Beverage School Presentations + Networking

Beverage School: Understanding Retail Channels

• Bill Sipper

  , Managing Partner, Cascadia Managing Brands

  

  Bill Sipper

  Managing Partner, Cascadia Managing Brands

  BILL SIPPER is a food and beverage industry leader who has guided numerous brands from concept to commercialization to category leadership. He held senior and C Level positions at leading brands, including Evian, Nantucket Nectars, Fresh Samantha/Odwalla, Naked Juice, and Clearly Canadian. Bill’s strategic expertise and execution focus helped those brands succeed and can help your brand succeed. Bill has supported several brands through the process by consulting closely with client leaders as they consider a sale or acquisition. (Naked Juice was sold to PepsiCo, Fresh Samantha/Odwalla was sold to Coca-Cola, and Nantucket Nectars was sold to Ocean Spray). Bill has significant international experience and works with clients in Asia, Europe, South America, and the Middle East. He draws on this expertise to help international brands establish a presence in the US and to help US brands expand internationally. Bill is active in philanthropic causes: He served as president of Robert Kennedy Jr.’s clean water charity, Tear of the Clouds; was an advisor to The Walden Woods Project; and served on the Board of Directors of the National Osteoporosis Foundation. Bill has been featured on Food Network’s “Unwrapped” and the PBS documentary “The Water Wars.” He has been a featured speaker at the Columbia University School of Business, The Bottled Water Congress (Torino, Italy), the Pan Arab Congress on Osteoporosis (Tunisia), and at virtually every major US food and beverage show, including Natural Products Expo, BevNet, Nosh Live and more. His articles have appeared in leading trade publications, and he is frequently quoted in media, including The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, and the New York Times.   Cascadia Managing Brands has helped launch startup brands, including Liquid Death, Hint Water, Zico Coconut Water, C2O Coconut Water, Too Good Gourmet Keto Cookies, and more.  Cascadia also provides consultancy services to the leading soft drink and beer companies.

• Bill Sipper, Managing Partner, Cascadia Managing Brands

Beverage School: Financial Instruments for Growth

• Jeremy Halpern

  , Partner, Nutter, McClennen & Fish LLP

  

  Jeremy Halpern

  Partner, Nutter, McClennen & Fish LLP

  Jeremy Halpern is a Partner at Nutter, McClennen & Fish, LLP and the Co-Chair of its Emerging Companies Group and its Food and Beverage Practice Group. Jeremy’s practice focuses on emerging and mature operating companies, private equity, venture capital and angel financing transactions, mergers and acquisitions, commercial transactions, executive and team compensation matters, and general support for high growth and privately held companies in technology, life sciences, and consumer products. Concurrently, Jeremy is a member of the board of Naturally New England, a non-profit serving the natural and organic consumer product industry, and is a member of the Advisory Board for the UCLA School of Law Resnick Center for Food Law & Policy. Previously, Jeremy served on the Board of Directors and the Investment Committee of MassVentures, an early stage venture capital fund geared toward technology companies in Massachusetts, and as the founder of Edible Ventures, the nation’s first angel group specifically investing in high growth food and beverage companies. Jeremy was also previously a Director and the Executive Chairman of The Capital Network, a Boston-based nonprofit serving entrepreneurs seeking high growth capital. Jeremy was previously the co-founder of a company in the mobile technology synchronization space. Jeremy is a prior recipient of the Boston Business Journal’s 40 under 40 Award. Jeremy spent nine years teaching entrepreneurial leadership at Tufts University and has guest lectured at Babson, Harvard, Boston University, Tufts, MIT and Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). Jeremy received his B.A. from U.C. Berkeley, summa cum laude; phi beta kappa, and his J.D., from the UCLA School of Law.

