01
Executive-Level Sales Leadership
Senior commercial leadership on a flexible basis—strategic direction, industry insight, and executional discipline without full-time overhead.
Commercial Leadership for CPG
Accelerate Revenue.
Build scalable growth.
We partner with emerging and growth-stage consumer product companies to accelerate revenue, strengthen go-to-market strategy, and build scalable commercial foundations. Extensive experience guiding international companies through successful U.S. market entry and expansion.
Chief Commercial Officer / Senior Sales-Level execution for early and mid-stage CPG brands.
01 — Who We Are
Senior commercial leadership, on demand.
1st Source Sales was founded to help emerging and growth-stage consumer product companies access the level of commercial leadership typically found in much larger organizations.
Led by a senior sales executive with extensive experience across global CPG businesses, we bring a proven track record of building and scaling revenue across mass retail, club, specialty, and e-commerce channels. Our background includes leading high-performing teams, driving multi-channel growth, and navigating the operational and financial complexities that come with scaling.
We understand firsthand the challenges companies face as they grow—balancing revenue acceleration with margin discipline, building the right team at the right time, and making critical decisions with limited resources.
02 — What We Do
Capabilities built to accelerate growth.
We partner with consumer product companies ($3M–$75M+) to accelerate revenue, improve profitability, and build scalable commercial infrastructure. Each engagement is tailored—use only what is most relevant to your business.
02
Strategic Growth Planning
Clear, actionable 1-, 2-, and 5-year revenue strategies aligned to your business goals, channel mix, and operational capabilities.
03
Product & Portfolio Optimization
Refine positioning and improve margin through product, packaging, and pricing strategies tuned to each channel.
04
AI Strategy & Commercial Enablement
Identify where AI drives the greatest impact across sales, marketing, and product—then implement practical tools that improve speed and insight.
05
AI Governance & IP Protection
Clear policies and safeguards to protect IP, align with IT/security, and enable responsible AI adoption across the organization.
06
Team & Organizational Design
Assess and build high-performing teams—roles, hiring strategy, and the right balance of internal and external resources.
07
Channel & Account Expansion
Unlock growth across retail and distribution by aligning product, pricing, and operational readiness with buyer expectations.
08
Objective Business Assessment
Unbiased, experience-based evaluation of your product, strategy, and team to support confident, data-informed decisions.
03 — Our Approach
An extension of your leadership team.
We operate as an extension of your leadership team—focused on delivering measurable outcomes that drive revenue, margin, and long-term enterprise value. Engage us for a single, high-impact initiative or as an ongoing strategic partner.
01
Rapid Business Evaluation
1–5 Days
Focused assessment with clear findings, gaps, and actionable recommendations.
02
Strategic Planning Engagements
Multi-week
Build or refine 1-, 2-, and 5-year revenue and go-to-market plans.
03
AI Strategy & Implementation
Ongoing
Identify high-impact AI applications and implement practical tools and workflows.
04
AI Governance & Policy
Project
Guidelines and safeguards to protect IP and enable responsible enterprise AI adoption.
05
Growth Initiative Acceleration
Targeted
New account entry, channel expansion, product launches, or turnaround situations.
06
Team Evaluation & Training
Project
Assess, upskill, and align sales and cross-functional teams to drive performance.
07
Fractional Executive Partnership
Retainer
Ongoing access to senior leadership for strategy, execution, and decision-making.
08
Interim Leadership Coverage
Coverage
Senior sales leadership for medical, parental, or transitional gaps.
About Our Founder
Marla Clark, Founder.
Marla Clark · Founder & Principal
Marla Clark is a senior commercial leader and growth strategist with a proven track record of scaling consumer product businesses across North America.
With executive experience across global organizations, she has driven meaningful revenue growth across a full spectrum of distribution channels—including mass, club, e-commerce, specialty, value, convenience, and omnichannel environments.
Marla is known for turning strategy into execution—expanding distribution, unlocking new revenue streams, and building scalable sales infrastructures that drive profitable growth. She brings a disciplined approach to aligning sales, marketing, and product development while maintaining strong focus on margin and operational efficiency.
She also stays at the forefront of emerging technologies and shifting market dynamics, leveraging AI-driven insights, automation, and evolving consumer pathways to purchase. From digital-first discovery to the rise of social and content-driven sales channels, Marla helps brands capitalize on critical market pivot points to stay competitive and grow.
Marla also brings extensive experience partnering with international consumer products companies to successfully enter and expand within the U.S. and broader North American market. Having worked with organizations based in China, the United Kingdom, and France, she understands the nuances of translating global success into local market performance. Her expertise includes evaluating competitive landscapes, aligning product and pricing strategies to U.S. consumer expectations, navigating complex retail channel structures, and defining the right U.S. organizational structure and staffing model within a global framework—while ensuring compliance, logistics, and operational readiness. This global perspective enables her to bridge the gap between international ambition and effective North American execution.
As the founder of 1st Source Sales, Marla partners with both emerging and established brands to refine strategy, unlock growth, and execute with precision. She works alongside a curated network of experienced professionals across sales, marketing, product, and operations—delivering flexible, scalable support without the burden of building a full internal team.
$3M–$75M+
Scaling Revenue Range
Omnichannel Growth
Mass • Club • Ecommerce • Specialty • Value • DTC
75+ Years
Combined Senior CPG Leadership
Leadership Reflection01/05
5 Questions Every Executive Leader Should Answer Before Scaling
Growth is not just about market opportunity — it's about whether your organization is truly built to scale. Many companies stall due to internal misalignment, outdated structures, or leadership blind spots.
Do you have complete transparency across your organization?
- Are senior leaders openly sharing challenges — or protecting their areas?
- Do team members feel safe raising issues before they become problems?
- Are you receiving unfiltered insight, or a curated version of reality?
Are you open to solutions that challenge your current model?
- Willing to rethink how things have always been done in your industry?
- Open to new go-to-market approaches, channels, or pricing strategies?
- Are decisions driven by data and outcomes — or by familiarity?
Do you have clearly defined revenue and profit targets?
- Specific, measurable goals across 12, 24, and 60 months?
- Targets tied to a clear execution roadmap across every team?
Want to go deeper?
Download the full leadership brief — Questions Every Leader Should Ask to Scale — for the complete framework, context, and reflection prompts.
→
Next Step
Contact Us
To set up a discovery conversation.