Jamie Shepard, MBA

Senior innovation and consumer insights leader with 24+ years of experience translating complex consumer, sensory, and market data into high-impact strategy and growth across food, beverage & CPG. Known for building scalable research frameworks on an international scale, influencing executive decision-making, and leading cross-functional teams to bring consumer-validated products from concept through commercialization.

Founder & Principal Consultant at Sensory & Insights Studio (2025-02 – Present)

• Led consulting engagements across consumer insights, sensory research, innovation, and program leadership, including a Kinder’s Senior Manager Project Management assignment overseeing up to 80 concurrent projects and informing 10+ products.

Senior Manager, Innovation & All Alcohol Base Business at GALLO (formerly E&J GALLO WINERY) (2022-06 – 2023-05)

World’s largest wine company by volume with ~$5B in revenue and 130+ brands across wine, spirits, malt beverages, and RTDs, including High Noon, Barefoot, and Apothic

• Crafted a 5-year pipeline from 96+ validated product directions across global markets through segmentation, preference mapping, and competitive analysis, generating 25 consumer-validated growth opportunities (exceeding plan by 125%)
• Directed a 6-person research team whose insights informed decisions across 275+ stakeholders, establishing the team as the central data authority for product validation across a 150+ person winemaking organization
• Led rapid consumer validation to reposition High Noon into RTD seltzer beginning in 2018, guiding product and positioning decisions that supported its rise to the #1 spirits brand by volume by 2023
• Led U.S. adaptation of a Mexico-launched product for Latino consumers, leveraging rapid internal validation to optimize product and packaging, accelerate launch and drive projected 10% growth and multi-state expansion
• Partnered with executive leadership, including the CEO, in weekly decision forums, translating consumer insights into actions that shaped product, quality, and portfolio strategy
• Piloted AI-driven models linking consumer liking with formulation and sensory data, accelerating identification of high-potential concepts and expanding innovation pathways

Senior Manager, Innovation at GALLO (formerly E&J GALLO WINERY) (2020-01 – 2022-06)

World’s largest wine company by volume with ~$5B in revenue and 130+ brands across wine, spirits, malt beverages, and RTDs, including High Noon, Barefoot, and Apothic

• Directed development and evaluation of 1,000+ product prototypes over 2 years, generating 71 pipeline opportunities to exceed plan by 178% and enabling 40+ successful launches through consumer-led research & validation
• Led 15-20 large, multi-location studies annually, managing $2M-$3M in investment while accelerating timelines from 6 months to 3-4 months to speed decision-making and innovation cycles
• Created a quality monitoring and alert system that enabled early detection of off-style products, maintaining ~90% on-style performance and protecting brand integrity amid portfolio expansion
• Leveraged the quality system to build and deploy an enterprise-wide wine quality training program, standardizing evaluation methods and raising on-style performance across the portfolio to 95%
• Designed real-time product dashboards and data visualizations, increasing data accessibility and enabling teams to take on more work while accelerating decision speed across functions
• Created and scaled a structured onboarding and mentoring program, reducing time to proficiency by over 50% and enabling new hires to contribute independently within 3-6 months
• Analyzed 5+ years of sensory data to identify product drift in Apothic, enabling rapid rework and validation of the original profile to protect brand differentiation and consumer perception
• Led cross-functional teams across product, marketing, and R&D to align on innovation priorities, ensuring consumer insights were embedded into product development and commercialization decisions

Senior Sensory & Consumer Insight Manager at GALLO (formerly E&J GALLO WINERY) (2015-09 – 2020-01)

World’s largest wine company by volume with ~$5B in revenue and 130+ brands across wine, spirits, malt beverages, and RTDs, including High Noon, Barefoot, and Apothic

• Guided development of 20+ consumer-preferred products annually and supported launch of 4-6 new brands per year by embedding sensory and consumer insights into product design and validation
• Identified target consumer and validated product for Leftie Wine Co. through segmentation and integrated concept and product testing, enabling regional launch at Sprouts and expansion to national retail distribution
• Led consumer and sensory research and partnered with cross-functional teams to translate insights into innovation, renovation, and cost optimization strategies that improved product quality, competitiveness, and consumer preference
• Conducted structured ingredient validation, descriptive analysis, and preference mapping to strengthen product differentiation and support sustained category growth

Director Global Sensory & Behavior Science (SBS) Training & Knowledge Manager (FRANCE) at DANONE (2013-02 – 2015-09)

Global food and beverage leader with ~$31.5B in annual sales across 120+ countries; #1 worldwide in fresh dairy and plant-based foods & beverages, with brands including Activia, Oikos, Evian, Silk, and Nutricia

• Assembled and led a global sensory and consumer research training program across 15 countries, upskilling 20+ researchers and improving study quality, consistency, and execution across markets
• Delivered 360+ hours of annual training on advanced methodologies, enabling teams to independently design and execute high-impact research to support innovation and business decisions
• Developed a centralized knowledge management system, increasing accessibility of insights and standardizing best practices across global teams and product categories
• Led multi-market research initiatives in the Czech Republic, translating consumer insights into product and marketing improvements that drove 14% volume growth (Activia)
• Identified drivers of indulgence in Spain through exploratory research, informing product reformulation (Danette) that reduced ingredient costs and improved margins by 10% while maintaining consumer preference
• Mentored and developed 20+ global researchers through hands-on project leadership, improving capability in end-to-end research design, analysis, and storytelling across regions

Senior Product Development & Marketing Research/Sensory Manager (INDONESIA) at DANONE (2010-07 – 2013-02)

Global food and beverage leader with ~$31.5B in annual sales across 120+ countries; #1 worldwide in fresh dairy and plant-based foods & beverages, with brands including Activia, Oikos, Evian, Silk, and Nutricia

• Delivered $4M in incremental sales by leading consumer and sensory research to develop a healthier product that identified the ideal chocolate flavor profile and outperformed the long-standing chocolate milk category
• Constructed the company’s first consumer research capability in a no-budget environment by partnering with schools and negotiating exclusivity agreements with flavor suppliers to enable scalable insight generation
• Consolidated R&D operations into a single site, improving pilot plant efficiency by 25% while maintaining a 98% successful trial rate
• Conducted ethnographic and Central Location studies in remote markets, uncovering unmet needs that informed product design for lower-income consumer segments
• Piloted product development and sensory programs by coaching and mentoring teams across Southeast Asia, embedding consumer insights into formulation and launch strategies to improve product-market fit
• Established descriptive analysis panels in Singapore to support regional markets, enabling stronger competitive benchmarking and more informed product decisions

Sensory & Consumer Manager at Danone (2007-01 – 2010-07)

Fruit & Flavor Product Development Manager at Danone (2000-06 – 2007-01)

MBA in Marketing – University of Phoenix

BS in Nutrition – Texas Christian University