• Jeremy Halpern, Partner, Nutter, McClennen & Fish LLP

Beverage School: Trademarks

• Amanda Roach

  , Officer, Greensfelder

  

  Amanda Roach

  Officer, Greensfelder

  Amanda Roach strategically advises clients in a variety of intellectual property matters including brand selection, portfolio strategy, trademark application prosecution, brand enforcement and defense, due diligence, anti-counterfeiting measures, and trademark maintenance. She has extensive experience in working on the trademark lifecycle with companies in more than 140 countries. Amanda has a reputation for building strong relationships with clients and using creative thinking to achieve their business goals. She recognizes how the needs of a Fortune 100 company are different from a start-up or non-profit and tailors her counsel to reflect appropriate strategies for each. During her career, Amanda has had the opportunity to work with clients in a variety of industries including food, dietary supplements, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, water reclamation, oil and gas, household goods and fixtures, employment, and entertainment. Amanda previously worked as an IP attorney at other Chicago-based law firms. In her most recent role before joining Greensfelder, she served as head of trademark prosecution.

• Angela Kalsi

  , Officer, Greensfelder

  

  Angela Kalsi

  Officer, Greensfelder

  As a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property group, Angela Kalsi advises businesses and individuals on a wide array of trademark, copyright, artificial intelligence (AI), design, trade secret, and licensing issues. Angela’s experience includes working with artists, start-ups, and Fortune 100 companies. No matter the client, she adapts her skill set to tailor an appropriate and robust IP protection strategy. Additionally, Angela has helped her clients enforce and defend their IP rights all over the globe, including in cases before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and before numerous international IP offices. When it comes to growing companies, Angela guides her clients in developing strong IP portfolios to best position them for their next stage of growth, whether it is a next round of funding or an M&A deal. From the buyer’s side, Angela is experienced in conducting thorough due diligence to identify all possible IP issues. Finally, Angela advises clients on the evolving IP issues implicated by new technologies, including NFTs, artificial intelligence (AI), and large language models.

• Amanda Roach, Officer, Greensfelder
• Angela Kalsi, Officer, Greensfelder

Beverage School: Beverage Design Basics

• Derek Springston

  , Chief Creative Officer, Moxie Sozo

  

  Derek Springston

  Chief Creative Officer, Moxie Sozo

  Derek Springston leverages more than a decade of design and brand building experience in his role as Partner and Chief Creative Officer at Moxie Sozo. Under his leadership, the Senior Creative Team has developed innovative, disruptive, inspired work for startups and global brands like Boston Beer Company, Campari America, Danone, and Suja. His portfolio includes projects across virtually every industry and media, from natural foods to luxury apparel and from packaging design to interactive. Derek got his start earlier than most, going to work in his parents’ small, family-owned print company at the age of 12. He has loved all things paper and ink ever since.

• Derek Springston, Chief Creative Officer, Moxie Sozo

Beverage School: Distribution Q&A - Inside DSD with Classic Beverages

• Matt Lukich

  , Director of Brand Development, Classic Distributing & Beverage

  

  Matt Lukich

  Director of Brand Development, Classic Distributing & Beverage

  Matt Lukich is Vice President of Brand Strategy for Classic Distributing & Beverage. He has more than 18 years of CPG beverage experience. He’s spent the last 10 years at Classic Beverage and before that worked at Boston Beer Company. In his role with Classic, Matt is responsible for all Brand Management, Pricing, National/Regional Account Call Points, working with the sales team on focus periods, prioritizing key selling objectives and benchmarking, building and sharing sales reporting to identify opportunities by category and class of trade, and driving strategy and long-term planning across a portfolio of products. Matt partners with field and execution teams to ensure the plans, tools and measurements are in place to deliver category and brand growth. He is responsible for building tools to drive trade standards for a portfolio of Classic’s brands, and oversees the implementation of marketing plans and campaigns, ensuring alignment with brand messaging at store level. He’s also responsible for margin enhancement and analysis of brands/skus.

