meet the team

Get to know a key player in our sales team, Ed Lazo.

1. What do you love most about your career at BNN? Being part of the company’s transformation into a brand that set the bar high and changed the level of expectations for the entire baby food category. We created excitement in the category by getting back to the basics of providing real food for babies… just like nature intended.
2. What gets you out of bed in the morning? The opportunity to make a difference and knowing that others are depending on me to do my job each day. In addition to my family, all other employees of BNN, regardless of their department or job function, depend on me to do my job.  Each one of us counts on the other to do their part to ensure success.  It’s a team effort!
3. What’s your favorite perk to working at BNN? Being able to live in Colorado. The demands of the job require lots of travel but coming back home each week makes me appreciate where I get to live even more.
4. What do you do to live a balanced life? I try to disconnect from work and spend time with family and friends regularly. That’s important! I also try to walk for at least an hour each day. Walking helps clear my head and gives me an opportunity to think about everything that is going on both personally and professionally.  I can prioritize and strategize while simultaneously taking care of my own wellness.
5. How would you describe BNN in 5 words or less? Talented people making a difference
6. What is your favorite BN product? Naturals Apple Pumpkin! To me, it tastes just like pumpkin pie.
7. How would you describe your work style? Team player; flexible; dependable; results oriented.
8. If you could have dinner with someone living or dead who would it be? My Mom. She passed away nine years ago, and I think about her every day. To have one more dinner with her, my Dad, my wife, and our sons would be an opportunity to not only tell her how proud I was of her, but also show her that my family is what it is because of her influence. I think she would be proud!
9. What is your favorite company or person to follow? Personally, anyone who inspires or motivates others to better themselves and give back to their communities. Pope Francis, JJ Watt, and Mark Wahlberg come to mind. Professionally, I like to follow Innocent Drinks. They’re creatively funny, give back to charity, and they don’t take themselves too seriously. Yet, their brand messaging resonates!
10. What is your best life hack? I just try to always be nice when interacting with others. It doesn’t cost anything to be nice. You never know what kind of day the other person is having. Being nice to them might just make their day. It can also make your own day better.
11. What have you learned at BNN that you will never forget? “It’s not how many times you get knocked down…it’s how many times you get back up.” Truer words were never spoken.
12. What is the weirdest job you have ever had? I still have a hard time believing that at one time, I was a Surface Warfare Officer who was qualified to “drive” an aircraft carrier for the U.S. Navy! As an Officer of the Deck, being responsible for the safety of the entire ship and its crew during flight operations while in the middle of an ocean was both nerve-wracking yet invigorating at the same time! There was no room for error.
13. What has been your biggest career success? I’ve had successes during my career that I’m proud of, but I think my biggest success has happened here at Beech-Nut. Developing three major customers – HEB, Meijer, and Target – and transitioning them into not only strategic customers for Beech-Nut, but perhaps more importantly, strategic partners where collaborative discussions and planning sessions are now the norm. Of course, none of that happens without great products and a great support team!
14. What are you doing to ensure you continue to grow and develop as a leader? I’m a learner. As such, I’m always trying to learn from others I encounter each day.  Sometimes I pick up on things that are good habits to emulate, while other times I pick up on things that I remind myself to never do. I also always ask for feedback on my own habits from other leaders whose input I value and respect.
15. What is your biggest outside interest? Enjoying the outdoors as much as possible with my family! In the summer, it’s baseball trips and camping as a family. In the fall and winter, it’s hunting with my sons and my friends. We have a 3-year-old lab named Red, who has become a great pheasant hunting companion!
16. What is a book you have read recently? The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, by Robin S. Sharma
17. How do you incorporate our mission (Delight Consumers by Conserving the Goodness of Nature) into your role every day? By ensuring that I work closely with my customers to have the best tasting, most nutritious baby food on their shelves when their consumers shop in their stores.
18. How and where do you find inspiration? My wife. She’s a compassionate, caring, and giving person by nature.  With twin boys, and my travel schedule over the years, she’s the glue that keeps our household together. She turned our home into the place that our kids and their friends felt welcome, comfortable, and always wanted to hang out at. Even now that the boys are in college, we can expect a houseful of college kids during the summer and on holiday breaks! It’s awesome! She inspires me to be a better person by the example she sets every day.
19. What are you most passionate about in your role? Taking on a challenge and finding a way to succeed.
20. What are three things still left on your bucket list? See my sons have careers and families of their own; see the Colorado Rockies win the World Series; and visit the Holy Land.