General Partner & Managing DirectorDavid Taiclet
Dave has over three decades of experience in the food and agriculture industries. Before joining Lewis & Clark Partners, Mr. Taiclet served as President (Food Group) for 1800Flowers.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: FLWS), a manufacturer, distributor, and retailer of floral, food, and gift products with revenues exceeding $2BN. His responsibilities at 1800Flowers.com included an approximately $800mm revenue stream; 2,000 permanent and ramped to 10,000 employees seasonally; 3,000 acres of fruit farms; and eight food manufacturing, assembly, sorting and distribution facilities.
Prior to that, Dave served as Co-Founder and Co-Owner of Alpine Confections and Chief Executive Officer of Fannie May Confections Brands. Alpine grew from a $12mm entity to over $130mm before successfully exiting to 1800Flowers.com. He previously worked in the Strategy and Business Development Group of Cargill, Inc., an international marketer, processor, and distributor of food, financial, and industrial products.
Dave was raised in a small farming community in Indiana, where his family owned the local grain elevator, feed mill, seed dealership, fertilizer distributor, and railroad. Over the course of his career, Mr. Taiclet has been involved in 60+ M&A transactions and joint ventures.
Dave is currently the President of the Board of Governors of Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital Foundation in St. Louis, Missouri and is a member of the University of Notre Dame College of Science Advisory Council. He also serves on the boards of Ball Horticultural Company in West Chicago, Illinois and BlueNalu in San Diego, California.
He holds a B.B.A. in Finance and Business Economics from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from Harvard University. Prior to graduate school, Dave proudly served four years of active military duty, rising to the rank of Captain in the 4th Infantry Division of the US Army.