Katie is a Vice President of Innovation at Mattson, responsible for leading client work across the insights-to-commercialization innovation continuum, and for thought leadership in innovation strategy with emphasis on CPG channels. Since joining Mattson in 2018, she had led projects for clients including Annie’s, Ocean Spray, Clover Sonoma, Bobbie Baby, Butterball, Cholula, Amfora, Olam, Theo Chocolate, Splendid Spoon, Dr. Oetker, Tyson and others.


Katie draws on 18 years of experience in brand leadership roles where she successfully managed base brand and innovation teams for CPG brands such as Clorox, Hidden Valley, Brita, Fresh Step, Del Monte and Ghirardelli. She has also consulted for Munchery, a food delivery startup, and Influence Central, a social influencer agency.


Katie focuses on developing new business opportunities and guiding clients through the new product development process from innovation roadmapping, to concept and product development, through commercialization.

Ryan is a fifth generation innovator with a knack for uncovering extraordinary ideas and maximizing their potential. His 20-year track record spans the CPG and social impact sectors.

Experience: Clorox, Conagra Brands, Tyson, Whole Foods

Jim Taschetta is the co-founder and CEO of Akai Life, LLC and a member of the Naturally Bay Area board. He is a 30-year CPG veteran with mix of large company and start-up experience. He started his career in brand management at Procter & Gamble. During his 10 years at P&G, including 7 overseas, Jim built a variety of brands and categories. While at Coca-Cola, Jim led a $2 billion-dollar portfolio of brands, including the Sprite, PowerAde and Minute Maid brands. As an SVP at Visa, Jim led the repositioning of the Visa brand and introduced a brand management system to the marketing function. Over the last several years he has focused on bringing his experience to helping small to medium sized companies scale. He was one of the first executives at the fin-tech start-up Yodlee, which went public in 2015. While at Bare Escentuals, he led product and marketing and helped position the company for a successful sale to cosmetics giant Shiseido. Most recently, he led the expansion of start-up Caveman Foods, helping them to become a leading provider of Paleo snacks. Jim received his MBA from Cornell University and lives with his wife and two children in Burlingame, CA.

Shannon Toyos carries more than 18 years of innovation, brand and business building experience. Currently, she is the Chief Marketing Officer at Kite Hill. Shannon has a deep passion for driving awareness that the plant-based company crafts delicious artisan chef-inspired foods that enable consumers to feel good about what they eat while making a positive impact on the environment one bite at a time.

Prior to joining Kite Hill, Shannon was Vice President of Marketing for The J.M. Smucker Company where she led the business operations, marketing strategy and the innovation agenda for the on-trend pet ~$3 billion business unit. During her tenure, she launched many platforms including one of the largest new brand entries in the history of the pet snacks category “Milo’s Kitchen.” Additionally, she was part of the core team to develop the growth strategy to expand into the pet premium space that resulted in a ~$1 billion increase within the brand’s portfolio through focused M&A.