Key Personnel

Mark Finocchio

President

Graduate of William Paterson University with a B.A. in Business Administration and minor in Economics, Mark began his career in the Specialty Food business as a sales representative with Anco Foods in 1984. After advancing within Anco based in Fairfield, New Jersey, he was promoted to the position of General Manager of Anco’s Florida Division in 1990.

In 1997, after Schratters’ acquisition of Anco Foods, Mark remained with the company as Vice-President and General Manager, expanding distribution into the Southeast United States.

Mark Finocchio joined the Dick Garber Co. in January, 2001 as Executive Vice President, responsible for principal and market development. In January of 2003, Mark acquired the company from Dick Garber. On March 20, 2009 Mark moved the company to their new corporate office in Coconut Creek, Florida. At this time he also changed the name to Pinnacle Food Sales.

Linda Rivera

Human Resource Coordinator / Office Manager

Linda joined the Pinnacle Food Sales family in 2006. Having graduated Cum Laude with an Associates Degree in Business Administration from Inter American University of Puerto Rico, Linda brings to our organization over 15 years of experience in the retail / customer service environment. This experience has proved to be a great value for our organization in many ways. Her primary role is that of Human Resource Coordinator responsible for all areas of Human Resource to include but not limited to processing of payroll, administration of benefit(s), and communication of policies and procedures to all Pinnacle Food Sales associates. Linda is also the office manager of our corporate office with customer service reporting to her. Her bi-lingual skills (reads, writes, and speaks Spanish fluently) are a plus, and align themselves well with our export business and local market.

Connor Finocchio

DIRECTOR BUSINESS DEVELEOPMENT

Graduate of New York University with a B.A. in Business and Organizational Leadership. Connor began his career with Pinnacle back in 2014 as a merchandiser prior to enrolling at NYU. While attending college Connor worked as a Merchandising Coordinator with Yumami Foods gaining experience in business development and brand strategy. Following his graduation from NYU in 2018 Connor accepted a role at Sartori Cheese as a Retail Sales Representative. In 2021 Connor was promoted to an Area Sales Manager for Sartori focusing on working with distributors, major retailers, and managed Sartori’s e-commerce business for the Northeast Sales Division. Connor won a National Championship playing defense for the NYU Hockey team in 2017. He enjoys golf, travel, & trying new cuisines. We are excited to bring Connor’s energy & experience to our Pinnacle Team!

Rhonda Lee

VP PINNACLE GA

Rhonda comes to us with over 28 years of Consumer Package Goods experience specializing in account management, category management, ecommerce and sales and marketing operations. Rhonda started her CPG career in 1994 with Cross Mark in Tampa, Florida where she began as sales representative. She was promoted to an in-house space management analyst for Publix and then into category analysis. Rhonda went on to work for major manufacturers, including Nabisco, Pillsbury, Unilever Best foods and Kodak.  Rhonda worked several years as a Category Management Advisor for retailers, manufacturers, and brokers before returning fulltime to the broker business in 2021. Over her career she has called on key retailers and distributors, including Publix, Kroger, Walmart/Sam’s, Amazon, Target, GFI and KeHE. Rhonda resides in Gainesville, GA.

Joe Conway

Executive Vice President

Joe officially joined our family in September 2017, and holds the position of Executive Vice President –  Publix working out of our Tampa office.  Joe has close to 35 years’ experience in the food industry, and for the majority of those years he has been calling on Publix. Joe has held multiple positions with different organizations to include broker, distributor, and manufacturer representative. In 2007, Joe joined the KeHE organization as an Account Executive calling on Publix. Joe was responsible for new product presentations, as well as line extensions across multiple categories and successfully spearheaded the launch, and retail execution of a new beer and wine category through KeHE at Publix. In 2013, Joe left the KeHE organization and accepted a position on the brokerage side of the business where he continued to call on Publix, along with additional retailers in the Southeast market. He has built relationships with multiple distributors to include KeHE and UNFI, as well as strong direct contacts with buyers at headquarter levels in multiple accounts. Joe has exceptional interpersonal skills, and is well versed in category analysis. He attended Penn State University and holds a BA in Journalism / Broadcast News. Joe and his wife Linda reside in the Wesley Chapel area, and they have two grown children Sean, and Chris. Joe enjoys golf, and playing the guitar in his spare time, and his “fall season” passion is Penn State football.

Andrew Wright

Vice President

Graduate of Florida State University with a B.A. in Marketing and Real Estate with a minor in Entrepreneurship, Andrew began his career as an LDP at Acosta. There he learned the CPG industry from the ground floor up through Retail, Analytics and ultimately ending in sales calling directly on Publix. Andrew then went on to become a Regional Account Manager for Biocodex and called directly on retailers around the entire USA. There he added 18 brand new business retailers by cold calling within his first 2 years. He then became a National Account Manager and directly called on all major Food/Mass, Club, Drug, E-commerce and Military channels for the entire country. Andrew is skilled in categories around the entire grocery store by being well versed in Nielsen, IRI, creating new item sell in presentations and innovation launches. Andrew is also an officer for the Florida GMR which has been an integral part of the Florida CPG community for 65 years and counting. Lastly, Andrew played football at FSU and was on the 2013 National Championship winning team. He enjoys trying new things, travel, fitness and spending time with his wife Erin and two dogs Odin and Freya.

Emily Finocchio

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING

Graduate of Lynn University with a B.S. and an M.B.A. in Marketing. Emily began her career with a Graduate Assistant position at the Marketing Department for Lynn University from 2019 to 2020. While there, she worked with the digital content team, optimizing content for their website and social media platforms. The position focused on creating, publishing, distributing, and tracking the relevant and valuable content for their target audiences. She has since joined Pinnacle Food Sales in January 2021 as Marketing Director. Emily is responsible for planning, directing, and coordinating marketing efforts for Pinnacle Food Sales. Through this position, Emily will assist in growing the Pinnacle Food Sales brand name.

Alex Stout

Sr. Account Executive

Alex is a graduate of Florida Gulf Coast University with a BS in Resort and Hospitality Management.  He has worked in the CPG industry with Sherwin Williams calling on large retailers such as Lowe’s.  Alex participated in the Sherwin Williams Leadership Development Program where he honed skills in category management, data analysis, and presentation building techniques. He has worked both in the retail trade in addition to calling on chain headquarters, and during his time at Sherwin Williams he was promoted three times in four years.

Fran Huff

Account Executive

Fran began her career in the food industry as a demonstrator during the early 1980’s. In 1985, Fran joined the Dick Garber Co. in Florida as a Retail Sales Representative.