Niel Campbell
Niel Campbell joined Seattle Chocolate Company as its president in August of 2003. Since then, he has played a crucial role in effectively overseeing and managing manufacturing operations for the company. To date, Campbell has guided the company to triple in size and scaled the infrastructure and capacity to keep pace. He has moved the company into a facility that is three times the prior size without missing a beat, and he instituted a KANBAN, which is a Japanese inventory management system that keeps pace with the company’s 150+ SKU’s and thousands of customers, while keeping the product fresh and reducing waste at season’s end.
In September 2008, Niel was named to the National Confectionery Association’s (NCA) Chocolate Council. The Chocolate Council 's mission is to serve as the voice of the American chocolate industry, and through research, education and information, works to ensure a continued supply of cocoa and consumption of high value and quality chocolate products for the American people. The Council also provides direction to NCA on matters involving the global cocoa supply chain. CEO Jean Thompson said, “Niel’s enthusiasm and passion for Seattle Chocolate Company never cease to amaze me and are contagious among all our employees. The NCA chose well in electing Niel to serve on the Chocolate Council because he cares deeply about the industry and category and will generously share his experience and energy with all the council members.
Niel was instrumental in the overall conception and design of JTruffles, a new brand of artisan chocolate ganache truffles launched in September 2009. Niel provided expertise as both the engineer in the structural design of these unique pyramid shaped truffles and the chocolatier who crafted the fresh cream chocolate ganache centers and their distinct flavor profiles.
Campbell spent 11 years at Microsoft Corp. as a member of its international product development team serving in Europe, Malaysia, China, and Thailand prior to joining Seattle Chocolate Company. He has a BS degree in Engineering from BYU.