Robert U. Craven is well-known for building award-winning, high-integrity products, brands, and businesses and for being deeply focused on making a difference in the lives of other people.

The former CEO of MegaFood and Garden of Life has successfully worked with entrepreneurs, private equity, and large CPG companies to facilitate rapid and profitable growth. In addition to delivering high-growth results, Robert advocates for transparency, innovation, and building award-winning cultures.

As CEO, Rob has:

• Grown a leading supplement company from $15 to $65 Million in 3 years – #14 on Inc 500 Fastest Growing List
• Grown a second, leading supplement company from $11 to $60 Million in 6 years
• Led the company named Best Company to Work for in New Hampshire in 2018 by Business New Hampshire Magazine
• Led the sale of the company from Private Equity to a large Strategic investor for the largest multiple of equity in the industry at that time
• Grown a third, organic ingredients company from $10 to $25 Million, growing EBITDA by 5x, in three years
• Been voted Top Conscious Business Leader in 2018 by Conscious Company Media
• Received the 2014 Nutrition Business Journal award for Management

Rob is also co-founder and Managing Partner of Findaway Adventures - a hands-on growth services & angel investment platform. Findaway Adventures exists to improve the world by providing more opportunity for young, change-the-world companies and their founders. The firm brings money, strategy, and expertise to help accelerate impact-minded companies.

Rob is also a certified 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership coach. Learn more about the 15 commitments at conscious.is.

Hi, I’m James, founder of Pluck.

At Pluck, we’re all about organ meats, yet not just any organ meats. Quality is everything when eating any part of an animal. We define quality as grass-fed, grass-finished, humanely treated, pasture-raised animals raised with no GMOs or hormones. “As close to nature as possible” is what I say.

There’s a lot of what is wrong in our current agricultural systems, but more and more farms are pivoting to what is right: Regenerative Agriculture. With diverse crop coverage and no tilling we can change not only the food produced on these farms but our health as well. We are what we eat AND what we eat eats.

Ancestral principles of “like supports like” and nose-to-tail eating drive our mission at Pluck. We are missing out on the whole animal benefits when we only eat muscle meat. Pluck is the perfect gateway into eating organs because it doesn’t taste like organ meat. What you taste is the savory, deliciousness of Umami (the fifth taste). Eating organs support the health of your organs. Even better, organs contain bioavailable nutrients which means you get more “bang-for-your-buck” because your body can recognize and absorb these essential vitamins and nutrients.

Look, I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t eat organ meats as a kid.

I was the pickiest of picky eaters.

I didn’t eat my first taco until college. When I say that I had a PB&J sandwich for lunch daily between the ages of 5 and 15…I’m not joking. Growing up, we basically ate the same 4 or 5 home-cooked meals every week. Fridays were pizza night out and Sundays were Chinese food ordered in.

As a child of the 70s, I grew up eating fast food, frozen vegetables, and when microwaves started becoming vogue, microwave meals, particularly popcorn. My father owned a grocery store so we had access to lots of common foods and snacks, most of all, candy!

I understand picky eating and more importantly, I understand the human need for comfort food.

In fact, I’ve spent the last 20+ years as a professional chef focused on making comfort foods healthy without sacrificing taste. I’ve cooked for celebrities, musicians, and billionaires, but it was becoming a father that forced me to go deeper in my exploration of functional food.

At the age of two, my youngest daughter was afflicted with the life-threatening Shiga toxin. I had left town for work thinking she was on the road to recovering only to return to her looking like skin and bones. It was a truly frightening time where my wife and I struggled to get nutrients into her.

Fortunately, she survived and is a vibrant, healthy child but the experience left me wanting to create a functional food product that anyone could eat and benefit from without requiring them to adopt new habits or step outside of their comfort zone.

That’s what Pluck is all about. Nutrition in a pinch. No need to adopt new habits, simply use Pluck instead of salt and pepper and turn everything into a nutrient-rich, bio-available superfood.

Endothelial health refers to the well-being of the endothelium, the thin layer of cells lining the interior surface of blood vessels. This layer plays a crucial role in vascular function, including regulating blood flow, preventing clotting, and maintaining the balance of substances between the bloodstream and surrounding tissues.

Maintaining endothelial health is vital for longevity as it ensures optimal blood circulation, reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases, and supports overall vascular function. Healthy endothelium helps prevent atherosclerosis, hypertension, and other conditions that can lead to heart attacks, strokes, and other serious health issues. Through lifestyle choices like a balanced diet, regular exercise, and stress management, one can promote endothelial health and enhance longevity.

Dr. Troy Jackson loves his role as a family medicine physician to develop lasting relationships with his patients while encouraging and guiding them along their journey to a better self. He has a particular interest in genomics-based personalized medicine, but Dr. Jackson finds all aspects of primary care fascinating. After growing up in central Mississippi and attending The University of Mississippi for both his undergraduate and medical school educations, Dr. Jackson completed his family medicine residency at the MAHEC Family Medicine Residency Program here in Asheville, NC.