Did you know that Jim Koch, founder of The Boston Beer Company and brewer of Samuel Adams, travels to Bavaria each year to hand select the finest Noble hops for his brews? And that he tastes every batch of beer bottled? Jim’s passion for brewing quality, full-flavored beer and the desire to follow a family tradition led him to become the successful brewer that he is today. Making great beer is more than just his livelihood, beer is in his blood…in his briefcase…and more often than not, in his pocket.
Jim was born into an American family originally from Germany, with deep roots in brewing beer- first in Germany and then in St. Louis. For five generations, the men in the Koch family became brewmasters. At the time when Jim was looking to follow his passion, the brewing business was bleak. Small local breweries had closed all over the country and the industry’s mega-breweries were selling mass-produced, lighter beer. Jim’s father reluctantly retired from the beer business, and Jim went on to Harvard.
After graduating from Harvard, Jim took a hiatus from his graduate studies and followed his love of the great outdoors. He took a position teaching adventure skills for Outward Bound. For three years, he coached climbers into independence, urging them to muster the courage to face new challenges. Jim eventually returned to Harvard earning advanced degrees in both business and law, and on his second exit as a management consultant, he counseled the leaders of client corporations at the Boston Consulting Group. For six years, CEOs learned from Jim, and he learned from them.
Those learnings and his entrepreneurial spirit led Jim to the life-altering decision to start a business of his own. Convinced that he could find his niche in the competitive beer market, Jim followed family tradition and became a brewer. “My father thought I was crazy when I told him I wanted to start a brewery. ‘We’ve spent 20 years trying to get the smell of a brewery out of our clothes,’ Charles Koch said. I believed that it wasn’t in the clothes, it was in the blood. My dad shook his head, but at some level, he must have liked the idea, because he became my first investor,” Jim recalled. He also received from his dad the cornerstone of The Boston Beer Company: his great-great grandfather’s recipe for Louis Koch Lager.
With a determination to hand craft beer with a constant eye on quality and taste, Jim made his first batch of beer in his kitchen following the old brewing techniques. He insisted then, as he does now, that only the world’s finest all-natural ingredients will make the best beer, and that quality and flavor are the only standards worth pursuing. Jim wanted a beer brewed with American craftsmanship and pride. The recipe on that yellowed piece of paper from his father’s attic became known as Samuel Adams Boston Lager.
With a few bottles of beer, Jim made brewing a person-to-person business. When local distributors declined to carry the brew, he carried chilled bottles of his beer to bartenders around Boston and explained his idea. They thought the beer was unlike any other they’d tasted. They admired Jim for brewing the beer in small batches and keeping an obsessive eye on quality and flavor, rather than trying to compete with the larger brewers producing mass-quantity beer. They also thought naming the beer after Samuel Adams, a revolutionary thinker who fought for independence, made sense.
Needless to say, the beer caught on, and Jim built the business outward from his first accounts in Boston. Samuel Adams has won more awards in international beer tasting competitions in the last 20 years than any other brewery in the world.
Today, Jim’s passion to produce high-quality, flavorful beer continues. Jim still makes decisions based on quality and taste, not on costs. All eighteen distinctive styles of Samuel Adams beer are brewed with the same care and passion that was used when Jim brewed his first batch of Samuel Adams Boston Lager in his kitchen. Jim and the other brewers also enjoy challenging themselves to create brews that excite beer drinkers’ palates and push the boundaries in brewing.
As Jim looks back at the beginning of Samuel Adams, “making Samuel Adams Boston Lager and serving it to the most discriminating beer drinkers around the world is still the most compelling challenge I can imagine,” he reflects. “And, making it happen is the most fun you can have and still be working.” |
Massimo F. d’Amore was named Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo Americas Beverages in November, 2007. PepsiCo Americas Beverages has a beverage portfolio including PCNA, Gatorade, Tropicana, all of PepsiCo’s Latin American beverage businesses, and its North America PepsiCo Food Service division.
Previously, Mr. d’Amore was Executive Vice President Commercial for PepsiCo International, a position he assumed in November, 2005, after serving as President, Latin America Region for 4 years and SVP, Corporate Strategy & Development for PepsiCo for 2 years. Mr. d’Amore was also Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Pepsi-Cola International (PCI), a position he assumed in 1998 and Business Unit General Manager (BUGM), Turkey/Central Asia since 1999.
