Our Team

Leadership

Adam S. Levit, President and CEO

Adam has over 20 years experience in the Natural and Organic Food industry. He has held several leadership roles at the world’s largest Natural and Organic company, The Hain Celestial Group. These positions include Chief Sales Officer, SVP National Sales, General Manager – Snack Foods and VP of Retail Sales. During Adam’s tenure at Hain, he led Sales and Marketing efforts across all major channels of distribution including Natural, Grocery, Club, Mass, Food Service, Military and E-Commerce.

Velocity Sales Management was established to assist smaller manufacturers in navigating the relationships between brokers, distributors and retailers. Developing winning strategies and executing them efficiently has become Adam Levit’s trademark.

Denise Chmielewski, Vice President of Sales

Denise comes to Velocity Sales Management with over 25 years of CPG Industry experience in Sales, Category Management, Market Research and HR Team Development. The last 9 years she has managed an extensive Natural & Organic portfolio for the Hain-Celestial Group with Sales responsibilities for numerous retailers in the Midwest, Northeast and eCommerce. Prior to her career at Hain, she spent time at Pinnacle Foods as Team Director Target, Campbell Soup as Division Manager Midwest and Nielsen. She has worked closely with brokers, distributors, wholesaler and retailers across Grocery and Mass Channels. She has been successful building strong brand distribution as well as developing strong retail promotional and marketing programs to elevate new item/brand success. She is entrepreneurial by nature and thrives on bringing great products to the marketplace.

Denise lives in Woodbury, MN with her husband Chuck, 3 Children and 2 Dogs. She spends her spare time in hockey rinks or football stadiums, watching one daughter play hockey and the other cheer. On warm days in MN, she hikes with her husband and favorite lab Piper.

John E Salce II, Vice President of Sales

With more than 25 years of CPG industry experience, John’s career has included industry leaders such as Hain Celestial Group, UNFI, C&S Wholesale Grocers, Shaw’s Supermarkets and Acosta Sales & Marketing. He has built a well rounded knowledge base by learning many pieces of the CPG industry across retail, manufacturing, brand management, sales and category management and is known for developing strong partnerships internally and externally, providing peer mentorship and retaining top talent. John most recently managed all US and Canada business as Vice President of Sales for Live Better Brands. He delivers sales growth through negotiating new distribution, effective use of promotional plans and accurate forecasting.

John and his wife, Laura, live in Auburn, MA with their cat, Daphne. When he is not working, John likes to keep himself busy learning about the latest technology, golfing, barbecuing and traveling the world. He’s also proud to be a mentor as part of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Massachusetts.

Julie Hackett, Vice President of Sales & Director, Southeast

Julie is an experienced business and project manager, bringing over 20 years of experience in the CPG industry to the Velocity Sales Management team. She began her career as a business analyst developing software for CPG companies before working directly for manufacturers. She has worked with many Fortune 500 companies throughout her career, including Abbott Laboratories, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Coca-Cola, Albertsons, Alimentation Couche-Tard, Kroger, and Publix. Over the years, Julie has worked on accounts in multiple channels across the country, developing valued long-term relationships to drive sales and grow market share. She has consistently demonstrated the ability to identify strategic opportunities to deliver financial and volume goals, winning numerous sales awards.

When she’s not working, Julie likes to spend time outside with her family and their dog, Riggins. They enjoy hiking, camping, and climbing together.

Helene Lee, Chief Marketing Officer

Helene joined Velocity Sales Management with over 17 years of experience in Marketing and Brand Management. She started her career fundraising in the nonprofit sector, transitioning to CPG after earning her MBA. Through her experience at Unilever, Elizabeth Arden, and Nestlé, Helene has amassed experience across food, beverage, and beauty. She has built brands from scratch and repositioned mature businesses. Helene loves bringing exciting and relevant products to consumers and retailers.

In her free time, Helene loves spending time with her husband and two children in Connecticut.

Eric Solat, Vice President of SaaS Sales

With over 30 years of sales experience, Eric’s interest in entrepreneurship and technology drew him to online companies and start-ups in late 2007. Since then, Eric has played a significant role in the sales development of edtech, cyber security, e-commerce, and online media companies. Eric approaches selling with the philosophy that sales teams need to be relentlessly proactive, provide prolific expertise and high-quality products, and do it exceedingly fast. It’s a formula Eric brings to Velocity and our clients.

Eric has an MBA in International Finance and a B.Sc in Accounting from SUNY Binghamton.