NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Food52, the next-generation cooking and home brand, announced today the appointments of five executives to its growing team. On the C-level, Jason Chatterjee joins Food52 as Chief Financial Officer and Head of Corporate Development and Ben Gerst joins as Chief Product and Technology Officer. Additionally, Jieh Greeney joins as SVP of Retail, David Cole joins as SVP of Integration and Strategic Initiatives, and Elizabeth Spiridakis Olson joins as VP of Creative.
Food52 makes these strategic additions as the brand embarks on a transformative year. Continuing to integrate recently acquired home companies Schoolhouse and Dansk, Food52 also plans to debut its own pantry line, begin work on a flagship retail location in NYC, and move into its new HQ in Brooklyn’s Navy Yard in 2022.
“If we want to continue to innovate, we have to invest in accomplished and ambitious leaders to head up every part of our business — from technology and finance to creative,” says founder and CEO Amanda Hesser. “I am so proud of our team and feel confident that we have the leaders in place to take us into this exciting next chapter.”
Jason Chatterjee joins Food52 as Chief Financial Officer and Head of Corporate Development, just as the company’s size has doubled with the addition of Schoolhouse. He’s responsible for Food52’s overall financial strategy, including future acquisitions. Prior to Food52, Chatterjee was a Partner at Boston Consulting Group and investment professional with Sycamore Partners and LCatterton, two of the largest consumer and retail focused private equity firms.
Ben Gerst comes to Food52 as Chief Product and Technology Officer, focused on advancing the technology across Food52’s brands and continuing to innovate on Food52’s integrated content, community, and commerce model through product, design, engineering, and data. Gerst has long worked at the intersection of journalism and technology, coming from the Los Angeles Times where he was the chief technology officer and previously at Tribune Publishing, Fox Sports, and The New York Times.
Jieh Greeney, the brand’s first-ever SVP of Retail, is leading Food52’s future brick-and-mortar experience strategy including the opening of its flagship location in NYC. Before coming to Food52, Greeney was Tiffany & Co.’s Head of Business Transformation and Retail Activation, and held strategy- and growth-focused roles at McKinsey & Company and lululemon athletica.
David Cole joins Food52 as SVP of Integration & Strategic Initiatives, heading up the integration of Schoolhouse and its 145-person team. Formerly, Cole was the COO of Resware at Qualia and held VP of integration positions at Intuit, Yahoo!, and Salesforce, leading more than 100 acquisitions in his career.
Elizabeth Spiridakis Olson comes to Food52 as VP of Creative, responsible for establishing and owning creative direction that distinguishes Food52 and integrates its growing community of brands. Olson has held creative director positions at leading retailers and publishers including Kate Spade New York, AFAR, and bon appétit, and she was a senior designer at T: The New York Times Magazine. As a freelancer, she’s also designed the covers for several New York Times best-selling books.
FOOD52
Food52 is a next-generation cooking and home company that was named one of the world’s most innovative companies by Fast Company, with a monthly reach of more than 25 million people. From the beginning, the brand challenged the models of traditional media companies and retailers, combining content, commerce, and community around the belief that the kitchen is the heart of the home and food is the center of a well-lived life. Food52 connects a global community of experts and amateurs, supporting them with inspirational, useful content — recipes, videos, podcasts, cookbooks and more — and outfitting them with products that make them happy. In addition to a highly curated Shop representing hundreds of makers, the Food52 community of brands includes its in-house product line Five Two, lighting and lifestyle goods company Schoolhouse, and the heritage home brand Dansk. Food52 recently announced an incremental investment from TCG that tripled its valuation from when the firm made its initial majority investment in 2019.
