Jessica Spanton
Director of R&D & QRC
Amplify Snack Brands
Jessica Spanton is the Director of R&D and QRC at Amplify Snack Brands, where she is responsible for leading the food safety culture and innovation for Amplify’ s entire portfolio of brands including: SkinnyPop Popcorn and Pirates Booty Brands. During her time at Amplify, Jessica led the expansion of SkinnyPop into three different food form categories. She has a passion for the better-for-you food category and has spent most of her career creating healthier food options for shelf stable brands. Jessica has over 16 years of development experience in both rapidly growing startups and established billion-dollar brands. Born and raised in Texas, Jessica has an undergraduate engineering degree from Texas A&M University and an Executive MBA from the University of Texas. She lives in Austin with her husband, David, and their two children Dean and Vanna.
Accelerating Innovation: What Emerging Brands Need to Get Growing
Although the nation’s COVID pandemic provided a boon to retail packaged foods, the past 18 months proved to be a particularly challenging time for smaller start-ups to bring new products to shelf. One ally in the fight is SKU, an Austin, Texas, product accelerator that supports smaller companies and provides 12-14 weeks of development and advice from industry mentors. Come hear SKU Chief Operating Officer Michelle Breyer lead a panel discussion about new product innovation and how small companies can get hit the ground running in 2022.