Kimberly Hehir

I've been in my field since 2017 when my sister and I co-founded Brutus Broth, a pet nutrition company where I serve as president. My career path has been diverse - I started in the sustainability field working for HVS International, where I was on the ground floor of launching their environmental services division. My first project was rebuilding the World Trade Center after the first bombing in the 90s, and I went on to work with the Olympic Committee on their sustainability plan, the United Nations on their sustainable development goals, and different governments on developing sustainable tourism plans. I did a lot of speaking, wrote books and articles in that field. Then I was headhunted to be head of marketing for a boutique investment bank in New York, which led to a role in private equity when one of the partners left to start a firm and brought me with him. After that, I became VP of Strategy for The Leading Hotels of the World, a luxury hotel company, where I worked for about 10 years. Part of my scope was to launch various business lines under the brand umbrella, and we had 27 offices worldwide. When my boss retired, the board wanted me to slot into his CEO role, but it required a minimum of 250 days a year of travel. My first child was born while I was on a business trip, and with my husband traveling about 700,000 miles a year, something had to give. I took a break from the corporate world, joined nonprofit boards, did consulting, and relocated from New York City to Honolulu where we stayed for 13 years. The idea for Brutus Broth came when my sister's dog Brutus was 8 years old and 135 pounds - dogs that size typically only live until 8 or 9. My brother asked how he was still alive, and she credited the bone broth she made for him because she couldn't find any pet-safe bone broth on the market. He suggested she bring it to market and said to call me because I needed something to do. I knew the fundamentals of launching a business from my previous roles, so I did all the research. We found a big white space between artisanal mom-and-pop pet products and mass brands like Purina for a high-quality, scalable product. We partnered with a manufacturer that makes nutrient broths for starving people in third world countries and worked with veterinarians and animal health scientists to reformulate our recipe. We beta tested with Wegmans Food Markets and Big Y Supermarkets in 2018, gathered data showing 66% of purchasers were new to the pet aisle, and launched our national sales effort in 2019. Today we're in over 20,000 stores including Target. We built the company with sustainability and philanthropy as core value pillars - our packaging is FSC certified, our co-packer is 100% hydropowered, we're members of the Pet Sustainability Coalition, and we work with hundreds of shelters across the U.S. We also have a kids committee to teach children about entrepreneurship, problem solving, and ongoing philanthropy. Someone from Amazon headquarters told us we created the category, and we're the market leader. We've been profitable since year two. The business also gave my father, who had been diagnosed with cancer and had to sell his business, purpose at the end of his life - he was our chairman and would check our Amazon sales every day on his phone.