Stephen C. Ruffini Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer
Stephen C. Ruffini has served as the Company's Chief Financial Officer since August 2006. From 2001 until October 2005, Mr. Ruffini served as the Chief Financial Officer of Hit Entertainment, plc a publicly traded (FTSE-250) UK-company. Hit Entertainment is the preeminent young children's entertainment company owning such brands as Barney the Dinosaur, Bob the Builder and Thomas the Tank Engine. From 1993-2001, Mr. Ruffini served as the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Lyrick Corporation and RCL Enterprises, Inc. privately-held companies based in Allen, TX owning both entertainment properties, as well as commercial printing and publishing operations. From 1984 to 1993, Mr. Ruffini was a Senior Tax Manager at Arthur Andersen & Co. Mr. Ruffini has an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin and a BBA from Southern Methodist University. Mr. Ruffini is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
Board of Directors
Jack Belsito Chairman
Mr. Belsito has more than 25 years of experience in the consumer products industry and over 20 years in beverages with companies such as Proctor and Gamble, Pepsi, Snapple, and Cadbury Schweppes. He most recently held the position of President Company Owned Distribution of Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages where he also served as part of the executive board. Prior to his current position, Mr. Belsito held positions of Chief Executive Officer of the Snapple Beverage Group and the President of RC Cola. Mr. Belsito has extensive experience in the beverage industry holding senior positions in Franchising, Marketing, Sales, Business Development and M&A. He has led the acquisitions of both branded companies and bottling and distribution companies.
Steven Solomon Director
Steven Solomon has served as the Company's executive Chairman since November 2007. Mr. Solomon joins the Company with more than twenty years experience in executive and director roles with public and private companies, with substantial capital markets expertise, along with mergers and acquisitions. He served as a director and President and CEO of Citadel Security Software from 1996 until its recent acquisition by McAfee, Inc. Mr. Solomon has also served as President and CEO of CT Holdings since May 1997 and as director of CT Holdings since February 1996. Mr. Solomon was founder and served as Chairman, CEO and a Director of Parago, Inc., an application solution provider and Internet-based business process outsourcer that provides an on-line suite of promotional offerings. From 2000 to 2006, Mr. Solomon also served as a director of privately-held River Logic, Inc., a company that creates and operates integrated networks of decision support tools, elearning solutions and ecommerce capabilities designed to enable decision makers to leverage knowledge and information to gain competitive advantage.
Gil Cassagne Director
Mr. Cassagne has more than 25 years of experience in the consumer products industry and over 20 years in beverages with companies such as Procter and Gamble, The Dr. Pepper Company and Cadbury Schweppes. He most recently held the position of Chief Executive Officer of Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages, a $5.5 Billion division of Cadbury Schweppes where he also served as part of the executive board of the $14 Billion multinational consumer products company. Mr. Cassagne has held numerous other positions within Cadbury including the Regional President of Asia Pacific and the President of Motts.
Charles Jarvie Director
Charles Jarvie has served as a director of the Company since August of 2007 and previously served as the Company's Chairman of the Board from August 2007 to November 2007. Mr. Jarvie has been a Partner of Beta Capital Group LLC, an investment group, since 2001 and a Managing Partner of Procter Partners, Inc., an investment group, since 1990. From 1980 until 1992, Mr. Jarvie held various senior management positions for New Era Beverage Company, a product company, Schenley Industries, Inc., a spirits company, Fidelity Investments Marketing Corp., a money management company and Dr. Pepper Company, a soft drink company. From 1959 until 1979, Mr. Jarvie served in several capacities for The Procter & Gamble Company, a consumer goods products company, with his last position as Group Vice President, Food and Coffee Products. Mr. Jarvie serves on the board of directors for numerous private companies as well as various charitable organizations.
Stephen C. Johnson Director
Stephen C. Johnson has served as a director of the Company since 2006. Mr. Johnson is a partner with Aspen Advisors, LP, an investment banking firm located in Dallas, TX. Mr. Johnson has been involved in investment banking and private equity for the past five years, both as a principal and as an advisor. Prior to joining Aspen Advisors, Mr. Johnson was a partner for 14 years with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, a national law firm with more than 850 lawyers worldwide. During Mr. Johnson's tenure with Gibson Dunn he specialized in advising businesses on a wide variety of legal issues including mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, private placements, joint ventures, going private transactions, restructurings and other financings and transactions. Mr. Johnson's experience includes transactions and general counseling in health-care, consumer products, financial services, sports, and real estate. Mr. Johnson was managing partner of Gibson Dunn's Dallas office and served on a number of the firm's committees. Mr. Johnson graduated from the University of Nebraska with a B.A., majoring in economics, and a J.D, with distinction. Mr. Johnson was an Editor of the Nebraska Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif.
James Carreker Director (1)(2)
James Carreker has served as a director of the Company since August 2007. Mr. Carreker served as the Chief Executive Officer of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts from 1988 to 2000, Trammell Crow Company from 1994 to 1996 and Wyndam International from 1999 to 2000. From 2002 to 2006, Mr. Carreker also served as Chairman of Bombay Company. Mr. Carreker served as the Chief Executive Officer of Bombay Company from 2003 to2006. Mr. Carreker currently serves on the board of CBRL Group, a publicly traded company. Additionally, Mr. Carreker has served as a trustee of the University of Miami, a member of the Miami Chamber of Commerce, the Chairman of the Dallas Housing Authority, an appointee by the Governor of Florida to the Florida Council of 100 and is a member of the Orange Bowl Committee. Mr. Carreker graduated from Oklahoma State University with a B.S. in Marketing and an MBA.
Kenneth Johnsen Director (1)(2)
Kenneth Johnsen has served as a director of the Company since August 2007. Mr. Johnsen currently serves as the Chairman of HG Food, LLC (known as Homemade Gourmet), a position he has held since April 2007. Mr. Johnsen was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Parago, Inc., a transaction processing company, from 2000 to 2006. He also served as President, Chief Operating Officer and a director of Metamor Worldwide, Inc., a publicly traded technology services company specializing in IT consulting and implementation, from 1996 to 1999. Mr. Johnsen's experience also includes 22 years at IBM where he held numerous general management positions. In addition, Mr. Johnsen currently serves on the board of Perficient, Inc., a publicly traded company. Mr. Johnsen graduated from Drake University with a B.S. in Business Administration.
Joe Bayern Director
Mr. Bayern has more than 10 years of experience in the consumer products industry and over 10 years in the consulting industry. He most recently held the position of Chief Strategy Officer of Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages where he also served as part of the executive board. Prior to his current position, Mr. Bayer served as the Director of Global Strategy of Cadbury Schweppes in London. Prior to Cadbury's, he worked at Snapple Beverage Group (1997-2003) where he held a variety of positions including, Senior Vice President of Operations, Chief Information Officer and Chief Strategy Officer. Mr. Bayern also led several M&A projects.
(1) Member of Audit Committee
(2) Member of Compensation Committee
