Stepheni Norton

Stepheni Norton is currently the Director of Product Management, Digital & Cloud Solutions at USDM Life Sciences. Before that, they were the Regional Food Safety Lead at Community Alliance with Family Farmers from April 2018 to September 2020. They were also the Farm and Food Small Business Advisor at South San Diego SBDC from February 2018 to August 2020.

Norton has always been passionate about food and farming and started their career working for a California-based nonprofit that builds sustainable food and farming systems. There, they offered compliance expertise for providing food safety support to small and medium-sized family farmers via workshops, webinars and 1:1 meetings. They also trained PSA Growers to understand the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) standards and the importance of recordkeeping.

In 2018, Norton started working for South San Diego SBDC as the Farm and Food Small Business Advisor. There, they provided current and aspiring entrepreneurs with a variety of business consulting aid to set up their startup growth strategies via manufacturing assistance, financial packaging and & lending support, business compliance lessons, and procurement & contracting aid. They also developed the Business of Farming (BoF) curriculum to help fill the gaps between hands in dirt farming classes and business school via an agri-business training program. Lastly, they offered mentorship to ensure the economic viability of the next generation of farmers.

Stepheni Norton's educational career includes a Bachelor of Science in Business and Management from Pepperdine University, a Masters of Professional Studies in Business from The Culinary Institute of America, and a Train-the-Trainer Integrated Course in FSMA from Produce Safety Alliance (PSA). Stepheni has also attended the Postharvest Technology Center Skills Enhancement for PSA Grower Trainers course at University of California, Davis, as well as EcoFarm, Women's Conference: Shaping the Future at National Farmers Union, PSA Grower Training Course at Western Growers Association, Small Farms Program at Cornell University, Sustainable Agriculture at California State Polytechnic University-Pomona, and Where TED meets Burning Man at Echo. Additionally, they are a Veteran Entrepreneur Series graduate of the Institute of Entrepreneurial Leadership at John F. Kennedy University and has completed a Business Plan Validation course at Unreasonable Lab San Diego, powered by ImpactSD.

Stepheni Norton works with Bob Lucchesi - VP, Global Regulatory Compliance, Quality Assurance & Auditing, John Petrakis - VP, Cloud Assurance, and Jay Crowley - VP, Medical Device Solutions & Services. Stepheni Norton reports to Kevin Brown, CEO & Co-Founder.