Unreasonable Next Steps

Posted In: Leaving a Company
Posted On: 5/5/2014


After five and a half years, my fabulous run as Rudi's CEO came to an end. The company was sold to the leader in natural and organic foods, Hain Celestial, which is the best possible outcome for the wonderful and talented Rudi's employees. My last day was Friday, and I continued my favorite tradition of making ice cream sundaes for everyone in the office. My next chapter is even more exciting than the last. In addition to my book coming out in two weeks (!!!!), I have just joined the Unreasonable Institute as their interim president! You may be thinking: 1) what is the Unreasonable Institute; and 2) what the heck is an interim president! To the first question, Unreasonable is an accelerator for social impact start-ups and is literally helping to change the world by providing resources like mentors and funders to these entrepreneurs.  But that does not begin to tell the story or reflect the energy of the team that runs it, so please check out their website and watch a few videos to get a real taste of the power of their work. I have been blessed to have been on their board of directors for two and a half years along with two amazing guys, Seth Levine and Paul Jerde. As my time with Rudi's was drawing to a close, I began to get a bit more involved in the day to day operations of Unreasonable. As I got closer to Teju, Tyler, Banks, Verity and Natasha, I realized that Unreasonable could use some of my CEO skills to take the organization to its next level. And the team embraced the idea of my joining them with open arms! They kept saying they needed a "gray hair" to join the group to add some experience (BTW for those of you who know me personally, rest assured I will never have gray hair!), so voila! Here I go! So why interim president? Frankly, we aren't sure that a permanent role is needed or if I am the right person to do it long term. So this is a great way for me to provide some additional arms and legs while we all figure out the next evolution of the organization. After 25 years of selling products like Doritos and Twinkies, I upped my game by moving to Rudi's fabulous and healthy product line. Five years plus of selling those healthy living products has now morphed into a chance to REALLY make positive change in the world. Wow! I can't hardly wait to get started!