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Thank you for visiting New Leaf Brands. We believe we have the best tasting Tea on the market. Everything you want to know about New Leaf Tea is on this site.
WHITE TEA

Ginseng & Honey

Honeydew Melon
Strawberry
Tangerine
GREEN TEA
Ginseng
Mango
Plum
BLUE TEA
Lemon
Diet Lemon
Peach
Diet Peach
Raspberry
BLACK TEA
Mo-Tea-To - Lime & Mint
Sweet Tea
 
 
 
 


 

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Management and Board of Directors:

ERIC SKAE, Chairman of the Board, CEO and President - Mr. Skae was appointed President of New Leaf Brands in January 2009 and was appointed Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors in March 2009. Mr. Skae has served as a director since September 2008. Mr. Skae has spent the past nineteen years in the beverage industry working in senior-level sales, marketing and distribution roles. Prior to joining New Leaf Brands, Mr. Skae founded Skae Beverage International, LLC as Midnight Sun Brands, LLC in October 2002. During this time he created the New Leaf Brand and was also a partner with Pepsi Iceland developing Iceland Spring Water. During a 5 year period the Iceland Spring Brand became a leading brand in the Natural/Health Food Channel having national distribution. Mr. Skae sold his interest in Iceland Spring Water in November 2008. From 1999 to 2002, Mr. Skae worked as President and General Manager of Fresh Solutions, Inc., a Division of Saratoga Beverage Group. While there he was responsible for a $25 million distribution business as well as advising the CEO on the company’s sale to North Castle Partners. He also was responsible for the East Coast roll-out the Naked Juice brand. From 1997 to 1999, Mr. Skae was Director of Sales at Fresh Samantha Inc. where he managed 7 distribution centers and assisted the company to grow from $5 million in total sales to $45 million in 2 ½ years. From 1996 to 1997, Mr. Skae was Vice-President of National Accounts at Hansen Beverage Company where he secured and managed National Accounts such as Seven Eleven, Walgreen’s, Circle K, Publix, Giant Foods, Mobil, Chevron, Texaco and Quik Trip. He also managed all Canadian business. From 1993 to 1996, Mr. Skae was a Regional Manager at Arizona Beverages where he managed the Midwest and Mid – Atlantic regions. He started his beverage career as a distributor in Orlando Florida in 1991. Mr. Skae graduated from Northwood University with a Bachelors degree in Business Administration.

WILLIAM SIPPER, Chief Operating Officer – Mr. Sipper joined New Leaf Brands in January 2010. He is one of the food and beverage industry's bright stars, having held senior level positions at several top beverage marketers in the world. His market reach and depth of knowledge of the beverage industry includes North America, Asia, Europe, Central and South America. Prior to joining New Leaf Brands, Mr. Sipper was founder of Cascadia Consulting Group, a recognized consumer packaged goods consulting firm with deep expertise across all key areas of the food and beverage business including planning, sales, marketing, training, finance, operations, logistics, and general management. Prior to founding Cascadia, Mr. Sipper was Senior Vice President of Marketing at the Ultimate Juice Co. (A Division of North Castle Partners), which owned brands including Naked Juice, Zeigler's Apple Cider, Fantasia, Hansen’s Smoothies, and Saratoga Mineral Water. Prior to joining Ultimate Juice Company Mr. Sipper held senior sales, marketing, operations, and distribution positions at Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Keeper Springs (President), Nantucket Nectars (Director of National Sales), Fresh Samantha, (Odwalla) (Vice President of Sales, Marketing, Distribution and Operations), Chatham Beverage Company (Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Old Tyme Soda and Clearly Canadian). He began his career at Evian Natural Spring Water and helped pioneer Evian to its height in the United States, which in turn helped establish the premium bottled water category in America. Mr. Sipper has been featured on several episodes of the TV Food Network's "Unwrapped" and a PBS documentary "The Water Wars." He has been a guest speaker at Columbia University School of Business, and has given many speeches including addresses at the 3rd Annual Bottled Water Congress in Torino, Italy, the Pan Arab Congress on Osteoporosis in Tunisia, Natural Products Expo East (Baltimore), Natural Products Expo Asia (Hong Kong), Innobev US (New York), BevNet Live (NY and CA) and others. He has been quoted in several trade and consumer publications ranging from Beverage World, Barrons, NY Times and Brandweek to Playboy. Mr. Sipper's articles have been printed in Beverage Spectrum Magazine and Beverage Industry Magazine.

DAVID TSIANG, Chief Financial Officer – Mr. Tsiang was appointed Chief Financial Officer on January 7, 2010 and has been a director since June 2007.  Prior to his appointment to Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Tsiang was the Managing Director of Investment Banking at Northeast Securities, Inc.  Prior to joining Northeast Securities, Inc. in December 2001, he served as Vice President of corporate planning at the investment bank C.E. Unterberg, Towbin from November 1999 to October 2001, and Vice President/Senior Analyst with the financial services firm Ernst & Company from March 1991 to March 1998. Prior to working at Ernst & Company, Mr. Tsiang served in various capacities in commercial banking with the Barclays Bank of NY, The CIT Group and Howard Savings Bank (First Union Bank). Mr. Tsiang is a graduate of Ramapo College of New Jersey and is NASD Series 7 and 63 qualified.

