Gary Messmore

Gary Messmore moved to Florida in 1984 and took a position with a Nature’s Plus, a 45-year-old market-leading manufacturer as a results orientated Sales Executive.  He expanded their market presence throughout FL and GA, selling the revolutionary naturally therapeutic formulas with great success. Gary transitioned in 1986 to Tree of Life, the world’s leading marketer and distributor of natural and specialty foods servicing more than 10,000 retailers nationwide, taking the relationships with key retailers and sales skills with him.  As a Territory Manager, Gary was able to offer extensive knowledge to all natural foods stores and supermarkets throughout the FL region.

In 1989, Gary was promoted to Southeast Sales Manager for Tree of Life where he served the sales and marketing teams in the natural, organic, gourmet, regional specialty and ethnic foods. Natural Specialty Sales, a food broker, saw Gary’s success and recruited him as their Business Manager where he managed five major manufacturers and Sales Managers in the Southeast.

The Tree of Life days were not over. When SR VP of Natural, Greg Leonard called him in 2007,  Gary decided to accept the position of Vice President of Natural Sales in the Southeast region.   Here Gary continued to support Tree of Life’s/KeHE’s retail service programs and account executives; to write and receive orders, maintain store shelves, set up and break down promotional displays, add new departments or reset existing ones, and even to help design a new store from the ground up. He aided in merchandising efforts and improving the overall performance of the retailer’s success.