Brief Biographies
Ian Goldey – Founder/President. Ian has twenty years experience as a private portfolio manager, thirteen of those at UBS Financial and Salomon Smith Barney. Ian was a Senior Vice President in the private wealth divisions for both Wall St. firms before starting his own RIA practice specializing in investment strategies and portfolio design. Ian is the originator of the Drink Saporé idea and has been shaping its direction and business strategy. He filed his first patent at age eleven and has been involved with numerous entrepreneurs and start-ups. He is best described as someone that thinks like an engineer, acts like an entrepreneur, and has interests ranging from gardening to global economics. Ian is involved in every facet of the company from product design to finance.
Ian Goldey – Founder/President. Ian has twenty years experience as a private portfolio manager, thirteen of those at UBS Financial and Salomon Smith Barney. Ian was a Senior Vice President in the private wealth divisions for both Wall St. firms before starting his own RIA practice specializing in investment strategies and portfolio design. Ian is the originator of the Drink Saporé idea and has been shaping its direction and business strategy. He filed his first patent at age eleven and has been involved with numerous entrepreneurs and start-ups. He is best described as someone that thinks like an engineer, acts like an entrepreneur, and has interests ranging from gardening to global economics. Ian is involved in every facet of the company from product design to finance.
Steve Bond – Founder/Vice-President. Steve has thirty years experience in product design and development, twenty of those at Mattel, with significant expertise in building prototypes. Steve’s knowledge extends from idea creation to production and scale and to final retail within the consumer space. He holds several patents for his various inventions. Steve serves as Vice-President of Drink Saporé in addition to his role as the lead for design and manufacturing. Steve has a deep appreciation for methodologies that drive simplicity and efficiency which has translated into significant improvements in making the Drink Saporé technology unique.
Scott Alderton and SAM Ventures – Investor/Adviser. Scott is a founding partner in the law firm of Stubbs, Alderton & Markiles, LLP. He currently serves as the firm’s managing partner and is a member of the firm’s executive committee. Additionally, Scott is co-chair of SAM Ventures, the firm’s venture capital and emerging growth practice group, and chair’s the firm’s interactive entertainment and video games group. His firm is well respected in the business community with a wide range of clients, including such high profile deals as the initial sale of Skype. His firm’s venture division was the first outside investment in Drink Saporé and they are therefore investors as well as our legal firm in various matters. Scott serves as an adviser to Drink Saporé and his contributions include strategy in addition to his legal expertise.
Neil Edwards – Investor/Adviser. Neil has over thirty years of financial and operational management experience with a strong background in technology and consumer products and services. He has extensive transactional, capital markets and board level experience in an executive role. He is professionally qualified in the US and UK, leading to a broad range of international business experience. Neil was formerly the CFO for Patagonia and most recently was the CFO at United Online with brands - NetZero, Juno Online, Cassmates.com and FTD. Neil serves as an adviser to Drink Saporé and brings with him extensive experience in scale, distribution, M&A, recurring revenue streams, logistics and more.
Seth Golden - Investor/Adviser. Seth has served the financial industry as an adviser and research analyst since 2008. Prior to 2008, Seth was a highly effective executive leader with Target Corporation, one of the leading U.S. retail operators. After leaving the retail sector, Seth began his career in the financial industry with Goldman Sachs before co-founding Capital Ladder Advisory Group. Seth has published several hundred pieces of analytical research, which have led to multiple business development projects with Fortune 500 companies as well as start-up enterprises seeking product placement in the market. As a retail and CPG industry expert, Seth serves as an adviser and intermediary for Drink Saporé with efforts geared toward establishing strategic relationships, production and quality assurance.
Martin Vermeulen – Martin is President of Tae Sung Europe, a manufacturing company headquartered in South Korea with facilities in three countries and operations throughout Asia. The 22,000 sq. foot manufacturing and production facility in Korea has capabilities that include injection machines, mold making tool and die, assembly, testing and other services. Tae Sung’s customers and past experience include numerous multi-national companies such as Toyota, Caterpillar, Hynduai and also companies in the drink dispensing space such as, Bevyz (now Keurig Kold), CooLinX, and Bonaverde Coffee.