Barney Feinblum: a natural for the natural-products industry.

• Author: Bronikowski, Lynn
• Position: Executive Edge

Coffee. Tea. Milk. Sodas. Juice. Wine.

While that might sound like the beverage-cart offerings on a major airline, they actually are components of Boulder businessman Barney Feinblum's natural-food industry career that began in 1976 when he became production manager of Celestial Seasonings, the organic tea manufacturer that turns 35 this year.

"I had been working in production at Samsonite in Denver, and decided to take a two-thirds cut in pay to go to work for these crazy hippie folks in Boulder," recalls Feinblum. "So at the ripe old age of 28, I was the conservative voice of experience among them because I had some real-world experience."

Within a decade, Feinblum would work his way up to chairman, CEO and president of Celestial Seasonings and would lead the management group that re-acquired Celestial from Kraft Foods in 1988.

"Celestial Seasonings was built by people who didn't really do it to make money," said Feinblum. "I loved these people because nobody was talking about profitability, about return on investment. We were all talking about how we can change the world and make it a better place. We did what we wanted to do and it worked out."

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Cornell University, Feinblum left Celestial after 17 years and would go on to become president and CEO of Horizon Organic Dairy, where he led an initial public offering.

"Horizon Organic Milk was the most fun I've had," said Feinblum of his 25 years in the natural-foods industry. "We were able to take a concept and turn it into a national brand of milk and that was a lot of fun."

In 2000, Feinblum left Horizon, now the leading organic food brand in the United States, for his own new horizons as a director of Allegro Coffee and to become...