David M. Neuman

David Neuman began his Olive Oil career as a Comis Chef at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, D.C. in 1985. Years of employment followed in the Specialty and Natural Foods retail industry, where he cut his teeth on selling finer foods, which included managing world-class food retailers such as Sutton Place Gourmet (now Balducci’s) and Fresh Fields/Whole Foods Market in the Mid-Atlantic region. Food manufacturing was calling him in 1996 when he was recruited to be a sales manager for Nature’s Path Organic Foods, based in Vancouver, BC Canada. Within his first year, he was promoted and ultimately became Executive VP, Sales and Marketing. Launching over 100 items into the hungry for healthy world-wide market, David had a hand in introducing unique foods to curious consumers such as organic functional breakfasts foods and some less functional such as the first Organic toaster-pastry, a/k/a Pop-Tart®. He was involved in legalization of the term Organic, a member of the Whole Grain Council and a member of the Hemp Foods Alliance. These all helped him hone his skills for what was next. For the next nine years, he was President and Partner of Lucini Italia, growing the brand to be the premier quality Italian Olive Oil in America. Upon selling the business in late 2014, David opened Gaea North America, a higher-end Extra Virgin Olive Oil brand, with the assistance of its parent company, Gaea Products S.A. in Greece. Beyond of placing his Greek oils in the biggest and better retailers, he shared his knowledge pro bono to thousands of both industry people and consumers via his Olive Oil 101 90- minute training class; a behind-the-scenes look and tasting of both excellent and defect oils. This included corporate training with chains such as Costco, Whole Foods, The Fresh Market, and many more. Totaling more than 3 billion media impressions and having worked as a food executive for 30 years, David decided it was time to go at it alone. David continued his passion for EVOO by founding EVOOGuy.com®, a consultancy focused 100% on best-in-class Extra Virgin Olive Oils. At the same time, launching his own EVOO brand, establishing a Tasting Tour using a custom designed Olive Oil truck, lecturing, and continuing to share his knowledge via his Olive Oil 101 platform. He found a partnership with the Mediterranean Diet Round (MDR) Table in 2020, a think tank to support the awareness about curated EVOO’s. This included a tasting class with Yale University and 100 of their students. His participation is vast in the Olive Oil field included many years of study at the oldest Olive Oil school in the world; ONAOO (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Olio di Oliva) based in Imperia, Italy, an International Olive Council Accredited school. His designation as a trained Panel Taster and ONAOO Level 1 Technical Taster in 2012, as well as rising to a Professional Taster in Good Standing, 2018 – Present.