Full Name
Leslie Sarasin
Job Title
Chief Collaboration & Commercial Officer
Company
FMI
Speaker Bio
Mark Baum currently serves as Chief Collaboration & Commercial Officer for FMI - The Food Industry Association. In this role, Baum engages retailer, manufacturer, supplier, and service provider C-Suite executives to further trading partner collaboration, leading to operational improvements and growth opportunities across all segments of the food retail supply chain.

Baum is known for his intricate knowledge of almost every aspect of the food, beverage, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and retail industry. He is also recognized as one of the foremost experts in the design, management, and execution of strategic and commercial sales, marketing, and merchandising models across consumer facing industries.

Additionally, Baum is a Managing Partner of MARCAT Group, LLC, an advisory firm specializing in the active outdoor recreation marketplace. Prior to that, he was a Partner and led the CPG/Retail Practice at Diamond Management & Technology Consultants (NASDAQ: DTPI), now owned by Pricewaterhouse Coopers, LLP (PwC). Earlier, he was Executive Vice President of the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA). Formerly, Baum was the President & CEO of the Association of Sales & Marketing Companies (ASMC). He joined GMA in 2001 after leading the merger with ASMC.

Earlier in his career, Baum served as Vice President, Sales and Marketing for Retail Insights, a division of Maclean Hunter Media/Progressive Grocer Associates – producers of Supermarket Insights, Convenience Store Insights and Restaurant Insights – and prior to that, held significant management positions at Food Distributors International. Baum’s career in the food, beverage, and CPG industry spans over 35 years and began at Paragon, a New York based snack food/candy distributor.

Mark Baum serves on the Board of Directors of KeyImpact Sales & Systems, a national foodservice broker in the United States. He is an Industry Venture Partner (IVP) with Loft Growth Partners (formerly known as 2X Consumer Growth Partners), a private-equity firm, providing growth capital and industry expertise to emerging branded consumer products businesses. To promote diversity initiatives, Baum is a Founding Champion of the NextUp, a CPG/Retail industry organization dedicated to providing career opportunities for women and minorities. Baum also is a Director on the Board of Oswego State University (NY), his alma mater, and an Advisory Board member of the Hope for Cuba Foundation.
Leslie Sarasin