Jim Lacey

corporations, applying his skill in sales, marketing, and manufacturing and transforming existing brands into market leaders. Jim has also had many years of experience founding his own companies as an entrepreneur, working as a business consultant and as a leading snack food producer. James Lacey's Crunchies, and now Berry Sleepy can account for much of his professional success.

Jim Lacey’s Crunchies Food Company brand has been his biggest achievement. The Westlake Village, California-based company rose from humble origins to become an industry dominator under his expert leadership. Crunchies began as a small office-based operation in 2005. By 2014, the company was the top freeze-dried snack food business in the world, according to Nielson Research. They had gained distribution into many channels such as mass convenience, drug stores, club stores, natural food stores, the military, natural distributors, and independent natural food stores. Crunchies expanded its product offerings to 32 different fruit and vegetable snacks and operated a 17,000 square foot manufacturing and distribution center in California. Among his many roles as the company’s president and CEO, James oversaw daily operations and developed sales and marketing strategies to increase revenue. With the experience he gained at other international snack food and nutritional companies, he was able to handle contract negotiations, vendor sourcing, and licensing/trademark coordination. He eventually sold the company in 2015.

James Lacey, Westlake Village entrepreneur and successful business leader, received his education at California Polytechnic University in the city of San Luis Obispo. He earned a Bachelor’s degree at the University in 1981. In his schoolwork, he focused on business administration, with a concentration in marketing. This education helped prepare him for the daily challenges he would face throughout his career.

After finishing his undergraduate degree, he worked as a district supervisor for SmithKline Beecham, overseeing sales and accounts for the company’s Southern California territory. In 1986, he joined the team of Nestle, S.A. as the company’s western regional manager. Here, he managed a team of 66 sales managers and was instrumental in breathing new life into the firm’s sales and marketing operations, which were worth $71 million. He quickly earned a reputation as a consumer goods industry expert, able to streamline manufacturing operations and expand market penetration with innovative sales and marketing strategies.

James Lacey spent several years at companies specializing in sports nutrition, particularly Power Bar, Weider Nutrition International, and Everlast Nutritional Products. At each of these companies, Jim’s experience and leadership worked to transform operations. At Weider, Mr. Lacey was tapped to drive growth for the company. He managed a large team of sales and marketing associates, implementing sales and promotion initiatives for the company’s nutrition business units like Tiger’s Milk and Schiff Natural Vitamin Line. At Power Bar, he took over the company’s sales operations as the Vice President of sales. Here, he helped build the sales operations to a $104 million organization by targeting new market niches such as the military, club business, mass convenience, and foodservice sectors.

Today, his company Healthy Ventures, LLC works as international natural food “think tank”, helping other companies develop new products, revitalize existing product lines, and developing sales initiatives. Jim’s natural leadership abilities and his vast industry knowledge are ideal skills for consulting with companies across the globe as they expand operations.