Midwest work ethic with national recognition
A creative thinker with the unique propensity to see what-could-be, Eugene also makes it a reality. Rooted in a Computer Science degree from the University of Minnesota (Go Gophers!), his career began at a Consumer Packaged Goods company as a software engineer, an experience that eventually propelled him towards his MBA from the Carlson School. Much success at General Mills followed, leading digital marketing capabilities and consumer data initiatives, but his growth moved him further from his passion: building software. And as the story goes, he and Jim – already colleagues – saw the need to build a software product that solved the consumer and business challenges unique to the grocery industry and eCommerce. So they made it their mission to simplify grocery shopping and have since pioneered many industry firsts with many more on the horizon with Basketful.
His other mission in life is to simply enjoy it with his college sweetheart and two sons, Ethan and Cameron, probably while traveling or reading along with some good food and wine.
Co-Founder
Jim grew up in an active house, running, wrestling, swinging, throwing, jumping and scoring whenever he could on his older brothers. With a serious injury at 11, his dad bought an Apple II GS to help his homebound boredom. After teaching himself Apple BASIC, Jim wrote a security program that made his brothers enter a password before being able to play games – a crowning achievement of his youth – only to realize a comprehensive security model is just as important given their brute force attacks to get the password out of Jim.
After declining to pursue Law (you don’t get to argue before a jury all day), and the Foreign Service (where he was not remotely acceptable), he took jobs in HR, Project Management, and found himself back in IT, rediscovering how fun it was to offload work to computers. He spent 18 years in a fortune 250 CPG company moving from systems analyst to Lead Engineer to managing the Software Engineering Center of Excellence. He then worked for large recipe websites before co-founding Basketful, giving him a personal appreciation for the difficult and demanding jobs his customers have – and what would make it easier.
Co-Founder
There’s a reason why Ellie leads our Client Success team: everyone loves her as much as she loves food and experiences with food. Be it cooking family recipes, creating cheese & wine pairings, finding new local restaurants & chefs to support, learning about a culture through their food, working with food solutions makes her, well, her. Combine that with her 15+ years’ experience building relationships with more than 50 top U.S. brands, spanning CPG, finance, fashion, healthcare, health & beauty and non-profit, it’s as if Ellie was perfectly paired with Basketful. *Chef’s kiss*
Never one to stay still for too long, you can (try to) keep up with her on the Peloton, chatting sports, traveling the world and sipping on her latest favorite wine, brew or cocktail.
VP of Customer Success
You know those people that do it all? Joel is one of “those” people. He’s always been wired that way, working multiple jobs throughout college at Saint John’s University. Gaining so many diverse experiences, he was hooked and brought the approach with him into his career, actively seeking out the “jungle gym approach” at a Fortune 200 CPG company in roles like Sales Operations, Customer Supply Chain, Sourcing, Special Projects, Data & Analytics and Technology & Solutions. As if that wasn’t enough, he groomed a woodworking business on the side, selling goods nationally through wholesale and DTC. And now, with 15+ years of CPG and business ownership, he’s taking on the challenge of Simplifying Grocery Shopping, using his Swiss Army knife of skills to help build Basketful from scratch.
Outside of work, you can find him doing all things outdoorsy with his wife, Sadie, and three adventurous kids: Noah, Gus and Ruby. Like all the things: projects, airstream travels, Nordic skiing, biking, running – we could keep going, just like Joel.
VP of Product