Bonin Bough, host of “The Cleveland Hustles” on CNBC, author of “Txt Me (646) 759-1837” and former c-suite executive at human food companies Mondelez International and PepsiCo, will serve as the keynote speaker for Petfood Forum 2020 on April 28, organizers have announced. His topic will be “Hackonomy,” explaining how to create greater value for your business by breaking things.
“Most think that the word ‘hacker’ sounds negative, but not all hackers are bad,” Bough said. “Hackers and hack-thinking are the source of a monumental, positive shift in business, technology, startups and culture all over the world. Hackers can create immense value by breaking things, whether it’s breaking from tradition, process or simply ‘the way we’ve always done things.’”
Oversaw rapidly growing CPG brands
Bough now runs Bonin Ventures, a growth accelerator that helps businesses of all shapes and sizes achieve faster revenue growth. Previously, as one of the youngest top executives at a Fortune 50 company, Bough oversaw billion-dollar consumer product good (CPG) brands, including Mondelez’s Sour Patch Kids, which became the fastest growing candy brand in the world. He also contributed to the rapid growth of other large CPG brands at PepsiCo including Oreo, Cadbury's, Pepsi, Gatorade and Frito-Lay. Most recently, as the chief growth officer of SheaMoisture, Bough helped increase the business by nearly 50% in 12 months, leading to the company being acquired by Unilever for close to U.S.$1 billion.
During his time as chief media officer at Mondelez (formerly Kraft Foods), Bough managed over U.S.$3 billion in media spend, making him the seventh largest media buyer in the world. When he added e-commerce to his role, he grew online sales from U.S.$65-$265 million in 18 months; previously, he led PepsiCo’s digital business and built two global digital agencies IPG.
Bough has been inducted into the Advertising Hall of Achievement and has appeared on lists such as Fortune’s 40 under 40, Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business, Ebony’s Power 100 and the Internationalist’s Internationalists of the Year.
Petfood Forum 2020
Petfood Forum, the largest and only global event for pet food manufacturing and marketing professionals, will next take place April 27-29, 2020, in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. In addition to Bough’s keynote, it will include general sessions covering the dynamic pet food market, topical panel discussions and concurrent technical sessions providing the latest research on pet food nutrition, ingredients, processing, safety and more. The conference, which annually draws 3,000 pet food professionals from around the world, also features a large, growing exhibit hall and many networking opportunities.
