Management Team

Mr. Cunningham is a passionate brand builder and business leader with over 25 years of CPG and Health & Wellness marketing and sales experience across a range of corporate environments and categories including accelerating growth within multinationals, brand turnarounds and high value exits in the private equity business for the likes of KKR & Co. Inc. Most recently, Mr. Cunningham was CEO of 1440 Foods, a sports and active nutrition company, and prior to that was General Manager at the Bountiful Company, an American dietary supplements company. From 2006 to 2013, Mr. Cunningham held various positions at MARS Petcare, owner of several health and nutrition pet food brands.

Donald Young joins The Better Choice Company with more than 29 years of experience leading the sales organizations of several prominent pet specialty pet food brands including The Nutro Company (Natural Choice, MAX, and Greenies Brands) and Merrick Pet Care, Inc. (Merrick, Backcountry, Purrfect Bistro and Fresh Kisses Brands). Following his success at The Nutro Company, Mr. Young led the turnaround and expansion of Merrick Pet Care’s Pet Specialty business from 2010 – 2020, where he was directly responsible for growing the company from a niche brand to the #3 natural player in the pet specialty retail channel. Merrick Pet Care more than quadrupled its sales during this period, surpassing $500m in the process and ultimately leading to the sale of Merrick Pet Care to the Nestle Purina Company. Donald has also been recognized by his peers in the Pet Industry for his track record of success, winning numerous sales awards throughout his career including recognition as one of Pet Age Magazine’s 2019 ICON Winners.

Jennifer Condon joins Better Choice Company from Mizkan America, where she was the head of E-Commerce and Shopper Marketing for brands including Ragu, Bertolli, Nakano and Holland House. From 2014 – 2019, Jennifer led Merrick Pet Care’s E-Commerce sales platform and was directly responsible for increasing online sales to $130 million in 2019, representing a 30% CAGR over five years. In addition to her work directly with E-Commerce retailers such as Amazon and Chewy, Jennifer has experience building her own direct-to-consumer business and was instrumental in the development of Lands’ End.com. Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Ryan Wilson is a consumer products marketing leader with over 13 years of experience in the consumer-packaged goods industry, having previously worked for Merrick Pet Care, Abbott Nutrition, Nestle Purina, and Kimberly-Clark. Ryan’s recent successes at Merrick Pet Care include turning around a declining Zukes brand, launching Merrick Fresh Kisses, and doubling the profitability of Castor & Pollux. Ryan has been recognized for his success by industry peers and received the 2018 Pet Age Vanguard Series Award for Leaders in the Pet Industry. Ryan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing and a Master of Business Administration in Brand and Product Management from The University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Alex Vournas is a highly accomplished Supply Chain professional who most recently was the Director of Supply Chain at Solid Gold Pet LLC, where he oversaw global distribution and logistics and was responsible for managing multiple international and domestic co-manufactures and warehouses, outsourced transportation and ordering logistics. Among many other accomplishments, Alex was responsible for managing the logistics related to the company’s significant expansion into Asia, which culminated in a sale of the business to Hong Kong based H&H Group in November 2020. In addition to his experience at Solid Gold, Alex has been a Supply Chain Director at various companies for over 10 years, including Anheuser-Busch and Sara Lee. Alex Vournas holds a Master of Business Administration in Management from St. Louis University.