Our Leadership Team
Executive Vice President, FoodMinds Founder
Laura Cubillos
RD, LDN
Executive Vice President, FoodMinds Founder
Laura helps teams and clients do work that makes a meaningful difference and drives the company’s thought leadership initiatives in food – including sustainable and nutritious food systems, personal wellness, food values and consumer food journeys. She provides strategic counsel and insights to help clients navigate and create opportunities in the rapidly changing and converging worlds of food and beverage, consumer values, nutrition and environmental science, and public health. Residing in San Francisco, the foods most often on Laura’s mind are cheese, nuts, avocados, and a good vino.
Senior Vice President, Group Lead
Erin DeSimone
MS, RD, LDN, FAND
Senior Vice President, Group Lead
Erin has vast experience in developing, implementing, and managing health and nutrition-related marketing programs for health professional, thought leader, B2B and consumer audiences. She also has a deep understanding of science education and application, as well as creating nutrition education materials, educational symposia, presentations, workshops, and expert advisory panels. The foods most often on Erin’s mind are a medium petite filet, Italian roasted potatoes, warm crusty bread, and a full-bodied cabernet.
Our Experts
Director
Moira Allison
MBA, RD
Director
Moira is passionate about building and maintaining thought-leadership programs, creative content development and staying up to date on the latest nutrition news and guidance. She has experience in event planning, stakeholder relationship management, executive-level presentation development, social media development, implementation translating scientific research. The foods most often on Moira’s mind are quiche, coffee, fresh pasta, and tangerine La Croix sparkling water.
Account Supervisor
Carmen Berry
MPH, RD, LD
Account Supervisor
Carmen is a registered dietitian and account supervisor. She is responsible for leading strategic food and nutrition communications and marketing initiatives for the food and beverage industry. Carmen believes that effective, strategic marketing and consumer messaging can benefit both industry and consumer health and is passionate about improving the health and wellbeing of all communities. Her background and expertise includes innovative program and organizational policy development, public health advocacy, translation of nutrition science into consumer messaging and educational materials, and health equity. She received her bachelor’s degree in medical dietetics from the University of Missouri at Columbia and her master’s degree in public health from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Senior Account Executive
Danielle Butbul
MPH, RDN
Senior Account Executive
Danielle is a registered dietitian who holds a master’s degree in public health. She is passionate about helping businesses and professionals understand the connections between nutrition, agriculture, policy, business, culture and sustainability.
Senior Vice President, Group Lead
Andrea Carrothers
MS, RD
Senior Vice President, Group Lead
Andrea’s experience spans stakeholder outreach programs, advising on food and nutrition policy issues, translating science into consumer messaging and educational materials, and providing regulatory counsel in evaluating product health claims. She also has extensive expertise in developing speaker’s bureaus and advisory boards and creating and promoting scientific symposia and conference events. The foods most often on Andrea’s mind are caprese salad, sushi, and a crisp glass of rosé.
Account Executive
Dana Colla
MS, RDN, LDN
Account Executive
Dana is an account executive and registered dietitian at the Chicago office of FoodMinds, a division of Padilla. FoodMinds provides consulting and communications services specializing in harnessing science, public affairs, food values and communications to meet business and public health objectives.
Senior Account Executive
Carla Curle
MS
Senior Account Executive
Carla works at the intersection of sustainable food systems, policy and communications for her clients. Her expertise lies in developing scientific comments, high-impact stakeholder engagement strategies and science-based messaging to help meet business objectives and enable food systems transformation. The foods most often on Carla’s mind are Pad Thai, nectarines, and goat cheese.
Director
Jean Curran
RD
Director
Jean loves to be at the leading edge of nutrition news and trends. She develops science-based communication resources for health and wellness professionals, manages key opinion leader relationships and activities and implements nutrition education programs. The foods most often on Jean’s mind are falafels, French fries, and anything with cheese.
Senior Director, Lead: Stakeholder & Influencer 2.0 Platform
Chelsea Elkin
MS, RD, CDN
Senior Director, Lead: Stakeholder & Influencer 2.0 Platform
Chelsea’s areas of expertise include nutrition research translation and content development, healthcare professional programming and engagement, traditional media relations, social and digital media, event management and nutrition influencer relationship building. She has extensive experience building and leading influencer networks and expert advisory boards for her clients and is passionate about mentoring emerging media registered dietitians. The foods most often on Chelsea’s mind are sushi, pasta, and an Oregon Pinot Noir.
