Little
Noodle,
Big Mission

NOODLE-FESTO

A gooder noodle is only the beginning.

Sure, we make a gooder mac, but we’re out to celebrate gooders of all kinds: little things with big impact, random acts of kindness, moments of magic that pop up in the world every now and then: the petting-a-doggie, roller-skating-unicorn, and yes, tasty-bowl-of-mac stuff that makes us just feel…gooder.

These gooders are everywhere, making a tastier, kinder, happier world. At GOODLES, we’re shining a light on them and the people who make them happen. Join us!

Meet Our Leadership Team

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Jen Zeszut

CEO and Co-Founder

A 4x CEO and 3x founder, Jen loves taking companies from an idea to something real, big, and impactful -- fast. Her happy place is leading a band of mission-driven, exceedingly talented hooligans to achieve bold goals and extraordinary outcomes. Each of her companies has a few things in common: product innovation, category disruption, a passionate community, and branding that is beloved. As the team reminds her constantly, she is such an ENTJ.

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Paul Earle

Co-Founder and Board Director

Paul is an entrepreneur, recovering intrapreneur, startup advisor, writer, and educator. When he’s not using his noodle with us, Paul teaches MBA students and executives alike at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management in specialty areas of innovation, new ventures, and new brand creation, in addition to heading his own private practice. He has been published widely in a range of esteemed outlets. As a passionate believer in the magic of great teams and great brands, for Paul this a dream come true.

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Gal Gadot

Founding Partner

Actor. Producer. Philanthropist. Lifelong mac & cheese lover. Gal Gadot’s bold leap into the startup world is just an extension of what she always tries to do: make a positive impact on the planet. Shared values and a shared love of noodles make her the perfect teammate. Day-to-day, Gal touches everything from retailer relations, press and media relations, brand-building and business development to fundraising. And lots of taste-testing!

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Deb Luster

Chief Impact Officer, Founding Partner

Part of the founding team and first president of Annie’s Mac & Cheese! If anyone knows how to shake up an old industry, it’s Deb. Since Annie's, Deb is a 50-time healthy food innovator and the Founder of Churchill Brands. When she’s not doing little things with big impacts at GOODLES, she consults for and mentors entrepreneurs all over the globe in the areas of healthy food innovation and sustainability. Her laugh and smile are contagious!

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Molly Michet

Chief Product Officer, Head of R&D, Founding Partner

Molly has spent her entire career at the intersection of delicious and nutritious. She has developed and scaled so many legendary products over the years, but GOODLES is the most challenging by far, but also the most fun! Molly gets to play in her sprawling test kitchen in the Santa Cruz HQ office most every day, dreaming up what she’s going to make gooder next.

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Greg Peterson

Chief Operations Officer

Greg has over 30 years of experience in Quality, Food Safety, Operations and Supply Chain in the Consumer Packaged Goods industry. He’s produced everything from nut butters to ice cream to organic baby food. He has degrees from The University of Miami, Michigan State, and LSU. (Paul covets Greg’s LSU embroidered tiger jacket!) Little known fact: Greg is a “super taster” and has won awards for his dairy tasting skills!

Stacie

Stacie Hajduk

Chief Marketing Officer

Stacie has over 25 years of experience in Marketing, Brand Management, and Market Research in both retail and DTC. While most of her work has been in food and beverage, she has also worked in the video game industry and biotech. She has experience with prominent large consumer brands like Activision and Del Monte Foods and found her passion working at food startups including Plum Organics, Bonafide Provisions, Cerebelly, and more. Stacie has her MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Nate

Nate Lord

Chief Financial Officer

Although Nate started his career as a CPA at a Big 4 firm, his true passion was always in entrepreneurship. That’s why he left practicing as an accountant to join a boutique advisory and seed fund, helping start-ups and pre-revenue companies raise capital, formulate their business plans, and ultimately exit. For the last 10 years he’s followed another passion of his – better for you food – bringing his financial leadership to bear on the next generation of iconic food brands.

Jon

John Casey

Senior Vice President, Sales

John has a wealth of experience in CPG sales, spanning over 30 years. His journey from bagging groceries in 1992 to working with such well-known brands as Chobani, Altoids, Balance Bar, The Republic of Tea, Good Culture, and Barnana shows his extensive industry knowledge. He is most passionate about growing emerging brands and helping them enter conventional classes of trade. John holds an MBA in Marketing from Emory University.

WHERE WE'RE FROM

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GOODLES lives in a tiny corner of Santa Cruz, CA. You might even say GOODLES is a tiny corner of Santa Cruz, CA. The kindness, quirkiness and character of the place are in everything we do. Our food, our ‘tude, even our hues were born here: the most magical colors we could find in nature. That weird, wonderful, mischievous mash-up of the natural and supernatural is all GOODLES and could only come from here. Come say hello!
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Community Love

We know that making, doing and being gooder is hard when you’re worried about when you might eat next. Which is why we’re committed to giving away at least 1% of all the products we sell to organizations that address food insecurity. We’re excited to work first with our friends at World Central Kitchen!

World Central Kitchen (WCK) uses the power of food to nourish communities and strengthen economies in times of crisis and has created a new model for disaster response through its work helping devastated communities recover and establish resilient food systems. WCK has served more than 50 million fresh meals to people impacted by natural disasters and other crises around the world.

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