Rising up in rural Colorado, Jamie Orth was all the time attuned to the place meals comes from, but it surely wasn’t till school that she found the wide range of merchandise out there in numerous grocery shops and pure meals chains.
“I used to be fascinated with the range and the standard of the merchandise, which sparked a deep curiosity and keenness for pure client merchandise, significantly within the meals and beverage area,” mentioned Orth.
After spending 4 years in one other trade, Orth’s ardour for vitamin led her to enroll within the new, first-of-its-kind Pure & Natural MBA Pathway at CU Boulder’s Leeds College of Enterprise in fall 2021.

“After studying extra about organics and the advantages they provide individuals and the planet, I knew this was the path I wished to take my profession,” Orth mentioned.
The expansion of the pure and natural trade has been swift in claiming its share of {the marketplace}. Gross sales are projected to surpass $300 billion by 2023 and $400 billion by 2030, based on the Vitamin Enterprise Journal.
On the epicenter of the motion is Boulder, with the most important focus of pure and natural merchandise corporations within the nation, based on the Worldwide Federation of Natural Agriculture Actions. Boulder can be residence to one of many nation’s foremost enterprise faculties: CU Boulder’s Leeds College of Enterprise and its well-known MBA program, which ranks thirty eighth within the nation.
At that intersection, an thought was born: What if Boulder may turn into the place the place future trade leaders are made?
“We knew so many college students had been enthusiastic about sustainability however didn’t know how you can direct their curiosity right into a profession,” mentioned Julie Waggoner, director of operations at Leed’s Middle for Ethics and Social Accountability (CESR). “And that’s the place we received the concept to create an MBA pathway for the pure and organics sector.”
To construct an unparalleled program that might assist launch MBA college students into the pure and organics sector, Waggoner and Kristi Ryujin, affiliate dean for graduate applications and particular assistant to the dean for School Range, Fairness, and Inclusion at Leeds, enlisted the assistance of former Kraft and Complete Meals advertising pro-turned-MBA teacher Heather Kennedy.
For practically a yr, the trio labored collectively to construct out what this system would appear to be. In fall 2019, it was time to show the pathway may match into the Leeds MBA program. Kennedy launched a bootcamp occasion to gauge curiosity.
1 / 4 of the Leeds MBA class signed up.

“Immediately’s MBA scholar needs a profession centered on greater than growing the underside line,” Kennedy mentioned. “The truth that 1 / 4 of our college students signed up for the Pure & Natural Bootcamp exhibits their dedication to working with mission-driven corporations that care about their prospects, the setting, their staff and their group.”
After the bootcamp’s success, this system began to take the form of the pathway it’s as we speak. To this point, 44 college students have enrolled.
Leeds pathways are units of urged programs and applications college students can take to hone particular expertise and connections to a specific trade.
The brand new pure and natural pathway is concentrated on giving college students conventional MBA data they will apply to an trade that after appeared askew at something “customary.”
“This trade wants people who find themselves skilled in customary enterprise expertise that apply to client packaged items, however with an natural mindset,” mentioned Kennedy.
A lot of that want is because of elevated curiosity in pure and organic foods. {The marketplace} is turning into way more aggressive.
Elevated competitors additionally calls for brand spanking new, recent expertise. Doug Radi, CEO of Boulder-based Good Karma Meals, sees the addition of the Leeds pathway as a win for college kids and for corporations that may make use of them.
“As an organization, we get entry to top-tier and passionate up-and-coming MBA expertise,” mentioned Radi, who began working with the pathway program because it developed. “We additionally get to be a accomplice and assist mentor this expertise whereas they’re in enterprise faculty, creating long-lasting relationships and affect on the longer term leaders of our trade.”
It’s that direct entry to corporations like Good Karma Meals that attracted Orth to enroll in this system at Leeds.

“As a profession switcher, I understood how essential it’s to type relationships within the trade whereas I’m a scholar,” Orth mentioned. “Boulder is teeming with exercise on this trade, and CESR has performed an ideal job establishing sturdy connections with the local people to behave as a bridge for college kids.”
In her first yr of this system, Orth has already been capable of take part in a number of the co-curricular alternatives this system has to supply and has gotten linked with Naturally Boulder, a nonprofit centered on enhancing the pure and natural merchandise trade within the state.
Orth continues to be exploring what the trade has to supply and plans to pursue model supervisor positions at client packaged items companies when she graduates. She hopes to handle, develop and launch manufacturers within the pure and natural area to extend the attain and adoption of those merchandise amongst customers.
“I really like that this pathway gives courses tailor-made to the trade and that I’m placing my tuition {dollars} straight towards the profession path I’m aiming for,” Orth mentioned.