Meet The Team
Our Team
Now’s not the time to be modest. You need the absolute best in the industry to grow your brand. You need someone you can trust and enjoy life with. Conveniently, that’s who we hire. Meet our team of CPG rockstars.
Leslie Godwin
Most importantly I am a mom to my incredible daughters, Dia, Aria, and Evie and a wife to my hubby, Brad. I have had the privilege to work with worldwide brands and best-in-class teams throughout my career with Nestle, Kellogg, Chobani and Hain Celestial. After college, I began my career as a sales rep with Nestle in the Sales Leadership Development program in Chicago. Although not easy, understanding retail on the ground floor was foundational for my career as it also fueled my passion for global brands.
From Chicago, I moved to Northwest Arkansas on the Nestle Walmart team to learn high level analytics and support an esteemed group of sales leaders. After this role, I was given a promotion to manage a team of 10 highly regarded reps for the Nestle Military business and call on regional DECA buyers in the central US. My career in sales taught me many skills, however, I was given the once in a lifetime offer to do Shopper Marketing with yet another phenomenal global company, where I got to develop programs that make mom’s life easier.
In my time with Kellogg, I was promoted to Sr. Shopper Marketing Manager on the Kellogg Walmart team. I then was invited to work for a product and brand that changed the yogurt category forever. At Chobani, I became a National Account Manager on the Walmart team and enjoyed selling a product I was passionate about! I also managed the entire island of Puerto Rico working with a distributor and led a huge piece of ecomm growth. My next three years was at Hain Celestial where I helped turn around the company by selling in 200,000+ PODs in Walmart.
My career is important, but I want balance and flexibility and that’s something no corporate company can truly offer. So that’s why I decided to go into business for myself, helping you!
Oh yeah… For fun, I love to be outside and active with my family, adventure the world with my husband, invest in kids by coaching volleyball, and constantly try new things!
Leah Ecker
Hello! I am a mom of 3 awesome kiddos, and the wife of a serial entrepreneur, none of whom ever let life get boring. I’ve lived in NWA most of my life and was raised in Walmart culture (my dad was an associate for 25+ years before he retired), and have loved retail from day 1. I love that every day is an opportunity to meet a consumer need and delight them with what we bring to the shelf. Pair that with my entrepreneurial nature, and supporting emerging brands at Walmart is a beautiful position to be in.
I started my retail career leading teams at Walmart HQ in pricing strategy and analytics, then merchandising, before transitioning into sales roles. My entire time at Walmart was in grocery, but when I left I managed the Nuk and Graco businesses at Newell brands so I’ve had the opportunity to manage hardlines businesses as well. As thankful as I am for that experience, my passion really lies in food, which is why after Newell Brands, I led the Takis team at Walmart for Barcel USA, where I had the opportunity to more than double their Walmart business in 2 years.
When I’m not working, I love to be doing anything active. I’m an avid crossfitter, traveler and foodie. I have Celiac, and learning how to live a GF lifestyle has inspired a lot of the love I have for food.
Rachel Robbins
Hi I'm Rachel!
I'm new here at GRG however not new to CPG. I have 15 years of experience in the industry across analytics, supply chain, category management, merchandising, strategy, and sales. I've been a merchant, a supplier and a broker/consultant.
I started my career in the outdoor living space and progressed to several roles across foods and consumables- all with a focus on Walmart and Sam’s Club. I have a deep understanding of category analytics, spending 4 years as a category advisor for Unilever. I most notably spent 6 years at Walmart across category management and as a merchandising director. During that time at Walmart, I collaborated with top CPG’s and co-created and launched over 10 exclusive brands- driving 3 years of consecutive sales and profit growth on a $2.8B business.
Most recently, I worked for a brand accelerator, channeling my desire to help emerging brands excel, driving an average +80% growth on brands I've partnered with.
I have a deep passion and talent for launching and supporting brands at Walmart and can't wait to help with yours.
In my free time, you'll find me hanging with my hubby Kirk and supporting my 4 kiddos with all their passions and hobbies.
