CONNOILS provides a range of organic and natural ingredients to multiple sectors, including health and wellness, personal care, food, beverage, pet care and sports nutrition. The company explains how its people-centric approach to business has driven its significant growth.
CEO Stacy Peterson introduced CONNOILS to the natural products industry in 2007. Today, CONNOILS is a leading global manufacturer and distributor of raw materials, including natural and organic oils, lecithins, collagens and supplements. The company serves the health and wellness, food and beverage, personal care, nutraceutical, sports and pet nutrition industries. What started as a one-woman operation has become an accredited business. CONNOILS celebrates its ten-year anniversary this year.
Outside Milwaukee, Wisconsin, CONNOILS is known for being a quality source of plant-derived oils rich in omega-3, 6, 7 and 9, typically derived from dried seeds or berries. The company has serviced the wet/oil side for multiple industries and continues to innovate in the dry/powder side of the business. This has been one of its biggest company accomplishments. As an example of this, the company's omega oils are all available as stabilised oil powders.
The secret to CONNOILS's success is its ability to stay ahead of industry trends, and continue to innovate and educate staff and customers across target categories. The company's plant-derived oils, proteins, fibre sources and lecithin (soy/sunflower) are offered in fluid, granule and powder forms. The company's oils and powders are ready for private-label bottling and packaging for direct-to-consumer sales.
Meet the team
CONNOILS understands that people are key to success. In 2013, the company opened its global sales and marketing division. The international division is headed by sales director Elizabeth Cambar-Roney, who has more than 20 years of international sales experience and speaks five languages. International sales have grown significantly, with customers spread across six continents.
Sales and marketing director Lisa Mack's more than 30 years of experience in consumer packaged goods and marketing have helped make CONNOILS a globally recognised partner. The company's website, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and presence in many industry-targeted publications like Ingredients Insights is what keeps it growing. Mack also manages the company's East-Coast sales effort in the US.
Raven Helgestad joined the team in 2012 as customer support and inside sales. Her promotion to West-Coast sales director in 2015 was well deserved and her performance has exceeded expectations.
Brian Ballo also started in a customer support role and has risen to the position of Midwest sales director. A medic in the US Army with two tours of duty under his belt, Ballo's technical knowledge and innovative thinking provides great benefits to the company and its customers.
Corporate responsibility
CONNOILS offers CO2 extraction to support the saw palmetto and hemp markets. This technology offers low-temperature processing, retaining natural properties, high efficiency and selectivity, natural sterilisation, and elimination of heavy metals and pesticides. This green technology releases no pollutants to the environment. The company is now a full partner in its relationship with its supply chain in Fort Myers, Florida.
CONNOILS is committed to giving back to the community. It supports the Wisconsin Independent Learning College (WILC) in its hometown of Waukesha, Wisconsin. WILC is the only organisation to support higher learning for young adults between the ages of 18-30 years old with autism spectrum disorder. The company is also a sponsor of Vitamin Angels, a global organisation fighting malnutrition by providing vitamins to children across the globe. Its efforts help combat preventable illnesses, blindness and death.
CONNOILS's success, domestically and internationally, demonstrates its awareness of customer needs, and its understanding of what it takes to prosper in the global economy.