Our team

Jim Thorne is currently President of Nourish Ventures and Senior Vice President of Partnerships and Strategy for Griffith Foods Worldwide Inc. based in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to the leadership role, Jim was the Vice President, General Manager for Griffith Foods Canada from November 2014 to October 2017, and Senior Vice President of Global Strategy and Marketing for Griffith Foods Worldwide Inc. from October 2017 to October 2020.
Jim has over 30 years of experience in the food industry. With an MBA from Queen’s University Canada, Jim has worked for Nabisco, Campbell Soup, and Maple Leaf Foods in a variety of marketing, sales, and general management leadership roles. Prior to joining Griffith Foods in 2014, Jim was President and CEO of Marsan Foods based in Toronto Canada.

Simon brings a wealth of experience in the food, beverage, and household product industries and loves identifying and investing in exciting ideas that capitalize on emerging trends. Prior to joining Nourish Ventures, Simon was managing director of eighteen94 capital, Kellogg Company’s venture capital firm, where he led the investment process, nurtured relationships with partners, and served as a member of the board for companies in the portfolio.

Prior to that, he held investment management positions at Norges Bank Investment Management in London, JP Morgan Chase, and Banc of America Capital Management.

Simon holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from King College and an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis. In addition, he is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Subra has 20 years of food industry experience with CPG, food ingredient companies and fine dining restaurants from Canada, India & US. His expertise is in culinary, product development, strategic account management, project management & Lean start-up. Subra holds bachelor’s degrees in both Culinary Operations & Hospitality Management and an MBA from ThePowerMBA. Subra co-leads Global Alternative Protein Taskforce for Griffith Foods, focused on establishing Griffith Foods as leaders in taste & texture.

Greg has more than 10 years of industry experience working with products that are considered highly technical & novel. Greg holds a Bachelor of Science, Chemistry from Ball State University & a Master of Science, Food Science from Kansas State University. Greg has successfully commercialized multiple innovation platforms for Griffith Foods US. Greg is also a Certified Culinary Scientist and has passion to develop great tasting new products for his customers.

Chef Dennis pioneered Culinology at Griffith Foods, as the first Certified Research Chef with the company. He brings culinary creativity & food science knowledge to new product development. Chef Dennis graduated from Vladimir State Culinary College, Russia with Honors in 1988. Over the next decade, Chef Dennis mastered food operations in QSRs, Fast Casual & Fine Dining. His desire to learn led him to pursue his Bachelor of Food Science & Master’s in Business Management from University of Illinois. He has more than 20 years of food industry experience with global CPG, ingredient & flavor companies.

Toon gained his first industry experience working for Griffith Foods as a Snack Innovation Technologist. In that role he mastered Innovation Process Management. He successfully led the technical launch of several snack innovations in Europe. Toon holds a Bachelor of Science, Biochemistry from Thomas More College Geel & a Master of Science, Food Technology from University of Leuven. He is passionate about generating new product ideas, optimizing processes and leveraging new techniques to develop the food of the future.