Brian Thompson is a Senior Marketing Manager at Schwan’s Company, leading the frozen pizza brands of Freschetta, Sabatasso, and Hearth & Fire – the company’s newest pizza brand and its first entry into the super-premium segment. Brian started his career at Target Corp in Merchandising, before moving to an internal consulting role focused on unique yet intuitive opportunities for profit improvement. From there, Brian transitioned to external consulting, contracting exclusively with Best Buy to understand market trends and consumer behavior while sitting within the company’s Enterprise Strategy group. He took the next two years to pursue his MBA full-time at the Carlson School before joining Schwan’s and spending the next several years on various brand teams, including Red Baron. Brian’s interest areas include foundational brand building, competitive strategy, and leveraging the ever-evolving landscape of marketing technology to drive consumer love and loyalty.