David Ziegert

With over 25 years of senior executive CPG experience, David has spearheaded organizational and cultural evolutions within CPG businesses, optimizing resources to exceed shareholder expectations. He specializes in General Management, Operations, Supply Chain, and Finance, supporting partner companies by enhancing strategic planning, creating and leveraging operational processes and accelerating results against commercial strategies.

As an Operating Partner at Sunrise Strategic Partners, David is responsible for commercial diligence on potential investments as well as working with current portfolio companies to optimize and accelerate results against their commercial strategies.

Prior to joining Sunrise Strategic Partners, David was President/Chief Operating Officer at ONE Brands, which exited to The Hershey Company. Additionally, David worked at Celestial Seasonings / The Hain Celestial Group for over 20 years in a variety of senior leadership positions, including General Manager and Chief Supply Chain Officer.

David graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Miami University. In addition to his role at Sunrise Strategic Partners, he supports his local community and public education as Chair for Impact on Education, a foundation which supports 30,000 students and 4,000 educators in the Boulder Valley School District.

What area(s) of focus would you most like to address with your mentees?

I would like to address general business/brand development and support the mentee as they navigate through the peaks and valleys of growing their company and business.

How do you plan to structure your monthly meetings?

I view these meetings as an opportunity for a healthy balance of structured and unstructured collaboration and discussion on items/challenges/decisions that the Mentee is currently experiencing with their business.

Regarding initial structure for the monthly meetings, I envision 1:1 meetings, utilizing an income statement and balance sheet to provide planned topics for discussions. For example, one meeting, we would discuss all things Gross to Net (Pricing, Trade, Deductions, etc.).

My plan would be to encourage enough unstructured time, allowing the conversation to free-flow and ultimately meet the unique, specific needs of the Mentee. Additionally, I would want/need to educate myself on the business, so would be open to group discussions with the Leadership team in addition to the scheduled, monthly meetings with the Mentee.

Finally, we would incorporate networking opportunities as appropriate to provide the Mentee with as much exposure as possible.

Finally, who would be an ideal mentee for you in this program, given your areas of expertise and experience?

My ideal Mentee would be a passionate, committed Founder/Leader who is positive, open-minded and excited to share experiences and learnings in a collaborative, supportive setting.