Suja Life Names Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Strategy Officer

May 20, 2025

In the wake of Slice acquisition, Nicole Portwood hired to be new CMO and Saxon Seay is promoted to the company's first chief strategy officer.

Dave Fusaro

Suja Life, the parent company of Suja Organic, Vive Organic and recently Slice beverages, appointed Nicole Portwood as its new chief marketing officer and created its first chief strategy officer role, for which Saxon Seay has been tapped.

Portwood immediately came from Salad and Go, where she was CMO. She also held that title at Tito’s Handmade Vodka and earlier was a vice president of marketing at PepsiCo.

Seay has been with Suja 2.5 years as CMO, during which she drove double-digit growth for Suja Organic and Vive Organic, and relaunched Slice on a national stage. Prior to Suja Life, Seay held senior marketing roles at Coca-Cola Co.

In addition to Suja Organic’s cold-pressed juices and Vive Organic’s wellness shots, Suja Life this time last year acquired the Slice brand from PepsiCo. Slice was first launched in the 1980s, and despite a cult following by some consumers, the brand was discontinued in the mid-2000s. Suja has relaunched it as a functional, better-for-you soda.

AT TOP: Saxon Seay (left) and Nicole Portwood (right).

About the Author

Dave Fusaro | Editor in Chief

Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.