Alumni Profiles

President of Farmhouse Foods Leads Company to New Heights

Since 2006 when Lisa Noble '76 (political science) purchased Farmhouse Foods Company from the J.M. Smucker Company, she has engineered its growth threefold to the number two share of prepared rice and pasta side dish brand in the West. Noble came into the company with her eyes wide open. From 1990 to 1999 she had been vice president of marketing, guiding Farmhouse Foods' growth to a $42 million West Coast brand of all natural prepared side dishes.

"I have always believed in the Farmhouse Brand and taken great pride in our superior tasting products," Noble says. They are sold in grocery stores throughout the West, including Kroger, FredMeyer and Ralphs stores, WinCo, Safeway, Stater Bros, Albertsons, Lucky, Save Mart and many other leading retailers.

Noble's career began in 1979, after earning a Harvard MBA where she received the Uhlman Award for her thesis in Agribusiness Marketing. After her graduation she started as an acquisition analyst for General Mills. Subsequently, she moved into brand management of Honey Nut Cheerios. In 1983, Noble joined Del Monte as brand manager of Morton Frozen Foods and spent 8 years in a variety of assignments, ultimately becoming director of new products, managing a series of brands and new products, increasing volume sales and revenues, and generally making things happen. "I have always been very committed to my career," Noble notes when asked about her rapid rise in the industry.

Next stop, vice president of marketing for C&W Frozen Foods, where Noble moved forward with positioning, advertising, promotional campaigns, new products, repackaging, and a 28 percent growth in sales. She then joined a small division of Nestle—MJB Rice—and Noble recalls, "Three of us bought it, and over eight years—during which the company became Farmhouse Foods—we more than tripled its sales. In the end, we sold to General Mills, sort of taking me full circle."

After the sale, Noble joined Tilia, Inc., where she led revenue growth from $14 million to $185 million in three years, marketing the innovative FoodSaver product. When the business was sold, Noble knew that it was time to take some time to enjoy her family, and reinvent herself. "I was at the top of my career, but had no personal time to speak of," she says. "I loved my work, but it was all-consuming. I was on the road so much; I had to find a way to mold my skill set into a more satisfying lifestyle." So Noble spent the next 4 years working in the Bay Area, where she was able to spend more time with her teenaged sons, and worked as a marketing consultant, focused on creating strategic and business plans for emerging businesses, and working with venture capitalists. She also was able to spend time on her gardening hobby, developing and marketing a line of her own innovative plant foods, HydraFeed, to Western grocery and nursery stores.

When she learned in 2006 that Farmhouse Foods was once again for sale, Noble was drawn to the opportunity. "I had recharged my batteries and found that I had missed being involved in the day-to-day operations of a competitive, thriving business." Enlisting the support of a former business associate and forming a new and successful partnership, Noble repurchased Farmhouse and has worked her marketing and organizational magic.

So how does Noble's UMass Amherst education in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) play into all of this success? "I attended because I knew I'd get a great education," she recalls."My grandfather had attended the University right after the First World War (he received a Purple Heart from Woodrow Wilson!), and my uncle, a veteran of World War II, attended on the GI Bill. I really respected what they had accomplished. In addition, I found many exciting female role models there, including Jean Elstein in political science. The women's movement was taking hold, and she epitomized it for me: young, undeniably intelligent, full of ideas, creative, attractive, married, doing it all. And John Lederle, former president of the university, was my faculty advisor. He opened many doors because he believed in my abilities."

Noble is committed to public education and is doing her part to ensure excellence by serving on the SBS Dean's Advisory Board. "I have the university to thank in so many ways," she says.

October 19, 2009