Julie Smolyansky became the youngest female CEO of a publicly held firm when she took over Lifeway Foods at the age of 27 in 2002. Since then, Julie has continued the company’s growth trajectory with creative product development and marketing, bringing an Eastern European product into the U.S. mainstream and boosting annual company revenues to over $120 million in 2017 from $12 million when she took over. Under her leadership, the Company has expanded distribution throughout the United States, Mexico, the UK, and Ireland as well as portions of Central and South America and the Caribbean. She has been named to Fortune Business ‘40 under 40,’ Fortune’s 55 Most Influential Women on Twitter and Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business 1000.
She is a graduate with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Julie serves as a member of the United Nations Foundation Global Entrepreneurs Council and was part of the 2015 class of Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum. She has produced several documentaries, including “The Homestretch,” “Honor Diaries" and “The Hunting Ground.” In 2013 Julie co‐founded a non‐profit, Test400k, an organization dedicated to advocating ending the backlog of 400,000 untested rape kits in the United States. She will release her first book, The Kefir Cookbook: An Ancient Healing Superfood for Modern Life, Recipes from My Family Table and Around the World in March of 2018. She lives in Chicago and is the mother of two girls.
Eric Hanson is Lifeway’s Chief Financial and Accounting Officer and Treasurer. He joined Lifeway as Controller in July 2016 and was promoted to Chief Accounting Officer in May 2018. Prior to joining Lifeway, Eric was Director of External Reporting for CPG International in Skokie, Illinois from 2014 through 2016; and Audit Manager for Deloitte and Touche in Chicago from 2012 through 2014. He also held various audit positions with Crowe Horwath from 2003 through 2012, and has over 20 years of accounting and financial reporting experience. Mr. Hanson holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Illinois.
Amy Feldman was appointed Lifeway’s Senior Executive Vice President of Sales in October 2018. Amy has spent over 20 years in the food industry building business, brands, and teams, specifically within the Fresh and Natural Foods arena. She brings a unique global view of the industry to Lifeway, which includes time spent on multiple sides of the business including working as a retailer, broker, distributor, and several high growth food brands selling across all channels of trade. Most recently from 2017-2018, Amy served as the Executive Vice President of Sales at Next Phase Enterprises, a club and mass channel food sales firm. From 2015 through 2017, Ms. Feldman was Vice President of Sales, Channel Development for Mondelez International’s Enjoy Life Foods subsidiary where she was responsible for developing strategy and introducing the brand through various trade channels such as Foodservice, E-commerce, Small Format, and International. Prior to joining Enjoy Life, Amy was the Vice President of Sales, Independent Grocery Channel for Chicago-based KeHE Distributors from 2011-2015. She began her career at Sara Lee and holds a Bachelor in Business Administration in Food Marketing from Western Michigan University, an MBA from Golden Gate University, and a Culinary Certificate from Kendall College.
Ludmila Smolyansky was appointed as a Director by the Board and unanimously elected as the Chairperson of the Board in November 2002. Ms. Smolyansky has been the founder and operator of several independent delicatessen, gourmet food distributorship businesses and imported food distributorships. Ms. Smolyansky has served as the company’s General Manager. Ms. Smolyansky retired as an employee of the company and continues to serve the company as its Chairman of the Board and as a consultant. Ms. Smolyansky brings many years of food industry experience to the board.
