Kate Ruffing

For over 25 years, Kate Ruffing has been helping ignite business and brand growth across the food and beverage industries including fermented beverages (Beer, Wine, Distilled Spirits, Kombucha). She has also worked with agricultural companies (hops, apples, cherries) and wellness/supplement brands. She has held positions at Kraft Foods and Starbucks in Operations, R&D, Brand Management and Strategy and the former Chief Marketing Officer at Yakima Chief Hops. Kate is the founder and Chief Innovation Officer at Flashpoint Strategy.

As a dairy farmer’s daughter from Wisconsin, she has been close to the food business since birth and has spent her career helping shape the landscape of food and beverage innovation and has a proven track record for successful brand and product launches – many that consumers still enjoy today! With Flashpoint Strategy, she works with clients to help define their “start-up” and “jump-start” strategies with specific expertise in developing new products and brands from ideation to launch activation.

Kate was educated at University of Wisconsin – Madison in Meat & Animal Science (B.S.) and Food Chemistry (M.S.) and holds an M.B.A. from University of Chicago - Booth School of Business. She also has a Certificate in Behavioral Economics (aka. Nudge Marketing) from University of Chicago – Booth School of Business. Her roles have been in Operations/Production, R&D/Product Development, Brand Management, Marketing, Communications and Strategy Development.