ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joe Dobrow is a senior marketing executive, writer and lecturer.

During a richly varied 29-year career, he has helped to build three major natural food retail brands, and has had stints working in sports, media, non-profits, and the car-sharing industry. Dobrow has also taught MBA classes at UC Davis, Arizona State and Yale.

He has worked directly for some of the country’s most iconic business and sports executives – including AOL Co-Founder Steve Case, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr., Basketball Hall of Famer Dave Cowens, and legendary social marketer Carol Cone, founder of Cone Inc.

Somewhere along the way, Dobrow also became something of an unwitting expert on the realities of the “new economy” – having repeatedly been involved in the 21st Century boom-and-bust cycles of startups, turnarounds and mergers. He has been forced to lay off many people, and has been laid off himself. Four times.

He is a graduate of Brown University and the Yale School of Management. Some of his articles, stories, photos and broadcasts are available on his Product Of Our Times website. His book,
Natural Prophets - an entrepreneurial history of the natural foods industry - is being published by Rodale in early 2014.