Eva Kirksey
Hi there! I’m Eva and I am absolutely thrilled to be working alongside you, growing your company and your brands, and building a lasting partnership together with Walmart and Sam’s Club. Here’s a little about me and what drives me personally and professionally.
My family and Asian American heritage are an important part of my why. I relocated from Southern California to Northwest Arkansas in 2005 to work on Walmart with a CPG supplier. Like many before and after me, I expected to only stay for a few years to build my career. Life has a way of making unexpected, yet amazing, turns. Now my husband and I are raising 2 beautiful, strong-willed daughters. The weekdays during this season are as busy and full as you’d expect balancing dual careers, school age kiddos, fur babies, extracurriculars, all the things. So weekends are for disconnecting and reconnecting - walks, hiking, gardening, water fun, and just playing outside! Especially paired with yummy meals at our favorite restaurants!
I’ve had the honor of working in retail for 20 years, 19 of which were partnering to grow national brands and launch innovation at Newell Rubbermaid, Campbell Soup, Kellogg, and most recently, Ferrara. My journey started with 10 years in Walmart Category roles from Consultant to Advisor to leading a team, followed by Walmart Sales roles from owning the account to leading a team. I’ve had the incredible opportunity to impact 27 categories from HBA (Hair Accessories, Trial/Travel) to Food (Wet/Dry Soup, Italian/Mexican Sauce, Juice, Frozen Breakfast/Healthy Lifestyle, Cold/Hot Cereal, Portable Snacks/Bars, Salty Snacks, Fruit Snacks, Cookies/Crackers/OTG, Cones, Crusts, Baking) to H&W (Active Nutrition) to most recently, Confections (Take Home, Impulse, Seasonal).
- People and team: Relationships are the foundation and people working as teams make it happen
- Love for learning: Digging in to understand the “why” to build a great story
- Strategic mindset: Connecting the dots on the business, insights, and trends to deliver recommendations
- Creative selling: Identifying white spaces, then laying out a plan to chase the incremental growth
Nuria Rizzo
Nate Fehr
Hi I'm Nate!
I’m very excited to be joining the incredible team at GRG after 15 years of big CPG experience. I love to learn, grow, and take on a challenge. Throughout my career, I’ve had the immense privilege to represent some incredible products and partner with some of the best retailers in the world.
I started my career in the CPG foods space working for ConAgra Foods working on the Walmart business across snacks, refrigerated, and frozen portfolios, before moving into the home entertainment space with Warner Bros managing the theatrical business at Walmart.
In 2015 I shifted gears and moved out to Seattle to run Warner’s theatrical business at Amazon both physical and digital home entertainment. For the next 6 years across Warner Bros movies, Unilever’s beauty and personal care business, and Abbott’s pediatric nutrition business, I managed the Amazon account leading sales growth, Amazon Vendor Negotiations, and all the other things that come with leading a large e-commerce business.
In 2020, I returned to Bentonville to lead a part of the nutrition team at Abbott, covering both Walmart and Sam’s. Since returning, I have led a team ranging from 2-7 direct reports and with responsibility for $1.2 billion in revenue at Walmart. During this time, we weathered massive industry challenges in infant formula, explosive growth of electrolytes categories, forged strong relationships with Walmart, negotiated unprecedented JBP agreements, and delivered best-in-class results. All of this while developing an incredible team of talented account personnel and more importantly, good people.
I love a challenge and learning new things and have tremendous respect for Walmart and Sam’s focus and vision. I love finding ways to partner with this incredible retailer to meet the customer’s needs. I am very excited to get to partner with amazing brands whose purpose, product quality, and proposition to consumers are clear and meaningful. I am so excited to help you launch and thrive at Walmart and Sam’s!
In my free time, you’ll find me playing basketball with my kids, mountain biking with my buddies, reading a good book, or enjoying a good cup of coffee with my friends. I get to support my wife in balancing her work and our kids and it is my highest calling to be an intentional dad and husband, who navigates balancing vocation, passion, and my people as I look to make a positive impact on the community around me.