Prior to PepsiCo, Mr. d’Amore had a 15-year international career with Procter & Gamble in Operations, Marketing and General Management in Europe and North Africa.
Mr. d’Amore is a native of Italy and an engineering graduate from the Swiss Polytechnic Institute in Lausanne, where he also earned a Master of Science Degree. He has lived in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Morocco, France and for the last 12 ½ years in the U.S. He is fluent in English, Italian and French; and has a working command of Spanish and German. He has three children and resides in Westchester.
PepsiCo is one of the world’s largest convenient food and beverage companies, with 2006 revenues of more than $35 billion. The company operates in nearly 200 countries, and employs more than 168,000 people worldwide. The PepsiCo portfolio includes 17 brands that generate $1 billion or more each in annual retail sales. |
Kim Jeffery is President and Chief Executive Officer of Nestlé Waters North America Inc. based in Greenwich, Connecticut. He oversees the largest bottled water company in North America with 9,000 employees, 25 plants, and over 100 facilities.
Mr. Jeffery joined the Company in 1978 as Central Division Sales Manager. Over the following years, he advanced to lead posts in Sales, Marketing, and Operations progressing to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer before assuming the Company’s top position in 1992.
For 29 years, Mr. Jeffery has been at the vanguard of the rapidly growing bottled water industry. When Mr. Jeffery joined the Company, shortly after its inception, Perrier was the only brand marketed. Since then Nestlé Waters North America has developed into the leading bottled water Company in America. With sales of more than $3.8 billion in 2006, the Company holds seven of the top ten U.S. brands including Poland Spring, Arrowhead, Deer Park, Ozarka, Zephyrhills and Nestle Pure Life. Nestle Waters N.A. is also the leading bottled water company in Canada. The Company also owns and distributes imported brands Perrier, Acqua Panna and S. Pellegrino.
Today, Nestlé Waters North America controls over 34% of the bottled water category in America and is three times larger than the closest competitor and controls over 40% of the PET segment which is the largest and fastest growing.
A native of Wilmette, Illinois, Mr. Jeffery received a B.A. degree from Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan. Prior to joining Nestlé Waters, Mr. Jeffery held sales positions with Kraft Foods and the Pepsi Cola Company. Mr. Jeffery is dedicated to charitable activities related to children and is an avid golfer. He, his wife Mary, and their four young children live in Greenwich, Connecticut. |
Born: June 10, 1958; Canandaigua, NY
Education: Skidmore College, bachelor’s degree, Phi Beta Kappa, 1981;
Pace University School of Law, juris doctorate, law review, 1984.
Career: Rob Sands joined Constellation Brands in June 1986 as general counsel overseeing the legal affairs of the company, in particular its acquisitions. In 1993, he was appointed to the position of executive vice president and general counsel. In 1998, upon acquisition of the company’s U.K. division that Mr. Sands spearheaded, he was appointed to the role of chief executive officer of Constellation International, with responsibility for oversight of this division. From early 2000 through most of 2002, he served as group president with responsibility for Canandaigua Wine Company and the U.K. Division. In December 2002, Mr. Sands was appointed to the roles of president and chief operating officer with responsibility for the company’s two divisions, Constellation Wines and Constellation Beers and Spirits. In July 2007, Mr. Sands was named President and Chief Executive Officer of the company. He is also a member of Constellation’s board of directors.
Prior to joining Constellation, Mr. Sands was an associate with the Rochester law firm of Harter, Secrest & Emery.
Mr. Sands is also chairman of the board of trustees of the ViaHealth Health System, chairman of the board of New York Wine and Culinary Center, a member of the board and executive committee of the Rochester Business Alliance, and a member of the board of trustees of the F.F. Thompson Health System. |
Danny L. Strickland is senior vice president and chief innovation and technology officer for The Coca-Cola Company. Danny leads the company's worldwide innovation and research and development efforts and helps develop new products, packages and technologies to meet the demanding needs of consumers.
Danny comes to The Coca-Cola Company from General Mills where he was senior vice president, Innovation, Technology and Quality. There, he led a team of marketers and scientists in creating numerous new products and packages. He was instrumental in General Mills' growth through innovation, increased productivity and market leadership.
Prior to joining General Mills, Danny held several research and development, engineering and innovation roles in the United States and abroad at Johnson & Johnson, Kraft Foods and The Procter and Gamble Company.
Danny is a 1970 graduate of The Georgia Institute of Technology and holds a Bachelors of Science degree in chemistry. |