• Matt Lukich, Director of Brand Development, Classic Distributing & Beverage

Beverage School: Early Stage Tinkering and Iterating

• Neil Kimberley

  , Consultant,

  

  Neil Kimberley

  Consultant,

  Neil Kimberley is an expert, who has been swimming with the beverage industry sharks over the past two decades. His background includes roles in Executive Management, Sales, Marketing, and Strategy at beverage companies of varying sizes, and a variety of beverage categories. Over the past 20 years, Neil’s work has included the rebirth of Snapple in the late 90s, the development of what is now the KDP distribution system, exploration of Protein beverages, and the growth of Essentia Water from being a niche health food to becoming a mainstream Premium Water – and the brand’s sale to Nestle in 2021. He has recently been involved with the start-up of a new Sparkling Water brand and was involved with Electolit’s change to KDP distribution.

• Neil Kimberley, Consultant,

Beverage School: Expert Round Tables

RTD Spirits Entrepreneurial Track + BevNET Cocktail Showdown

The Ready-to-Drink Spirits Revolution: Data and Statistics

• Jon Berg

  , Thought Leadership VP, Beverage Alcohol Vertical, Nielsen IQ

  

  Jon Berg

  Thought Leadership VP, Beverage Alcohol Vertical, Nielsen IQ

  Jon started his career working in sales for Pfizer but moved over to the Beverage Alcohol industry where he has been for the last 20 years. His recent work history has been with MillerCoors, Bacardi USA and Moet Hennessy. Jon’s roles have been focused on commercial insights development, category management, shopper research, and retail pricing design. His investigative work and primary consumer research has taken him to all the major US and Canadian markets, as well as global projects in Europe. Now within the Thought Leadership framework at NielsenIQ, Jon is working across BevAl segments to develop insights material that can support and help define NIQ client success. NielsenIQ is a global measurement and data analytics company providing the most complete and trusted view of consumers and markets in 90 countries covering 90% of the world’s population. Focusing primarily on consumer packaged goods manufacturers and fast-moving consumer packaged goods retailers, NielsenIQ gives customers the power to defy what’s possible.

• Kaleigh Theriault

  , Director of Thought Leadership, NIQ Beverage Alcohol Vertical

  

  Kaleigh Theriault

  Director of Thought Leadership, NIQ Beverage Alcohol Vertical

  Kaleigh has 8 years of NIQ experience and considerable background working with clients in multiple categories. She has been involved with the Beverage Alcohol category for the last four years working on Thought Leadership and client specific business questions and projects. Kaleigh brings a unique skillset of analytic capabilities, as well as commercial selling story creation, and has significant background in bringing consumer insights to the forefront in support of sales trends. She has been pivotal in the NIQ strategy and tactics for Beverage Alcohol as the industry changes and develops.

• Jon Berg, Thought Leadership VP, Beverage Alcohol Vertical, Nielsen IQ
• Kaleigh Theriault, Director of Thought Leadership, NIQ Beverage Alcohol Vertical

The State of Spirits Investment

• Taylor Foxman

  , Partner, Alethia Ventures

  

  Taylor Foxman

  Partner, Alethia Ventures

  Taylor Foxman - Veteran beverage alcohol expert with over a decade of experience, having worked for globally recognized wine, beer and spirit companies including most recently Pernod Ricard in addition to others such as Gruppo Campari, Boston Beer, Edrington Americas, Sidney Frank, Patron Spirits and Stoli Group. Currently Foxman serves as the Founder & CEO of The Industry Collective, the leading beverage and cannabis advisory firm for 55 emerging brands in these sectors as well as a co-host of two beverage and CPG podcasts and contributor for Rolling Stone on the convergence of culture, beverage and cannabis. She is also a Board Advisor for six venture capital firms investing in beverage, cannabis, underrepresented communities and beyond. As of Sept 2023, joined as Partner of Alethia Ventures (Stealth F&B Fund; 1st fund) and Associate Partner of MacArthur Capital – only female in both funds.

