Gary Hirschberg

Chairman, President & CEO
Stonyfield Farm

For the past 25 years, Gary Hirshberg has overseen the phenomenal growth of Stonyfield Farm, the world’s leading organic yogurt producer, from its infancy as a seven-cow organic farming school in 1983 to its current $320 million in annual sales. Stonyfield has enjoyed a compounded annual growth rate of over 24% for more than eighteen years, by consistently producing great-tasting products and using innovative marketing techniques that blend the company’s social, environmental and financial missions.

Gary has won numerous awards for corporate and environmental leadership, including Global Green USA's “1999 Green Cross Millennium Award for Corporate Environmental Leadership.” He was named "Business Leader of the Year" by Business NH Magazine and "New Hampshire's 1998 Small Business Person of the Year" by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Liz Lange

Founder & President
Liz Lange Maternity

Liz Lange is a fashion and retail pioneer. Armed with the philosophy that women should look and feel beautiful during pregnancy, she has, in nine short years, single-handedly revolutionized maternity style and society's perception of pregnant women. Today, the high-end Liz Lange Maternity Collection is sold at Liz's three Liz Lange Maternity boutiques, the Liz Lange e-commerce Web site and via a national and international wholesale business.

In 2001, Nike approached Liz to create the Liz Lange for Nike line of maternity active wear to be sold in both Lange's boutiques and through Nike's retail channels. In 2002, she began a design partnership with the Target Corporation. She designs the Liz Lange for Target line, the only maternity product sold in all Target stores in the United States.

Liz is an entrepreneur and a woman who challenges the assumptions and accepted wisdom of the market segment she correctly recognized as under served. She has been successful not just in business but in helping pregnant women of all shapes, sizes and budgets feel as empowered and attractive as the celebrities who wear her high-end apparel.

Jim Koch

Founder
Boston Beer Company

Jim Koch’s passion for brewing quality, full-flavored beer and the desire to follow a family tradition led him to become the successful brewer that he is today.

Jim’s entrepreneurial spirit led him to start a business of his own; he followed family tradition and became a brewer. He made his first batch of beer in his kitchen following the old brewing techniques, which became known as Samuel Adams Boston Lager.

Bartenders around Boston admired Jim for brewing the beer in small batches and keeping an obsessive eye on quality and flavor, rather than trying to compete with the larger brewers producing mass-quantity beer. He built the business outward from his first accounts in Boston. Six weeks after the introduction, Samuel Adams Boston Lager was picked as “The Best Beer in America” at The Great American Beer Festival in the Consumer Preference Poll.

As Jim looks back at the beginning of Samuel Adams, “making Samuel Adams Boston Lager and serving it to the most discriminating beer drinkers around the world is still the most compelling challenge I can imagine,” he reflects.

Claudia Chan

President & Co-Founder
Shecky's Media Inc

By the age of 24, Claudia Chan realized her true passion for entrepreneurship, co-founding iLounge, an event marketing and networking firm. In the closely connected realm of special event production, she was introduced to Shecky’s founder, Chris Hoffman; together they formed a joint venture between the two companies. Shecky’s produced local nightlife parties and published award-winning city guide books. Claudia was inspired to tweak the company’s focus and cater primarily to women’s entertainment, female-friendly events and specialty services. In 2001, Shecky’s published the “Girl’s Guide to New York Nightlife.” The book was a success and opened the doors to what is now known as the nation’s largest and most popular shopping and socializing event for women: Shecky’s Girls Night Out: The Original Shopping Event Spectacular!

The first Girls Night Out event in New York City sold out to over 700 women. Today, that same event spans across five nights and sells out to over 10,000 female attendees in the New York area alone. In 2002, Claudia was appointed president & co-founder of Shecky’s Media Inc., and has since helped expand the Shecky’s Girls Night Out event series to a national level – producing 35 events across 16 markets, reaching over 150,000 women nationwide in 2008.

Tariq Farid

President & CEO
Edible Arrangements International, Inc

Edible Arrangements International, Inc. is the industry leader of high-quality, artistically designed fresh fruit arrangements. Tariq Farid is responsible for setting the company's strategic direction and for the licensing of new franchises across the U.S. and internationally.

Tariq’s entrepreneurial experience began in the late 1980s, when he purchased a local flower shop at age 17. Within two years, he was operating four highly successful stores. He launched the first Edible Arrangements store in 1999. It has been named one of America’s fastest-growing privately held businesses in America by Inc. magazine and one of the top franchise systems in Entrepreneur Annual Franchise 500® magazine.

Since the first franchise opened in 2001 in Mass., it has grown to over 800 stores located throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada, the U.K., Dubai and opening soon in other international markets. Growth continues unabated, with an average of 25 franchise signings a month.

In 2006, Tariq launched Frutation by Edible Arrangements, an all-natural fruit station that targets consumers who want a fresh and delicious treat on the go. Products are made from a combination of fresh fruit and other all natural ingredients. This concept is currently growing throughout the U.S. and internationally in high-traffic shopping malls and other major metropolitan areas.

Linda Kaplan Thaler

CEO and Cheif Creative Officer
The Kaplan Thaler Group

Linda founded KTG in 1997, and she is the ultimate decision-maker, cheerleader and has oversight on all creative output. She has been responsible for some of the most touching, relevant, and famous commercials during her 24 years in the advertising business.

Under her creative leadership, KTG has been ranked by industry publications as the fastest-growing agency in the United States and touted for its breakthrough creative and immediate results. She has won too many awards for creativity and leadership to mention.