Born on the island of Cebu in the Philippines, Gerard’s first memory of cacao is playing among rows upon rows of cacao trees on one of his family's farms as a child. He remembers seeing first hand the positive impact thriving farms had on the lives of the farmers, their families, and the surrounding community as a whole. Inspired to carry on this family heritage, as a teen Gerard declared to his parents that he was going to become an agriculturist. But in an effort to ensure his financial success, he was persuaded to go to the US to finish his schooling and pursue other opportunities. Though he was young, a seed was planted in his mind, and he questioned why staying in the Philippines was discouraged. 

Having already earned a degree in accounting by the age of 18 back in the Philippines, he went on to finish his schooling stateside with a second degree in engineering. After many successful years building a career in Engineering, the desire to do more for the farming community he had seen as a child remained. Around 2010, during one of his annual trips back home to the Philippines an idea began to take shape. While visiting one of his family farms, he began to see cracks in the old system. The farming community he knew and loved was deteriorating. New generations were leaving to pursue more profitable career paths and the knowledge passed down by the generations of farmers he and his family partnered with was dwindling. He wanted to see these farming communities rejuvenated, and he was going to be a part of it. He felt he was finally in a position to build a business that would support and elevate the communities that made him. H&G Chocolate was founded upon this passion with a mission to support and elevate existing farmers while paving the way for proactive education and entrepreneurship for generations to come.

Helge is passionate about chocolate. He grew up loving Norwegian chocolate and has traveled the world sampling different chocolates from across the globe. He has come to believe that the best cacao in the world comes from small independent farms in the Philippines.

Building H&G Chocolate from the ground up, Helge comes with over 30 years of entrepreneurial experience across a wide range of industries. He has continually diversified his business and investment interests and is committed to building and developing businesses globally. He has a passion for early and innovative business development and is invested in a variety of enterprises in both high and low income settings. Helge now focuses on chocolate production and projects driving environmental and social equity for farmers and innovative young businesses.

A dual Norwegian-American citizen, Helge divides his time primarily between the US and Europe. He enjoys travel for both work and pleasure, regularly engaging in new adventures with his wife. In addition to his demanding and compelling business commitments, Helge prioritizes his family… and he eats chocolate regularly.

For David, business has always been a welcomed puzzle to solve; a source of learning where he can be creative and continually expand his skillset. Born in a small town outside of Versailles, France, David’s childhood revolved around his mother’s native French culture. Having spent years working in Couture, he attributes to her his creativity and love of the simple pleasures.

After many years within the food and beverage industry, ushering in immense growth for the companies he worked with and building his own financial acumen, he was on the lookout for an opportunity to start something from the ground up. For David, joining H&G Chocolate aligns with this mission. In some ways it brings his life full circle, reminding him of the values and lifestyle he was raised with as a child. In others it allows him to give back by collaborating, coaching and encouraging his Filipino farming partners. His goal is to create a sound business structure that is not only doing good, but doing so responsibly and in ways that sustain long term prosperity.

For the first seven years of his life, Lupine believed that he genuinely did not care for chocolate. Growing up on a hippie commune, surrounded by whole organic foods grown from the earth around him, it wasn’t until a class field trip to a Hershey’s factory did he try the real thing. Up until this point his well intentioned Mother had convinced him that carob and chocolate were the same thing.  Turns out, to Lupine, they were not. 

Born in Northern California’s Sierra Nevada foothills, Lupine spent the majority of his childhood surrounded by artists and visionaries who pushed back at the status quo. Championing sustainable and regenerative practices on the homestead, Lupine grew up deeply connected to the earth and people around him. After finishing school he went on to pursue his own artistic endeavors landing him in the highly competitive advertising world of San Francisco. Though surrounded by technology and big business, Lupine brought his values with him in an effort to change the system from within. Having spent decades successfully helping brands hone their visual aesthetic and brand guidelines Lupine found a partnership with H&G Chocolate to be a unique opportunity. Here he is able to bring both his advertising expertise and his sustainable values to the forefront to champion a brand that has a direct and positive effect on the communities, people and farms from which the chocolate is sourced. 

Sarah has always been in search of a story, every day, all day. Born into a family of academics and artists, she grew up fascinated by the power of storytelling and good conversation, family slideshows being the ultimate in these experiences. Each slide and accompanying story would somehow magically build a connection to places Sarah had never been, people she’d never met. Inspired by this phenomena, at a very young age Sarah began creating her own hand written books, carefully illustrating images onto each page to help elaborate on the story. These early, playful exercises spurred a lifelong pursuit of expression. Beyond just being entertaining, Sarah was finding and actively building a conduit for connection and knowledge sharing.

Not seeing the type of creative work she aspired to do available in her hometown, Sarah left in her early twenties to pursue a career in the advertising industry. While supporting herself through school by working for a myriad of small businesses, her aspirations became crystalized. She wanted to help businesses and brands pull out and express their unique visions, just like she had as a kid. After earning a multidisciplinary degree in art and entering the commercial art industry she proved to be uniquely adept at delivering on this concept. Since then Sarah has gone on to help brands both big and small to tell their stories, blending strategy, creative writing and visuals together to entertain and educate. In joining H&G Chocolate, Sarah’s focus is on pushing and evolving how we tell brand stories. She is excited to develop the visual and linguistic elements needed to pay tribute to cacao’s earthly roots while exploring the infinite wonders of chocolate beyond.