• Giuseppe Infusino

  , Chief Investment Officer, InvestBev

  

  Giuseppe Infusino

  Chief Investment Officer, InvestBev

  Giuseppe Infusino is a Managing Partner and the Chief Investment Officer at InvestBev, a multimillion dollar private equity firm that deploys growth capital to brands in the beverage, barrel, and beverage tech categories. He leads InvestBev’s investment sourcing, diligence, and structuring processes, and partners with portfolio companies to increase their likelihood of success. Prior to InvestBev, Giuseppe spent over a decade managing multi-billion-dollar portfolios on behalf of prominent institutional investors. He has successfully deployed over $1 billion across private equity and venture capital strategies. Giuseppe is on the boards of CANN, Speakeasy, and L’Uva Bella. He holds an MBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.S. in Finance and Real Estate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

• Mike Solow

  , Founding Partner, 99 Proof Partners

  

  Mike Solow

  Founding Partner, 99 Proof Partners

  Mike is a Founding Partner at 99 Proof Partners, a boutique private equity group providing capital and revenue enhancement solutions to high growth brands in the beverage alcohol industry. 99 Proof has become a thought leader in the space; trusted by brands, advisors, and investment groups alike. Mike and his partners leverage an extensive industry network, brand-building advisory background, and M&A experience to fuel capital deployment, brand growth, and exceptional returns for investors. Mike brings 20 years of business development leadership with a relentless focus on growth and scale, sales strategy, and customer retention to help organizations drive top line revenue growth. He has started and grown several companies, trained high performing sales teams, and successfully sold products and services for startups and Fortune 500 companies. Mike serves on a number of boards, and volunteers for several non-profits in Dallas. He also acts as a mentor to entrepreneurs across the US and has been an advisor to over 200 entrepreneurs as they established, capitalized, and grew their companies.

• Taylor Foxman, Partner, Alethia Ventures
• Giuseppe Infusino, Chief Investment Officer, InvestBev
• Mike Solow, Founding Partner, 99 Proof Partners

BevNET Live Cocktail Showdown

• Giuseppe Infusino

  , Chief Investment Officer, InvestBev

  

  Giuseppe Infusino

  Chief Investment Officer, InvestBev

  Giuseppe Infusino is a Managing Partner and the Chief Investment Officer at InvestBev, a multimillion dollar private equity firm that deploys growth capital to brands in the beverage, barrel, and beverage tech categories. He leads InvestBev’s investment sourcing, diligence, and structuring processes, and partners with portfolio companies to increase their likelihood of success. Prior to InvestBev, Giuseppe spent over a decade managing multi-billion-dollar portfolios on behalf of prominent institutional investors. He has successfully deployed over $1 billion across private equity and venture capital strategies. Giuseppe is on the boards of CANN, Speakeasy, and L’Uva Bella. He holds an MBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.S. in Finance and Real Estate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

• Grace Venus

  , President, Venus Research and Development

  

  Grace Venus

  President, Venus Research and Development

  Grace Venus is a leading independent product development consultant. Her expertise lies in formulation, concept development and custom ingredient sourcing. With over 20 years of experience in the food and beverage sector, Grace brings a vast knowledge on all aspects of this industry. Grace has supported hundreds of successful brand launches. Grace and her husband, Sean Venus, also opened a distillery in 2013 Venus Spirits. Although she is still dedicated working with her own clientele at Venus R&D, being a brand co-founder has allowed her the ability to have first-hand knowledge of the many challenges new brands face.

• Taylor Cathala

  , Senior Category Merchant – Spirits (US & Canada), Whole Foods Market

  

  Taylor Cathala

  Senior Category Merchant – Spirits (US & Canada), Whole Foods Market

  Taylor has worked in the adult beverage retail space for over 12 years and is currently the Spirits Senior Category Merchant at Whole Foods Market covering all US & Canada stores. When not reviewing fun and innovative products at work he enjoys spending time with his wife and son exploring all Sonoma County has to offer with its beautiful parks and running trails.

• Giuseppe Infusino, Chief Investment Officer, InvestBev
• Grace Venus, President, Venus Research and Development
• Taylor Cathala, Senior Category Merchant – Spirits (US & Canada), Whole Foods Market

BevNET Live Welcome Reception