The Supply Side briefs: Rubin exits Collective Bias, Hillshire adds jerky

• Rubin exits Collective Bias
Ted Rubin, the chief social marketing officer for Collective Bias, has walked away from the company he help build since April 2011.

Collective Bias noted in an email that Rubin’s position will not be replaced at this time.

According to LinkedIn, Rubin parted ways with Collective Bias in August and is a “free agent” at this time. He resides in New York City.

He is second high profile face to exit the social marketing company since it secured a $10.5 million investment from Updata Partners in April, an investment the company said would help it add 50 new jobs, 25 of those in Northwest Arkansas.

In June, CEO John Andrews left the company and was immediately replaced by Bill Sussman, who formerly served as vice president of retail development and marketing at Nickelodeon where he led the consumer products business for Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club.

Co-founder Amy Callahan continues to serve as chief operating officer and earlier this year she was named as one of 11 women entrepreneurs “who started amazing companies” by Forbes.

• Hillshire Brands acquires jerky business
The Hillshire Brands Co. announced the purchase of gourmet jerky maker Golden Island Jerky, a business based in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close by the end of September and is not expected to have a material impact on this fiscal year’s earnings.

“We are excited to add Golden Island to our strong portfolio of brands, as it provides an entry point into the attractive dried meat snacks category,” said Sean Connolly, president and CEO of Hillshire Brands. “This highly appealing category generates retail sales of more than $2 billion annually and has had 10% volume growth over the past two years.”

Hillshire Brands is a supplier to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. with a local sales office in Northwest Arkansas.