TruSource has acquired Freshway, expanding its fresh produce capabilities and commitment to quality and sustainability.
TruSource launch
TruSource has acquired Freshway, expanding its fresh produce capabilities and commitment to quality and sustainability.
Supply Chain Executive | Operating Partner, Red Arts Capital
Anthony Barber is an Operating Partner at Red Arts Capital, a private investment firm focused on supply chain, transportation, and logistics businesses. He brings more than 30 years of supply chain leadership across food, beverage, and logistics. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President of Supply Chain at Primo Water North America, responsible for a $2.2 billion P&L spanning 41 facilities, more than 200 sales locations, and over 6,000 employees. Earlier, he held senior positions at Aramark, PepsiCo, DHL Worldwide Express, and Coca-Cola Enterprises.
He serves as Chairman of Partners Warehouse and as a board director of BelPak and the Credit Union of Texas. He holds a B.S. in mathematics from Augusta University and studied electrical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Supply Chain Executive | Founder and CEO, Planet Harvest
Melissa Melshenker Ackerman is the Founder and CEO of Planet Harvest, a mission-driven, for-profit company focused on moving more fresh produce from farms to families. Planet Harvest turns excess and available produce into purpose-built food solutions that reduce waste, strengthen farm economics, and deliver measurable impact. Before founding Planet Harvest, Melissa served as President of Produce Alliance, one of the country’s largest produce management and procurement companies. During the pandemic, she helped spearhead the company’s work on the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program, delivering millions of boxes of fresh food to families in need while helping farmers maintain operations.
She served on the inaugural board of the International Fresh Produce Association as the director representing the foodservice segment and sits on the board of Brighter Bites and YPO Chicago. She began her career as an attorney and holds a J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law and degrees from the University of Wisconsin.
Supply Chain Executive | Former Chief Logistics Officer, Armada Supply Chain Solutions
Meredith Neizer has led logistics operations across four decades and nearly every link of the food supply chain. She was Chief Logistics Officer of Armada Supply Chain Solutions, which manages logistics for many of the country’s largest restaurant brands. Before Armada, she served as Senior Vice President of Operations at US Foods and President of its Alliant Logistics unit, President of MBX Logistics at The Martin-Brower Company, and Chief Operating Officer of iGPS, with earlier executive roles at Sea-Land and Maersk.
She served as a White House Fellow in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and as a commissioner on the Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces. Among the first women to graduate from the United States Merchant Marine Academy, she began her career as a third mate aboard supertankers. She holds an MBA from Stanford University and serves on the boards of Wonolo and Mastery Logistics Systems, and on the advisory board of Bay & Bay Transportation, a refrigerated trucking company.
Global Executive | Former EVP of Supply Chain, Domino’s Pizza
.Troy Ellis has run supply chains for some of the most demanding food brands in America. As Executive Vice President of Supply Chain at Domino’s Pizza, he led 26 supply chain centers across the United States and Canada, as well as procurement, quality assurance, and supplier compliance for the global system. Before Domino’s, he spent 15 years in the Coca-Cola system, ultimately as Senior Vice President at Coca-Cola Refreshments, where he led a 12,000-person organization producing 2.1 billion cases a year across 79 manufacturing facilities. His earlier career included leadership roles at PepsiCo and Kimberly-Clark.
He began his career as a United States Army officer in the 101st Airborne Division. He serves on the Board of Governors of Boys & Girls Clubs of America. He holds a BBA from Eastern Kentucky University.
Global Executive | Former President, McDonald’s Latin America
J.C. Gonzalez-Mendez spent 31 years at McDonald’s Corporation, beginning as the first employee of McDonald’s Mexico, where he built the supply base for the company’s entry into that market. As Senior Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer for North America, he directed purchasing, logistics, and distribution of more than $10 billion in food and supplies for over 15,000 restaurants in the United States and Canada. He went on to serve as President of McDonald’s Latin America, leading more than 2,000 restaurants across 29 countries, and concluded his McDonald’s career as President and CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities.