Senior Vice President
Bree Flammini
Senior Vice President
Bree’s areas of expertise include strategic program planning, health influencer education and outreach, nutrition media relations and issues management. Specifically, she has extensive experience working with clients on their nutrition research programs and promoting published results to health professional audiences. The foods most often on Bree’s mind are sushi, oysters, and cheese.
Senior Director
Laurie Hainley
MS, RD
Senior Director
Laurie’s expertise is in food and nutrition affairs, nutrition analysis and scientific communications. She enjoys using a combination of nutrition expertise and personal creativity to provide delicious recipes and practical health-focused tips to consumers, while staying up to date on nutrition policy and providing evidence-based nutrition guidance to a variety of clients. The foods most often on Laurie’s mind are coffee, Fuji apples and all things dark chocolate.
Senior Director, Lead: Healthy, Sustainable Food Systems Platform
Lauren Hoffman
MBA, RD
Senior Director, Lead: Healthy, Sustainable Food Systems Platform
Lauren helps her clients translate the latest research into meaningful campaigns for health professional, thought leader and consumer groups. Her expertise includes building influencer engagement programs, event management, nutrition content development, and research communication and strategic outreach. The foods most often on Lauren’s mind are tacos, champagne, and brussels sprouts.
Account Executive
Tracee Hume
MS, RDN
Account Executive
As a registered dietitian, Tracee uses both the left and right sides of her brain to translate complex food and nutrition science, policy, and market insights into compelling content for her clients. The foods most often on Tracee’s mind are fresh pasta, tomatoes from her home garden, and chocolate.
Account Supervisor
Maura Killian
RD
Account Supervisor
Maura stays attuned to the latest developments in nutrition and food policy. She applies her industry knowledge and expertise in communications, nutrition science and public affairs to support several clients. The foods most often on Maura’s mind are hot tea and fresh scones.
Director
Jenn LaVardera
MS, RD, CDN
Director
Jenn LaVardera is a registered dietitian and strategic nutrition communicator with expertise in translating complex nutrition science and policy for both consumer and professional audiences. Jenn proudly holds degrees in nutrition from Pepperdine and Tufts. The foods most often on Jenn’s mind are pasta, broccoli rabe and carrot cake.
Vice President, Lead: Food is Medicine & Precision Nutrition
Maya Maroto
EdD, MPH, RDN
Vice President, Lead: Food is Medicine & Precision Nutrition
Maya is involved in managing strategic health professional and thought leader partnerships, and developing proactive communications and issues management strategies for clients. She is passionate about translating evidence-based nutrition science into understandable and actionable messages for consumers. Her background and expertise lie in federal nutrition policy, plain-language communication, consumer-focused research and health equity. In her previous roles, Maya worked on award-winning food and nutrition outreach projects at USDA and FDA, served as a leader at a national food equity nonprofit, and spent many years in academia. Maya received her doctorate in educational leadership from Morgan State University and her master’s degree in public health nutrition from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She holds a bachelor’s degree in nutrition and food science from Auburn University and is also a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN).
Senior Vice President, Director of Global ExpertBench, Lead: Global Scientific Affairs & Communications Platform
Allison Mikita
MS
Senior Vice President, Director of Global ExpertBench, Lead: Global Scientific Affairs & Communications Platform
Allison has experience in developing, implementing, and managing health and nutrition-related communications and marketing programs for international health professionals, thought leaders, and food and beverage industry audiences. She has a science background and a passion for writing, enabling her to “translate the science” through engaging communications for a variety of audiences. The foods most often on Allison’s mind are wine, freshly baked bread and good cheese.
Director
Caitlin Mondelli
MS, RDN
Director
Caitlin is passionate about translating nutrition science and navigating the food and nutrition affairs environment to develop strategies and programs that ultimately help people achieve a healthy lifestyle. Her expertise includes influencer and health professional engagement, event management, nutrition content development, and nutrition research communications and strategic outreach. The foods most often on Caitlin’s mind are xiao long baos, beef burgers and cheese.
