Rich Libonate is Senior Vice President of Sales for Detour Bar, a wholly owned subsidiary of Forward Foods, LLC. A $30 million nutrition bar business based in Minden, Nevada which was acquired from Next Protein in September 2006. Prior to Detour Bars,  Rich was Vice President,  Convenience Sales for Cadbury Adams, a Division of Cadbury Schweppes, based in Parsippany, New Jersey, with brands such as Trident, Dentyne Ice, Bubblicious, Halls and several other brands. In this role, he was responsible for $455 million business which was 45% of the total company sales and managed a team of 71 region managers and account managers.Currently, Rich is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS). Previously, Rich had been a member of the Board of Directors from 1992 until 2002, while serving as Vice Chairman-Elect and Chairman for two years. As part of his responsibility of Vice Chairman and Chairman, Rich was also a member of the NACS Retail Board of Directors, a 34 member Board made up of Presidents, CEO’s and owners of convenience chains. Rich was re-elected to the Board in October 2003 and currently is Committee Chair for the Exhibitor Advisory Committee and sits on retail Convention Committee.  Rich is a graduate of Seton Hall University with a BS in Business and English, where he earned a full four-year track scholarship. He has three grown children, Anthony, Mary Beth and Joseph and one grandchild, John.  A native of New Jersey, he currently lives in Tampa, Florida.