Not All Protein Drinks Are Created Equal

Guest Bio: Kelli Rooney, CEO of Kura

Kelli Rooney is the Chief Executive Officer of Kura, a U.S. company with roots in New Zealand. Kura is capturing the power of innovation, nutrition science and the most distinctive, sustainably sourced global ingredients to bring delicious, creative and complete nutrition to homes for use in every stage of life.

Rooney joined Kura in 2016 to lead the company’s journey of “Farm to Shaker: Goodness In is Goodness Out, establishing a culture focused on people, products and the planet. She anticipates triple-digit growth over the next two years as Kura builds its sales, distribution and innovation pipeline, becoming a recognized thought leader in the evolving organic, natural, wellness and preventive nutrition category.

Insightful innovation and exponential category growth is a given with Rooney’s more than 20-year professional track record. Having held a number of senior management positions in sales and finance, she was most recently senior vice president of sales and business development for New Chapter, a respected formulator, producer, packager and distributor of whole-food cultured nutrients and herbal formulations.

Over the past 18 years at New Chapter, Rooney contributed to revenue growth from $1.7 million to more than $100 million, driving New Chapter to the position of market leader in the natural products industry according to SPINS, a leading provider of retail consumer insights and analytics for the natural, organic and specialty industry. Rooney successfully introduced several significant product launches, all sourced from the highest quality natural, sustainably harvested international ingredients. She was central to the company’s mergers and acquisitions team and the 2012 acquisition of the brand by Procter & Gamble, the largest CPG company in the world.

Rooney believes while anyone can launch a new product, authentic leadership at Kura encompasses creating something measurably different, delivered to the marketplace at the right time, that provides a better, cleaner solution to nutrition for the family and its individual members. Staying true to doing the right thing is a core belief for her and the company.

An avid cook, skier and outdoorsperson, Rooney is a native of Vermont, who lived and studied in Northern California in her late teens and 20’s, and now resides in New Hampshire. Rooney’s career and family brought her back to New England, a perfect backdrop for her deep personal and professional commitment to a lifestyle of health and sustainability. Conscious of Kura’s dedication to the “nature of nature,” she too strives to eat mindfully, live nutritiously, and be her best health and wellness self. She is the guiding beacon to make sure that Kura always “walks-the-walk and talks the talk” as a brand and a company.

As a business leader, Rooney has been active in the support of executive growth for women. She is a lifetime member of the Worldwide Association of Female Professionals (WAoFP), an organization dedicated to empowering the advancement of women in business, and the Network of Executive Women (NEW).

Kura’s abiding respect for the planet extends from its New Zealand heritage of farming practices to its commitment to transparent, sustainable sourcing and humane animal welfare practices based on the Five Freedoms as defined by the World Organization for Animal Health. In addition to the company’s mission to provide clean, pure convenient nutrition, the company is embarking on a campaign against food waste and believes "ugly" fruits and vegetables can help solve world hunger.