Minnesota, Us

Directed a sales and marketing team of three employees, in addition to allocated cross-functional resources. Responsible for strategy, P&L, $40M in sales, business turnaround, new industrial product development, consumer packaged goods brand development, and foodservice products for customer base of food manufacturers, retailers, distributors and trading companies.BUSINESS ASSESSMENT AND PLANNING• Assessed business viability in first 30 days in role and made recommendation to the COO regarding continuation.• Developed business plans and P&L's that increased sales 520% in first two years.• Managed $1.5M marketing budget to build brand in focus countries.MARGIN GROWTH• Delivered $1.6M business turnaround in first two years, exceeding plan by $1M and moving from consistent operating losses to positive margin contribution.• Nearly tripled profits (+175%) in years #3 through #5 through value added and commodity growth.• Improved Division-wide profitability through sales of excess commodity productsRELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT• Leveraged China business partner to build retail and foodservice business, achieving #1 market position on cheese.• Replaced under-performing business partners in two key countries• Simplified the business, reducing item count by 25%. Established a unified pricing structure, built commodity pricing models to manage commodity risk, and created team communication protocols.• Built seven year relationship with a key customer generating consistently higher margins over time on a customized product line

Arden Hills, Minnesota, Us

Created win-win solutions utilizing knowledge of customer and internal financials, merchandising strategies, operational needs, and negotiation strategies for $100+M business (new department). Drove new item development, program creation, profitability improvement and revenue growth through cross-functional leadership and project management.SALES GROWTH• Achieved 10% compounded annual growth over four years.• First- ever penetration Costco and Sam's on spreads (four items)• First-ever penetration into Dollar ChannelNEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT• Generated over 40 new product concepts in four years based on customer insights.• Drove the development of a high speed/low-cost new product development process decreasing turnaround time on new product development to 12 weeks from 6 months

Arden Hills, Minnesota, Us

Led a team of direct and 3rd party agents with accountability for Sales, Marketing, Operations, and Finance. Responsible for strategy, P&L, ~$20M in sales, business growth, licensing, publishing, and new product development. Customer base: alternate channels, retail grocery, mass, distributors and foodservice. Reported directly to the division Vice President.INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT• Led the re-engineering of the Specialty Foods supply chain from production to customer delivery. ∘ Improved service levels in excess of 10% while decreasing costs by ~20%.• Developed P&L management tool that enabled accurate business planning and forecasting.• Simplified the business model by consolidating 150 customers into one outsourced customerSALES AND MARGIN GROWTH• Increased revenues by 60% through new product development and base business growth into new customers and channels.• Created four new product lines that returned positive margins in first year.• Generated 5X profit growth in four years (to $1.5M).• Revived a struggling product line through product enhancements.

Arden Hills, Minnesota, Us

Managed P&L, one employee, and a portfolio of spreads products. Responsible for business plan development and execution on a $70M business.MARGIN GROWTH• Effectively managed a $12M marketing budget to achieve record profits via new business strategies.STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT• Transformed long-standing company strategy on commodity purchases related to spreads business.• Changed promotional strategy from broad-based to targeted.

Arden Hills, Minnesota, Us

Selected as member of five-person team in new department start-up focused on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of a $90M trade budget. Responsible for 25% of the budget in the northeastern and north central US, and the Military channel. BUSINESS ANALYSIS• Analyzed trade promotions at the customer level and made recommendations for improvement. TRADE EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENT• Team recognized by the President for delivering $15M in increased annualized profits.• Led a cross-functional team that reconstructed the trade budgeting process and related information systems, enabling accountability / management of a $90M budget by Field Sales.

Arden Hills, Minnesota, Us

Managed a network of eight independent food brokers, in a six state area, driving unprecedented sales growth and building brand presence on consumer packaged goods in a developmental, low-franchise market.SALES GROWTH• Doubled region sales in three years• Achieved #1 Sales Region for three consecutive years• Awarded Manager-of-the-Year, two Brokers-of-the-Year, and five runners up in three years.• Pioneered the development of cheese business, achieving focus market status.

Arden Hills, Minnesota, Us

SALES TRAINER• Attracted and hired new talent through campus interviews• Administered a rigorous 13 week sales training program to five new employees resulting in promotions to permanent roles.SALES GROWTH• Increased sales volume by 35% and doubled distribution in strategic customer in one year.• Pioneered cheese business in FL, selling the first cheese line distribution ever

B.S., Business-Related Degree

Coursework Towards Mba, Marketing/Marketing Management, General

Education record