The Appointment
FINN Partners, one of the largest independent marketing and communications agencies by fee revenue, has named Janet Helm, MS, RDN to the newly created position of Head of Food and Nutrition Strategy, effective immediately. Helm will oversee strategic direction for the agency's food and beverage, agriculture and culinary travel client portfolios from a base in Chicago, drawing on FINN's 39-office global network.
The hire signals a deliberate build-out of specialized subject-matter expertise within a practice area that the agency identifies as fast-growing. FINN Partners has expanded from roughly $24 million in annual fees at its 2011 founding to approximately $200 million today, a trajectory driven by both organic growth and acquisitions across more than 1,300 professionals worldwide.
What Helm Brings
Helm arrives with more than 20 years at the intersection of nutrition science, brand communications and earned media — a profile that is relatively rare in agency leadership. As a registered dietitian and nutritionist, she has counselled food brands and agricultural commodity boards on nutrition positioning, sustainability messaging, stakeholder engagement and issues management. Her media footprint includes appearances on Good Morning America, the Today show and CNN, giving her direct experience translating technical nutrition narratives for mass audiences.
Outside agency work, Helm has held multiple leadership roles with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, including serving as a national media spokesperson — a credential that carries weight with clients navigating the increasingly scrutinised intersection of health claims and consumer trust. She is also active in the International Association of Culinary Professionals and Les Dames d'Escoffier, a global network focused on women leaders in food, beverage and hospitality.
"Janet brings a rare combination of scientific credibility and cultural fluency to our food and beverage practice," said Peter Finn, CEO and Founding Managing Partner of FINN Partners. He added that her depth would help provide a global perspective on the evolving conversations around food production and the forces shaping the future of the food system.
Industry Context
The appointment comes as food and beverage marketers face mounting pressure to substantiate health and sustainability claims under tightening regulatory scrutiny and heightened consumer scepticism. Agencies that can embed credentialed nutrition expertise directly into client strategy — rather than routing it through third-party consultants — hold a competitive advantage in pitching commodity boards, branded food companies and agri-food organisations.
FINN's move mirrors a broader trend in communications: specialist practices anchored by scientists and dietitians are becoming a differentiator as clients in the food and beverage sector seek to manage reputation risk alongside brand building. For foodservice and retail food clients in particular, having a strategist who can engage national media and conference audiences on nutrition issues offers measurable value in earned-media programming.
Helm's culinary travel remit is also notable. The crossover between food culture, destination tourism and premium ingredient storytelling is an expanding brief for agencies serving agricultural exporters and hospitality brands, a segment that Food & Beverage Magazine has tracked as a growth corridor for experiential marketing investment. For operators assessing agency partnerships in the agriculture and specialty food space, the integration of dietitian-led strategy into a full-service communications firm represents an increasingly common model worth monitoring.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
