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Who We Are ?

Better Choice Company, Inc. is a rapidly growing pet health and wellness company focused on providing pet products and services that help dogs and cats live healthier, happier and longer lives. We offer a broad portfolio of pet health and wellness products for dogs and cats sold under our Halo brand across multiple forms, including foods, treats, toppers, dental products, chews, and supplements. We have a demonstrated, multi-decade track record of success and are well positioned to benefit from the mainstream trends of growing pet humanization and consumer focus on health and wellness. Our products consist of kibble and canned dog and cat food, freeze-dried raw dog food and treats, vegan dog food and treats, oral care products and supplements. Halo’s core products are made with high-quality, thoughtfully sourced ingredients for natural, science-based nutrition. Each innovative recipe is formulated with leading veterinary and nutrition experts to deliver optimal health.

Our Focus

  • Shopping Cart

    E-Commerce is our largest channel and we partner with some of the most recognizable names in the world, including Amazon and Chewy. We have a strong and loyal base of pet parents that shop online, and boast a subscription rate of approximately 50%.

  • Supporting Hand

    Direct to Consumer is our smallest channel, and represents an opportunity for growth in the future. The vast majority of TruDog’s sales are made on our direct-to-consumer website, and we are looking to expand our direct-to-consumer offering to the Halo brand in 2022.

  • The World

    International is one of our fastest growing channels, and is anchored by strong distribution partnerships in Asia. In total, we have secured $100 million in aggregate contracted revenue from 2021 - 2025 and are constantly looking to expand into new markets.

  • Storefront

    Specialty is one of our most exciting channels for growth. In 2022 we expect to launch our innovative Halo products in 2,000 - 2,500 new stores, anchored by partnerships with Petco, Pet Supplies Plus, and other independent pet stores.

Management Team

  • Kent Cunningham, CEO

    Kent Cunningham

    CEO
    Kent Cunningham is a passionate brand builder and business leader with over 25 years of CPG and Health & Wellness marketing and sales experience across a range of corporate environments and categories including accelerating growth within multinationals, brand turnarounds and high value exits in the private equity business for the likes of KKR & Co. Inc. Most recently, Mr. Cunningham was CEO of 1440 Foods, a sports and active nutrition company, and prior to that was General Manager at the Bountiful Company, an American dietary supplements company. From 2006 to 2013, Mr. Cunningham held various positions at MARS Petcare, owner of several health and nutrition pet food brands.
  • Nina Martinez

    Nina Martinez

    Nina Martinez Chief Financial Officer
    Nina Martinez (Carolina) has served as the company’s Chief Financial Officer since August 2023. Nina brings a wealth of expertise in strategic financial planning and leading public companies through transformative growth stages. Nina joined Better Choice from ONE10 Advisors, where she most notably served as Interim CFO for a micro-cap consumer packaged goods company, leading through IPO readiness to initial S-1 filing, as well as provided M&A and finance advisory services to middle market companies. Prior to ONE10, Nina spent eight years at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), in Assurance leadership roles auditing publicly-traded CPG and retail clients, as well as in PwC’s National Quality Organization office on its Thought Leadership team. Nina is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in Florida and holds a Master of Science in Accounting from The University of Tampa, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Central Florida.
  • Tim Blankenbaker

    Tim Blankenbaker

    Tim Blankenbaker Chief Growth Officer
    Tim Blankenbaker brings more than 20 years of general management, brand building, and strategy development at The Campbell Soup Company, Mars Petcare, and HanesBrands, Inc. He is known within the pet industry for leading the team that turned around the Greenies business, creating #1 Vet recommendation through a unique B2B model, driving double-digit topline sales growth, leading projects that added 25 points of gross margin to the P&L, and launching Greenies' first ever meaningful consumer media campaign. At Hanes, he transitioned the Hanes brand from majority linear TV to majority digital media and later led several apparel businesses as General Manager. Tim holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Maryland, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Miami.
  • Alex Vournas