Today, he is the CEO of GM Integritas Consulting, advising food companies and emerging suppliers, and a partner in the Bien Trucha Group restaurant company. He chairs the Board of Trustees of Roosevelt University, serves on the board of Northwestern Medicine, and is a board member of CIBUS Holdings, a Central American family enterprise spanning food manufacturing, real estate, technology, and advertising, held by the McDonald’s developmental franchisee for the region. He holds a B.S. in biochemical engineering from Tecnológico de Monterrey and an MBA from the University of Southern California.
Senior Vice President, Finance
Carlos Cortez leads finance for TruSource, building the financial discipline, reporting infrastructure, and operating visibility required to support growth across a multi-company platform.
Carlos began his career at KPMG, where he rose to Audit Manager, then served as Corporate Controller of Malibu Boats and Senior Finance Director at Discovery, Inc. As Vice President, Controller, and Principal accounting officer of Cronos Group, he led accounting for a Nasdaq-listed company through a period of significant change. He went on to serve as Vice President of Finance and Controller at LL Flooring and Vice President, Corporate Controller of PetSafe Brands.
His approach is grounded in the rigor of public company reporting, bringing the discipline, transparency, and accountability needed to support long-term growth. He is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a B.B.A. in accounting from Florida Atlantic University and a B.B.A. in finance from Florida International University.
Chief Human Resources Officer
Marion Terrell leads human resources for TruSource and its operating companies, partnering with executive leadership and the board to build the talent, culture, and organizational strength a growing collective requires.
Marion brings more than 25 years of human resources leadership experience across food and beverage, healthcare, facilities services, manufacturing, retail, and other high-growth environments. Prior to joining TruSource, he served as Chief People Officer for MINT dentistry, where he helped foster a culture recognized by Newsweek and ranked among the Wall Street Journal’s Top 20 Most Loved Workplaces in America. He previously served as Chief Human Resources Officer and Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer for Flagship Facility Services to a national workforce of more than 6,000 employees. His earlier career includes senior leadership roles at Jackson, Saputo Dairy Foods, Dean Foods, and Coca-Cola Consolidated, as well as earlier positions at CVS, Monsanto, and Ford Motor Company.
Across some of the most recognized brands in the world, Marion has specialized in aligning leadership, strengthening value creation, and building talent systems that sustain growth. He holds a B.S in psychology and sociology from the University of West Georgia, an M.P.A. in human resource management from Clark Atlanta University, and a diversity and inclusion certification from Cornell University.
Chief Commercial Officer
Kristie Waters leads commercial strategy for TruSource. She has spent more than twenty years in fresh produce and foodservice, building commercial teams and the customer relationships that outlast them.
At PRO*ACT, the national foodservice produce distribution network, Kristie served as Vice President of Client Development and led sales and client development, working with some of the largest group purchasing organizations in foodservice. She later led Leslie’s $190 million Pro division and most recently served as Senior Vice President of Revenue Strategy at Midwest Foods in Chicago. She also founded Grow With Waters, a consulting practice serving food and produce companies.
For more than two decades, Kristie has built her career around a simple principle: relationships are the foundation of the produce business. She has held leadership roles with the Produce Marketing Association and the United Fresh Distributor/Wholesale Board, the predecessor organizations of the International Fresh Produce Association, along with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the Jefferson County Food Policy Council, where she advanced food access initiatives. She holds a B.A. in history and communication management from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman
Elton Evans leads TruSource, a collective of leading regional produce companies built to scale while preserving the local trust the industry depends on.
He operates on a single conviction: scale only creates value if it strengthens what customers already rely on. That belief took shape at Sysco, where he served as Vice President and CFO of Foodservice Operations inside a $48 billion distribution business, and was sharpened through a deliberate CFO-to-CEO path across PepsiCo, Cardinal Health, Stanley Black & Decker, and US LBM. Over the course of his career, Elton has helped lead and scale multibillion-dollar businesses across food distribution, healthcare, industrial manufacturing, and building products. In 2024, he joined Red Arts Capital as an Executive Advisor, where he led the work that became TruSource.
For Elton, distribution is ultimately about reliability. How fresh food moves through the system shapes how customers are served, how operators perform, and how communities are fed. He serves on the board of Brighter Bites, is a member of The Executive Leadership Council, and qualifies as an audit committee financial expert under SEC standards.