Gene Ruda - CEO

Gene combines over 30 years in the foodservice and retail food industries with a 15+ year focus on technology. His professional experience includes restaurant management, software and hardware sales, product marketing, software development and the management of information systems. Prior to joining Successfoods^® Gene was Vice President and CIO at HFM Foodservice in Honolulu. He served in a similar capacity as Director of Information Services with BiRite FoodService in San Francisco. While there he implemented the first fully integrated Internet order entry system offered by an independent distributor in the food industry.

Gene has worked for or consulted top-level management at SGI, AutoDesk, Apple, AT&T, Kaiser Permanente, Budget Rent-a-Car, Radiant Systems (ReMACS), Sage Software (SBT) and others, providing key input on the design of business processes and technology infrastructure, as well as the development and marketing of commercially viable products and services. Gene holds a bachelors degree in Film/Screenwriting from San Francisco State University.

Deb Viola – Senior Designer

With nearly twenty years as an art director and designer, Deb is an experienced and passionate creative specialist who can develop consistently unique and winning communication solutions that get results for your company. Her approach is simple: communicate ideas with a high degree of precision and clarity.

Deb holds a BFA in advertising from the Academy of Art and the University of San Francisco ('85 cum laude). Prior to her relationship with Successfoods^® Marketing, Deb was on staff as a senior art director at Saatchi & Saatchi, San Francisco and has been a freelance art director since 1998.

Drew McMillen – Senior Copy Writer

Drew joined Successfoods^® in 2005 on a project basis. He brings over 17 years of food industry marketing and sales experience to the company. Starting his career at Fred’s/Multifoods in the late 80s, Drew has done product marketing and brand management for a variety of products, including frozen appetizers for Fred’s, Sargento and Anchor Foods, and frozen Mexican products for Multifoods/Centre Brands. His experience also includes working with growers and packers in the canned food business, including Tri Valley Growers and Chiquita Processed Foods. Most recently, he served as the VP of sales and marketing for the country’s largest group of independent produce distributors, Pro*Act LLC.

Lourdes Sodari—Graphic Design & Web Developer

A photographer by training, Lourdes’ experience includes work behind the camera as a freelance photographer, in the classroom teaching photography at the college level and in the darkroom working in the custom photofinishing industry. Her graphic arts experience began with design firms in San Francisco leading to a position with Autodesk, Inc. producing graphics and animation for video, CD-Rom and web-based training. For the last 7 years Lourdes has worked as a freelance graphic designer in print, web and multimedia; designing web-based training materials and developing database driven media-rich interactive websites.

John Benson—Food Photographer

John Benson adapted an early appreciation for restaurants and food into his San Francisco-based photography studio. A native Californian with a business degree from San Diego State University, John worked his way through college as a restaurant manager for the Hungry Hunter restaurant chain. The quick pace, unpredictable customers and on-the-fly skill of the chef dazzled him. The lifestyle, however, did not. John quickly dashed any thoughts of a career in restaurants.
Instead, aspiring to the creative within, he began a photography business. Twenty-six years later, this self-taught commercial photographer has successfully coupled photography with food, capturing the Bay Area food scene. He shoots for top-tier chefs and manufactures. With work in national ad campaigns, billboards, product packages, books and magazines.

Susan Devaty—Food Stylist

Susan Devaty attended Tante Marie's Cooking school in San Francisco in 1982. She apprenticing for 4 years and then began a career with Budget Gourmet. Susan was the principal Food Stylist for package photography for 17 years. She later joined the design firm, Silverman Advertising Design and worked on various frozen food packaging for national clients. Susan made the choice to become independent when the company moved to New York. She has built a solid reputation as the “Go-To Girl” for frozen food work in the Western United States.

Kathryn Marshall – Trade Show Planner

Kathryn Marshall has over sixteen years executive operational experience in the hotel industry and nine years experience in site-selection and event planning. Hotel experience includes San Francisco’s Campton Place and Hotel Griffon, Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa. Marshall was also was part of the start-up team for the exclusive Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur. Prior to entering the hotel industry, Marshall was in the restaurant business in Chicago.

Steve Young – Director of Advertising Services

In 1968, Steve began his food industry career as Advertising Mgr. for Kaiser Aluminum, Foodservice Division. After several years in the corporate environment, he started Shore, Young & Tomi, the first Foodservice Advertising Agency on the West Coast. SY&T developed an in-depth working knowledge of food industry, retail, consumer, military, export and vending. Steve’s success comes from a commitment to planning, to developing meticulous strategies and becoming an extension of each client’s marketing team.

Jacke Schroeder – Organizational Change Leader

Not everything in the business world concerns money.
Organizational structure, interpersonal relationships, employee morale and the dreams of those in the organizations matter greatly. Some business people discount the impact of these factors on the efficiency and effectiveness of organizations and on negotiations and contracts. People are complex and solutions for solving problems and making decisions about directions, commodities, geographies, staffing, etc. sometimes come from the world of psychology, sociology and spirit. The concept of Corporate Shaman, bringing these tools into the business world, is just now gaining prominence as an effective tool for moving organizations, and its people forward.

Jacke Schroeder offers a different sort of opportunity to you for receiving advice and guidance. She is a dedicated and creative administrator, psychotherapist and healer, and brings 30 years of study and practice with understanding, wisdom and compassion. Areas of expertise include:

• Business Owner, Manager and Consultant
• Trainer & Coach
• Leader of Organizational Change
• Strategic Planner
• Facilitator of Board and Policy Development
• Alternative Dispute Mediator
• Psycho-Spiritual Healer

Don Jenkins – Financial Services

Don once engineered the largest leveraged buyout in food industry distribution history. By merging Bevaco, Biggers Brothers and Roanoke Restaurant Services into Unifax, Don began a consolidation process that resulted in the creation of U.S. Foodservice. Don’s strategic thinking and advanced financial modeling, attracted the admiration of Wall Street financiers.

As an industry Chief Financial Officer, Don gained invaluable experience with food industry distribution balance sheets. He now serves as the CEO of Equa-Net, Inc., a financial services company focused on the food industry. Equa-net has developed a business intelligence system called VOSS (Value Optimization and Simulation System), which converts data to usable tools for maximizing management and employee effectiveness.

Don earned a B.S. from Penn State in Finance and Accounting with minors in Economics and Computer Science, and an M.B.A. with concentrations in Finance and Marketing. Don is a guest lecturer at Syracuse University’s Graduate School of Management.