Gary Chartrand

Advisory Board Member

Retired, ExcelinEd

Gary Chartrand is the former CEO and Executive Chairman of Acosta. Acosta is a leading full-service sales and marketing agency, providing outsourced sales, merchandising, marketing and promotional services to manufacturers and retailers in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry. Under his leadership, Acosta became the first national Sales and marketing agency in the country covering all 50 states .Acosta expanded services into Canada by acquiring four regional sales and marketing firms to form a North American network. Gary has served on the Board of Directors of the Grocery Manufacturers Association. He has served on several Advisory Boards for the consumer products companies represented by Acosta. Gary received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the State of Florida in May 2001, and was named to the Supermarket News Power 50 list from 2003 to 2009, indicating the 50 most influential people in the industry. Gary currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Chartrand Foundation, Tom Coughlin Jay Fund Foundation, The Florida Education Foundation, The Foundation for Excellence in Education , The IDEA Public Charter Schools and Great Hearts public charter schools in Florida and is the former Chair of the State board of Education. He is also an enthusiastic supporter of the Catholic Charities, Guardian of Dreams Catholic schools, and the Diocese of St. Augustine. Gary is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire. He resides in Ponte Vedra Beach with his wife, Nancy. They have two children, Jeffrey and Meredith and four grandchildren .