Executive Profile Tackling a weighty issue Lisa Gable, Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation
April 7, 2014
From the Washington Business Journal
By: Chloe Johnson
Lisa Gable has bounced between public and private enterprises from Washington to Silicon Valle, even serving as the U.S. commissioner general to the 2005 World Expo in Japan. In 2009, she landed at the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, a coalition of the food industry’s biggest heavyweights (think: Hershey Co., The Coca Cola Co. PepsiCo, Nestle, Kellogg Co., Kraft Foods and General Mills) that works to reduce obesity. The foundation grew from 21 founding members to more than 200 in two years. And she's committed to the cuase — unless there’s Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food lying around.
Biggest current challenge: We have been able to expand very rapidly. At the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, 16 food and beverage companies were the founders, and we have grown to over 250 members. This includes nonprofits, sports figures, restaurants. And yet, we’ve never had more than five full-time employees. So we have to provide a lot of services with a small group of people, but demand continues to grow daily. We are always thinking of creative ways of meeting our customers’ needs.
Next big goal: At some stage, I’d love to head up a larger association. Or going back to the government in a presidential appointment under another Republican administration.
Read full executive profile here.