WHO’S THAT HANDSOME FELLOW
WITH THE SECRETARY OF STATE?
Why, it’s Sambazon’s own Ryan
Black, accepting the Secretary of
State’s Award for Corporate Excellence.
Sambazon received the
annual award for its efforts to
promote sustainable development
in the Brazilian Rainforest, while
improving conditions of the indigenous
population of the Rainforest
by marketing the açai berry.
EXECUTIVE MOVES
Constellation Brands, Inc. announced that Executive Vice President
and Chief Financial Officer Tom Summer plans to retire from his position
in May 15, 2007.
Brad Redenius, general manager of Judge & Dolph distributors in Peoria,
IL has been promoted to Vice President, General Sales Manager of
Griggs, Cooper & Company. Both are part of the Wirtz Beverage Group.
The American Beverage Association elected John E. (Jack) Pelo, president
and chief executive officer of Swire Coca-Cola, USA, as Chairman of
its Board of Directors. Other ABA officers elected were Dawn Hudson,
President of Pepsi-Cola North America, as Vice Chair, and Larry Young,
President and CEO of Cadbury Schweppes Bottling Group, as Treasurer.
Castle Brands Inc., promoted Robert A. Battipaglia to Vice President
Sales – Eastern Region.
The p.i.n.k. Spirits Company has named veteran distilled spirits executive
Lonnie Charleson as Executive Vice President, Sales.
Pernod Ricard USA appointed David Jackson as Vice President, Distribution
Strategy.
August A. Busch IV was named President
and CEO of the Anheuser-Busch Cos., Inc. effective
Dec. 1, 2006.
Centerra Wine Company announced the
appointment of Oren Lewin to the position
of Senior Vice President of Marketing for premium
wines.
The National Beer Wholesalers Association
(NBWA) announced that Betty Buck, president and owner of Buck Distributing
Co. Inc. in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, will be its 2006-2007
Chairman of the Board. Buck is the first female to hold the prestigious post
of NBWA Chair. Aldo Madrigrano, president of W.O.W. Distributing
Co. Inc. in Sussex, Wisconsin, was named Vice Chair.
FRESH START AT JANA
The picture is getting a bit clearer now for the
direction of the high-end Croatian water brand Jana.
Responsibility for importing the finely-balanced
– but struggling – artesian water, bottled and sourced at
an eponymous spring along the so-called “Balkan Riviera,”
has been assumed by Jana North America, a new company owned by the
brand’s Croatian parent, Agrokor.
Jana, long a dominant brand in its home country, has spent the past
two years struggling to gain shelf space alongside other elite water brands
like Voss, Evian and Fiji in the New York market, according to Momir
Stojnovic, the vice president at Jana North America. Without New York,
plans for national expansion were also in trouble. But all that has changed
now, according to company executives.
“We’re excited that Agrokor has decided to invest and create the
company,” Stojnovic said. “They’ve been in the water business for 175 years, and they’re making the effort themselves
because they didn’t want to subcontract out.
They wanted to control their own destiny and really
start bringing it into this country.”
Jana North America took over from Creative Enterprises, which
had the importation rights to Jana and also marketed Jana Skinny Water
– a Super Citrimax-enhanced appetite suppressant product – made with
Jana water. Creative, run by Michael Salaman, has left New York City
for Pennsylvania, where it will concentrate on finding a domestic
source for its product.
“The focus of our company is Skinny Water,” Salaman said.
“There really were two products, and we were just too de-focused to
do them both.”
SCANDAL IN LATROBE
LeNature’s Closure Tells Sordid Tale
It didn’t quite have the sturm und drang of Gomorrah, but there were,
nevertheless, plenty of biblical references contained within the sudden
implosion of Pittsburgh-area water company LeNature’s, Inc.
In late November, the company laid off 238 workers and stopped
producing its water, tea, and juice lines, apparently in anticipation of
a final liquidation. A guardian from Kroll Zolfo Cooper LLC, a crisis
management and turnaround firm appointed to manage LeNature’s, was
not holding out hope for its survival.
The fast demise of the company, which had recently leased a massive
secondary bottling facility in downtown Phoenix, began with revelations
made during investor lawsuits over owner Greg Podlucky’s unwillingness
to sell the business to larger companies.
It turned out that at least part of that reluctance was due to fears that
purchase offers would invite scrutiny of the company’s financial records.
Those records were shaky, indeed.
LeNature’s self-reported fast growth had made it a juicy takeover
target; unfortunately, that growth was also just plain made up, according
to investigators. What had been reported sales of $275 million in 2005
turned out to be closer to $20 million, while the company had accrued
$728 million in debt, according to filings from Kroll Zolfo.
During late October, the company’s Latrobe, PA facility was shuttered
to its executives as part of the dispute. Podlucky and his officers, including
several other family members, were locked out. But with the clock ticking
on the arrival of the Kroll Zolfo custodian appointed to handle the
business in their absence, Podlucky started destroying court-protected
evidentiary financial records, according to affidavits filed in the case.
Employees reported seeing the shredding of dump trucks’ worth of
documents, and Podlucky and his bodyguard running back and forth to
the shredder with even more documents.
But the really damning finds came when federal investigators opened up
a secret room in the Latrobe plant, turning up safes filled with gemstones
and watches, according to bankruptcy records. The postal service has now
added an investigative team on-site at LeNature’s, searching for evidence of
mail and wire fraud. As authorities
and investors trace the money, they
can’t help but wonder how much
of it ended up in Podlucky’s
massive, still-under-construction
home in exclusive Ligonier
Township, one that was
designed to include a hockey
rink, swimming pool and
5-car garage. Podlucky,
a devout Christian, had
also filed plans to build a
$20 million church near
the plant.
As of Dec. 1,
Podlucky had not
responded to media
calls for comment,
and the state
of Pennsylvania
was preparing to
help retrain laid
off workers.