H. Louis Cooperhouse

Lou Cooperhouse has extensive business and technology expertise in the prepared food industry in both entrepreneurial settings and in larger corporate environments. Previously, he held senior management positions at ConAgra, Campbell Soup Company, and Nestle-funded Culinary Brands in the areas of business development, product development, quality assurance, and operations. He was also the Co-Founder, President and CEO of MenuDirect Corporation, an entrepreneurial startup servicing consumers with special dietary needs, which was chosen by its peers as one of the top 10 Industry Innovators by Nutraceuticals World Magazine in 2000. Additionally, Mr. Cooperhouse has consulted for leading manufacturers of value-added food products, innovative industry suppliers, progressive food retailers, and government and allied organizations, that has included projects throughout North America, and in Europe, China and Africa.

Mr. Cooperhouse currently serves as Director of the Rutgers Food Innovation Center, an extremely successful economic development outreach program at Rutgers University, which assists farmers, cooperatives, startups and small to mid-sized food companies with business and technology expertise (See www.foodinnovation.rutgers.edu). He has also served on the Board of Managers of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, on the Cook College Strategic Plan Visioning Committee, and on the External Advisory Board of the Cook College Food Science Department.

Mr. Cooperhouse also currently serves as President of the NJ Business Incubation Network, an association of business incubators and innovation centers affiliated with universities throughout New Jersey, (See www.njbin.org). In addition, he is a founder of the Food Business Innovation Network (FoodBIN), an international organization currently under development, which has been established to service food and agribusiness incubator centers worldwide with best practices in regional economic development. He also served for a number of years on the Board of Directors, as Conference Chairman, and as Chairman of the Strategic Planning Committee for the Refrigerated Foods Association, an international organization of refrigerated foods manufacturers and their suppliers.

Mr. Cooperhouse has unique experiences and expertise in the sector of refrigerated prepared foods. He is the publisher of a landmark study on the prepared refrigerated food industry, entitled Retail Prepared Refrigerated Foods: The Market and Technologies. During his career, he has led the development and implementation of a diverse portfolio of products such as: value-added produce, soups, sauces, entrees, salads, value-added raw and cooked meat and poultry products, component meals, wraps, sandwiches, dips, dressings, etc., that incorporated technologies such as hot fill, modified atmosphere packaging, and sous vide post pasteurization.

He also serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of Fresh Cut magazine, and has served as a contributing author of marketing and technology columns to Fresh Cut, Organic Processing, Food Safety, Deli Business, and other industry magazines as well. In addition, Mr. Cooperhouse is a frequently requested speaker at industry conferences, typically discussing business strategies, marketing trends, product development technologies, and quality assurance and food safety best practices for the refrigerated and frozen food industries. He received a MS in Food Science and BS in Microbiology, both from Rutgers University.