This year’s Michigan Marketing Club Symposium is unlike any we have had before. We’re excited to welcome not one, but two keynote speakers -- Angie and Dan Bastian, the co-founders of BOOMCHICKAPOP -- to the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business.Angie and Dan Bastian took a kernel of an idea and popped it into one of the fastest growing brands of natural popcorn. The duo will discuss how they disrupted the snack industry in an exciting conversation moderated by the University of Michigan’s very own Marcus Collins. It started in 2001 in their Mankato garage where Angie and Dan began popping kettle corn to sell at local markets, carnivals, and events. What began as a college fund nest egg for their children and a way to teach them the value of hard work has grown into a financially successful business with an incredibly meaningful brand. Angie and Dan wanted to provide a great tasting healthy snack, made from clean ingredients with nothing fake, but they also wanted to build a brand that speaks to women in a new way -- they wanted to respect and celebrate female consumers and encourage a positive relationship with food. This empowering and values-driven brand message is not surprising as Dan started as a high school teacher and Angie as a nurse, so serving and supporting others has always been core to them.Their profitable popcorn business with a powerful brand attracted two rounds of Private Equity investment and ultimately a strategic sale to Conagra Brands in the fall of 2017. Angie and Dan have both been recognized for their success, entrepreneurship, and contributions. Both have been recipients of the 2015 ACG BOLD Award for corporate growth, and they shared Connect Business Magazine’s 2012 Person of the Year award and appeared on the Martha Stewart Show. Dan was named St. John’s University Entrepreneur of the Year in 2014, and Angie’s has twice won Star Tribune’s Top Workplaces honor. Additionally, Girls Scouts Centennial celebration honored Angie as a pioneering Trailblazer. She is a 2015 Inductee to the Minnesota Women Business Owner’s Hall of Fame and was awarded Pioneer in Food of Women’s Entrepreneurship Day at the United Nations 2017. Angie has been featured in the Huffington Post, quoted in Forbes Magazine, and featured in the Wall Street Journal. More information about the Symposium can be found HERE.