BevNET is pleased to announce that Mike Ohmstede, the Senior VP of Portfolio Strategy and Investments for Coca-Cola’s Venturing & Emerging Brands unit, will speak during BevNET Live on the state of VEB as it finished its fourth full year in business. Ohmstede will speak on June 7 as part of the BevNET Live program in New York City at the Sheraton Tower Hotel.
Having helped build the team and the portfolio for VEB, Ohmstede will deliver a discussion of the key insights the unit has developed since going into business. His talk will center on what the team has learned in the past few years about what works and doesn’t work when it comes to incubating entrepreneurial beverage companies with an eye toward creating “the next billion-dollar brand.”
Ohmstede will also join the New Beverage Showdown judging panel.
Ohmstede began his career with Ernst and Young and then joined The Coca-Cola Company in 1992 in Houston, Texas, working for The Minute Maid Company as Vice President and Controller. He moved to a corporate finance position supporting financial and treasury services for The Greater Europe Group, before moving to Vienna, Austria, as the CFO for The Company’s Central Europe, Eurasia and Middle East Group in 1998. Following that, he assumed responsibility for finance supporting The Company’s largest business unit, Coca-Cola North America Retail and Marketing.
In June, 2007, Ohmstede assumed the role of Senior Vice President, Portfolio Strategy and Investments for North America’s Venturing and Emerging Brands Business Unit. In this capacity, he leverages his strategic finance and general business capabilities in helping to develop VEB’s overall business and portfolio strategy, and then executing it through the development of a series of new relationships, businesses, and economic models.
About BevNET Live
BevNET Live will return to New York City on June 6 & 7, 2011 for the latest installment, BevNET Live Summer 11 at the Sheraton Tower Hotel. Over the course of the two-day event, BevNET Live provides presentations from leading beverage executives, in-depth breakout sessions, a “mini-expo” of supplier and beverage exhibits, and ample networking time. The conference is attended by entrepreneurs, suppliers, distributors, retailers, investors and others who are interested in the cutting edge of the beverage business.