    Alex Vournas

    Alex Vournas Vice President, Supply Chain & Logistics
    Alex Vournas is a highly accomplished Supply Chain professional who most recently was the Director of Supply Chain at Solid Gold Pet LLC, where he oversaw global distribution and logistics and was responsible for managing multiple international and domestic co-manufactures and warehouses, outsourced transportation and ordering logistics. Among many other accomplishments, Alex was responsible for managing the logistics related to the company’s significant expansion into Asia, which culminated in a sale of the business to Hong Kong based H&H Group in November 2020. In addition to his experience at Solid Gold, Alex has been a Supply Chain Director at various companies for over 10 years, including Anheuser-Busch and Sara Lee. Alex Vournas holds a Master of Business Administration in Management from St. Louis University.

Board of Directors

  • Michael Young

    Michael Young

    Michael Young Chairman of the Board
    Mr. Young serves as our Chairman. Mr. Young is a founding partner of Cottingham Capital, an investment company focused on real estate, technology and Consumer brand investments. He has served at Cottingham as Managing Partner since its inception in January 2017. Prior to January 2017, Mr. Young served as the Managing Director and Co-Head of Trading for a Canadian Investment bank. Mr. Young was previously on the boards of Nuuvera Corp. and ICC Labs. We believe Mr. Young’s qualifications to serve as a director of our Company include his extensive senior-level executive management, and trading experience, in the Canadian and U.S. capital markets, as well as his experience serving on other public company boards of directors.
  • Lionel Conacher, Director

    Lionel Conacher

    Director
    Lionel Conacher joins Better Choice with over thirty years of financial experience, spanning senior positions in public companies in both Canada and the US, investment banking, private equity, and venture capital. Mr. Conacher currently serves as Chairman of DXL Group (NASDAQ: DXLG), where he has successfully guided the retail chain through the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2018, Mr. Conacher co-founded a San Francisco-based venture capital fund, Next Ventures, after serving as a Senior Advisor and Operating Partner at Altamont Capital Partners, a Palo Alto-based Private Equity Firm, for over seven years. Prior to his experience at Altamont Partners, he co-founded and served as the CEO of Westwind Partners Inc., a specialized Canadian institutional investment bank that was ultimately sold to Thomas Weisel Partners for $170 million in 2007 before being acquired by Steifel in 2010. Mr. Conacher holds an A.B. in Economics & Art History from Dartmouth College and is also actively involved in a variety of non-profits.
  • John M. Word, III

    John M. Word, III

    John M. Word, III Director
    John M. Word III is renowned for transforming the California insurance broker’s role in the small group health benefits marketplace through his pioneering technological and marketing advances since 1972. Mr. Word founded the Word & Brown General Agency in 1984 to market and distribute health plans through California’s huge brokerage community; by 1986, the company was recognized as the largest independent small group health distributor in the nation. That same year, the company launched the nation’s first COBRA administration operation, sensing that employers needed assistance and qualified support with federal COBRA laws. CaliforniaChoice®, a groundbreaking enterprise empowering small business employees to select from multiple health plans within one program, was launched in 1996.
  • Gil Fronzaglia

    Gil Fronzaglia

    Gil Fronzaglia Director
    Gil Fronzaglia has had a successful career serving as both a board and management team member for large consumer products companies, natural food and beverage startups, and most notably as a founding member and VP of Operations for Blue Buffalo. In addition to joining the board of Better Choice, Gil has served as a Board Member of Quinn Snacks since 2016, where he was the Interim COO from December 2018 through July 2019. Mr. Fronzaglia has also served as a member of the board of Grillo’s Pickles, the premium pet care brand I And Love And You and Spindrift Beverage Co. Mr. Fronzaglia is based in Boulder, Colorado and holds a Bachelor of Science from Northeastern University, and a Masters of Business Administration from Barry University.
  • Kent Cunningham, CEO

    Kent Cunningham

    CEO
    Kent, the Company’s CEO, has served as a member of the Company’s Board of Directors since April 1, 2024.
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