Two Key New Hires Create Grovara Dream Team for Sales, Global Expansion

David Winter and Kerri McLaughlin join world’s first B2B global marketplace for U.S. natural and organic brands on momentum of $5.5 million seed round

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Grovara, the largest global B2B marketplace for American natural and organic brands, today announced a pair of key hires, building on the momentum of its recent $5.5 million seed round financing. The company introduces data-driven sales leader David Winter as Vice President of Sales and brand and sales operation champion Kerri McLaughlin as Vice President of Brands.

Together, the new hires bring deep industry knowledge, high-growth experience, and a true understanding of Grovara’s value and trajectory.

“Being able to assemble our leadership team with change-makers that share our vision is further validation of our mission to transform global commerce,” says Grovara CEO Abu Kamara. “We now have key leaders in place to scale up brand and retailer customer acquisition, ramp up user engagements and transactions, while delivering the level of excellence in services expected with our game-changing B2B global marketplace.”

Winter spent the last six years with Grovara partner and investor SPINS, the leading data insights provider for the wellness space in North America. Winter helped drive growth as VP of Sales there since 2018. At Grovara his primary responsibility will be to deepen relationships with international retailers and help them better realize strategic goals as retail evolves post-pandemic at a rapid pace. Winter will also continue to establish Grovara as trusted advisors who understand how its marketplace’s brands can help more retailers grow. He’ll have a chance to continue working with SPINS President David Navama, who serves as an advisor to Grovara.

“There are lots of service providers out there doing incrementally better versions of their competitors, but once I saw the marketplace that Grovara had built out, I knew this was a different and unique opportunity,” says Winter. “I believe this business is ready to explode.”

McLaughlin worked closely with Grovara for eight years, most recently as VP of Sales Operations, while driving massive growth at Baltimore-based CPG manufacturer True Citrus, one of the first two dozen brands to transform their sales growth on the Grovara platform. McLaughlin will leverage 15-plus years of manufacturing and brand experience with her deep understanding of the inner workings of sales operations and go-to-market strategies with brands Grovara brings on board.

“Working with Grovara for eight years, I know the hustle and dedication Abu, (Chief Innovation Officer) Peter Groverman, and the team has had not only with my brand but every brand they represent,” says McLaughlin. “Our platform brings a new dynamic to a very manual process that is familiar to brands and opens up many more markets by being discoverable by buyers in different areas of the world.”

ABOUT GROVARA: Grovara is the first B2B global marketplace for natural and organic brands. Grovara increases access to wellness products for global consumers with its proprietary technology platform that connects the most promising U.S. healthy consumer brands with vetted global retailers. With only 1 in 10 wellness brands selling overseas, Grovara enables exporting with visibility, transparency, and an intuitive user experience, creating a pathway for dynamic growth potential for American manufacturers and added value for worldwide retailers. More information on Grovara’s market-leading processes and partners can be found at www.grovara.com.