Senior Account Executive
Nancy Morgan
MS, RD
Senior Account Executive
Nancy is an account executive and registered dietitian at FoodMinds, a division of Padilla. In her current role, Nancy applies her knowledge of the latest developments in nutrition science, food policy and market research insights to develop compelling content and results-driven program strategy for her clients.
Senior Analyst
Rebecka Palmquist
MS, RD
Senior Analyst
Rebecka translates primary and secondary research into stories that guide strategy and provide content for communication materials tailored to a variety of audiences – from consumers to industry leaders. Through thoughtful design, implementation, and analysis of market research studies, she enjoys uncovering meaningful insights that help answer clients’ most pressing questions. The foods most often on Rebecka’s mind are chocolate chip cookies, vegetable biryani and honey lavender lattes.
Account Supervisor
Katie Pawelczyk
MS, RD
Account Supervisor
Katie’s experience spans social media and consumer education content development, stakeholder outreach programs and translation of science to consumer messaging and educational materials. She helps to support the integration and execution of multifaceted strategic communications programs for a variety of clients. Although nearly impossible to choose, the foods most often on Katie’s mind are burrata, bold red wine and pickled vegetables.
Senior Account Executive
Maggie Peeke
MS, RDN
Senior Account Executive
Maggie comes to FoodMinds with over 10 years of marketing communications, nutrition and consumer packaged goods (CPG) experience. Prior to joining the firm, Maggie worked in Boston for agencies spanning work across various industries before going back to school to become a registered dietitian nutritionist and getting her master’s in nutrition. She comes to FoodMinds from a CPG company where she helped with health claims, sports nutrition guidelines and new product development. Maggie received her B.A. from Dickinson college, her B.S. from NYU and master’s degree at Simmons University.
Senior Vice President, Strategic Insights
Grant Prentice
Senior Vice President, Strategic Insights
Grant specializes in strategic marketing and market research and has extensive experience in building marketing and issues management programs that utilize nutrition and agricultural science-based intellectual property. He works with clients to develop strategies for the commercialization of intellectual property and conduct a range of marketing research projects. Grant is very passionate about all forms and types of food, so rarely is eating not on his mind.
Account Supervisor
Lindsay Tuck
MPH
Account Supervisor
Lindsay is a master of public health with a focus on all things nutrition. Following three and a half years working in the health advertising industry, she decided to go back to school in September of 2020 to pursue her MPH-Public Health Nutrition at New York University. During her time at NYU, she completed a year-long internship in nutrition communications. She also worked as a research assistant at the Socioeconomic Evaluation of Dietary Decisions (SEED) lab, which aims to combat obesity, reduce health disparities, and impact international and domestic food policy by informing policymakers and organizations in the U.S. and global communities with empirically supported guidance on improving the world’s diet.
Administrative and Operations Specialist
Alice Vaught
Administrative and Operations Specialist
Alice can be found taking care of every detail needed to ensure the office is running smoothly, from getting staff the office equipment they need to making sure guests have an enjoyable visit. When she’s not managing the office, Alice jumps in to assist the account teams on special projects including social media management and event coordination. The foods most often on Alice’s mind are chocolate, chocolate, and chocolate.
Events Manager
Sherry Watkins
Events Manager
Sherry is an expert at managing advisory panel meetings, summits, receptions, and numerous client events for FoodMinds. From behind-the-scenes meeting planning to helping clients build and staff exhibit booths, Sherry can be found executing every detail. Her passion and attention to detail for her work is reflected in the client’s successful events. The foods most often on Sherry’s mind are beef tenderloin with Gorgonzola sauce, accompanied by roasted brussels sprouts and a baked potato.
Senior Account Executive
Sarah Weyers
PhD, RD, CAPM
Senior Account Executive
Sarah is involved in managing strategic health professional and thought leader partnerships, and developing proactive communications and issues management strategies for clients. She is passionate about translating evidence-based nutrition science into understandable and relatable messages for consumers. Her background and expertise lie in medical writing, scientific communications and behavioral nutrition, which is the interplay between biology, environment and human eating behavior.