Yasso Frozen Greek Yogurt, the frozen Greek yogurt bar maker, is opening a new headquarters office in better-for-you hub, Boulder, Colorado, and adding a new CEO and management team.
As the brand prepares to hit $100 million in revenue in 2019, Yasso co-founders and current co-CEOs Drew Harrington and Amanda Klane are transitioning out of their roles and handing the reins over to a new leader, Craig Shiesley.
“Since we founded Yasso in 2009 at just 23 years old, it’s been more than just a business for Amanda and I; it’s been a way of life,” Harrington said. “It’s been the thrill of a lifetime to work alongside our amazing team to build Yasso from a simple idea to a nationally distributed and recognized brand. We felt now was an appropriate time to select a new leader to execute our strategic growth plan. As Craig joins the Yasso family as CEO, we’re confident the brand will continue to grow and carry on with our mission to bring great tasting, better-for-you desserts to fans all across the country while making a positive impact in our communities.”
Shiesley already was an independent member of the Yasso board. He has more than 25 years of experience building brands and businesses in the consumer packaged goods industry, as well as extensive experience with successful better-for-you brands. Most recently, Shiesley was president and COO of Amplify Snacks, and before that was president at the WhiteWave Food Co., responsible for leading the broad plant-based business platform which included the Silk, So Delicious and Vega brands.
“Hiring a new CEO is no simple task and although Drew and I met with many impressive candidates from CPG brands we admire, we hadn’t met someone we felt had everything it would take to lead Yasso until we met Craig,” Klane said. “It was important for us to find a cultural fit who would stay true to our core mission and principles, but also someone with a proven track record of leading brands of scale with larger company management experience, but smaller company mindset. We found that in Craig and we are both excited to be partnering with him. His vision and ambition matches ours.”
“Anyone who knows the Yasso brand knows it’s special, but what they may not know is what makes both the brand and the company unique are the founders. Both Drew and Amanda have an authenticity, purposefulness and a commitment to win that is present in their lives as well as how they run their business. These values originally attracted me to Yasso as a board member, and will be the values that we continue to cultivate at Yasso to make it a special place to work as I assume the CEO role,” Shiesley said. “The Yasso brand already has strong momentum, leading in velocity growth as well as repeat in the category, and yet there is so much more growth runway for the brand. In particular, I’m looking forward to leveraging our unique ’made with the goodness of Greek yogurt’ product platform to accelerate the growth of our base business, and an innovation capability that will continue to delight consumers across new forms and categories. I’m also excited to expand our better-for-you snacking platform beyond Yasso to other strategic partnerships.”
Harrington and Klane will stay close to the brand as board directors and investors, working closely on innovation, brand storytelling and will remain devoted to the growth of the Yasso Game On! Foundation, continuing with its charitable mission to give back to communities through monetary donations and partnerships. The Game On! Foundation works with partners to contribute to programs that will inspire fitness, friendly-competition and teamwork for people of all ages through sport.
Since joining Yasso in July, Shiesley has worked to build an executive team with deep industry experience and the skills necessary to elevate Yasso to the next level. As the newly renovated Yasso headquarters are finalized in downtown Boulder, this new executive team plans to build the team further as it works to fill a variety of roles in operations, sales, marketing and more to support brand growth and platform expansion.
“We are so pleased with how this next phase is shaping up with Craig at the helm and the transition to Boulder. We’ve always been fortunate to surround ourselves with talented, good people and this next chapter for Yasso is no different. Establishing new roots in Boulder gives us a tremendous talent pool as we expand our team and capabilities. It’s an exciting time for the Yasso brand and broader category, and Craig has already done a great job building out a fantastic management team with like-minded people. We are confident that with Craig as our new leader, we can expand our better-for-you dessert and snacking platform with Yasso and strategic partnerships,” Harrington said.
