Green.org is always looking for sustainable and environmentally companies and leades to share with our audience. When we heard about NadaMoo! we were excited to meet Daniel Nicholson, President and CEO of the first environmentally friendly ice cream company.
Tell us a little bit about you and your background:
I’m a born and raised Texan. I grew up in Laredo, Texas down on the Texas/Mexico border, a city where American and Mexican culture wholeheartedly converge. I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2007 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Business Foundations. Soon after, I left for Madrid, Spain, as I was accepted into the Fundacion Consejo Espana-Estados Unidos program. The program landed me a 9-month work experience with Iberdrola Renewables, where I enjoyed working in the sustainable energy industry.
When the program was complete, I moved back to Austin and began reconnecting with friends within my Austin network. It was at this time that I was serendipitously introduced to our founder and our product which would end up changing the trajectory of my life. I discovered NadaMoo!, for myself, in 2008 after a warm introduction to the founder and her CFO business partner. Since immediately falling in love with the product and brand, NadaMoo! has become my sole focus for the past 13+ years.
My first role with the company was as the Controller, and after 3 years of this accounting, operations focused work, the founder of the company was ready to step out to pursue other opportunities. In that moment of extreme uncertainty, after much thought and reflection, I decided to step into the President & CEO role, and I haven’t looked back. Since 2011, the company has grown revenue over 50x, from being distributed in just a few hundred stores to now when it is in nearly 10,000 stores nationwide, across the United States. NadaMoo! has been the driving force, for myself, to help build awareness around health, wellness, and sustainability. These are the solutions we want to provide to the consumer in this indulgent category. Doing good needs to feel good and taste good.
What is a fun fact about you?
I grew up in a family who has been ranching in South Texas for many generations. Some in my family actually had a small scale dairy operation a few generations back.
Why do you think climate change and sustainability is such an important topic today?
“We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors. We borrow it from our children.
What do you envision your industry looking like 10 years from now?
I picture shelves full of products across all categories with their products’ carbon impact score on the front face of the package. I picture scan codes or QR codes on each package that have a level of traceability to the farm level where you can watch videos and stories told by the stewards of those lands that are harvesting the ingredients found in the products. I picture transparency of the highest degree to ensure we can make the best purchasing decisions possible for ourselves and for our families.
What can the average person do to make a difference?
Arm yourself with knowledge and information and use that to put money to work in ways that create the most positive outcome possible for the greater good; And definitely, EAT MORE PLANTS.