TIM BROWN, Vice-President of Sales – Mr. Brown has been with New Leaf Brands since February 2009. Mr. Brown has over 30 years of sales and management experience within the beverage industry. He has an exceptional background fostering and managing relationships with high-level representatives of key customer and distributor accounts. Tim’s experiences come from Tradewinds Beverage Company and Hudepohl Schoenling where he served in all key positions from national Sales Manager beginning in 1985 and progressing to Vice President Sales from 2003 to 2008. Tim’s experience and positive relationships within the beverage industry is instrumental to New Leaf’s success in the Midwest and Western states.

PAUL BURLESON, Vice-President of Sales Northeast states–Mr. Brown has over 30 years of sales and management experience within the beverage industry. Paul’s experiences come from Tropicana, Coca Cola, Red Bull, Fresh Samantha.

ROB WELCOME, Vice-President of National Accounts–Mr. Welcome has over 20 years of sales and management experience, 10 of which was in the beverage industry. Rob’s sales and management experience also include from Ikon Office Solutions, Pliot Oil Corporation, Nabisco Biscuit Company and UPS.

ANDY STALLONE, Vice-President of Sales Southeast states – Mr. Stallone has over 20 years of sales and management experience within the beverage industry. Andy’s experience comes from Arizona Iced Tea, Nantucket Nectars, Red Bull, Fiji Water and Odwalla-Fresh Samantha, among others.


ROBERT H. GEIGES, JR., Corporate Controller - Mr. Geiges is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Cleveland State University. He has over 30 years of broad accounting and management experience with multi-billion dollar international businesses such as Drake International, The Thomson Corporation and several entrepreneurial companies. Prior to joining New Leaf Brands, Mr. Geiges was a consultant and managing member of Geiges & Associates LLC a strategic planning and financial consulting practice, with heavy emphasis on early stage businesses and turnaround opportunities. Prior to relocating to Phoenix, Arizona Mr. Geiges served as CFO for Clarion Management Ltd. a venture capital and hedge fund with primary focus in publishing, technology, information, and natural resources.

O. LEE TAWES, III, Director – Mr. Tawes has been a director since 2001. He is Executive Vice President and Head of Investment Banking, and a Director, at Northeast Securities, Inc. From 2000-2001 he was Managing Director of Research for C.E. Unterberg, Towbin, an investment and merchant banking firm specializing in high growth technology companies. Mr. Tawes spent 20 years at Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. and CIBC World Markets, where he was Director of Equity Research from 1991 to 1999. He was also Chairman of the Stock Selection Committee at CIBC, a member of the firm’s Executive Committee, and Commitment Committee. From 1972 to 1990, Mr. Tawes was an analyst covering the food and diversified industries at Goldman Sachs & Co. from 1972 to 1979, and Oppenheimer from 1979 to 1990. As food analyst, he was named to the Institutional Investor All American Research Team five times from 1979 though 1989. Mr. Tawes is a graduate of Princeton University and received his MBA from Darden School at the University of Virginia.

NEIL RUSSELL, Director – Mr. Russell has been a director since June 2007. He is President of Site 85 Productions ("Site 85"), a company formed in 2000 that is engaged in the creation and acquisition of intellectual property rights for exploitation across a broad spectrum of entertainment media, including motion pictures, television, video games and publishing. Mr. Russell is a former motion picture and television distribution executive with Paramount Pictures, Columbia and MGM/UA, where he handled pictures like "The Godfather," "Chinatown," "Death Wish," "Three Days of the Condor" and the James Bond films. He formed his first company, Horizon Entertainment, in 1983, which, after merging with Orbis Communications, was acquired in 1985 by Carolco Pictures, Inc., producers of such films as "Rambo" pictures and "Terminator 2." He was also founder and President of Carolco Television Productions (CTP) which produced high-profile television motion pictures for domestic and international exploitation. In 1991, CTP was acquired by Multimedia Entertainment, producers of Phil Donahue and Sally Jesse Raphael, and renamed Multimedia Motion Pictures with Mr. Russell remaining as president. When Multimedia was acquired by Gannett, Inc. in 1993, Mr. Russell purchased the assets of MMP and began aggressively acquiring intellectual property rights under his own banner. Since then, producing partnerships or licensing arrangements of rights owned or controlled by Mr. Russell have been made with Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Activision, Simon & Schuster, Tribune Entertainment, Scott Free Productions, MGM Television, Heyday Films, FP Productions, Touchstone Television, Hyde Park Entertainment, F/X Networks and others. Mr. Russell is currently engaged, through Site 85, with several major studios in the development of television series, motion pictures, video games and an action comic book series, all based on rights owned by him. He also authored the book, "Can I Still Kiss You?: Answering Your Children’s Questions about Cancer," which grew out of his own two successful battles with the disease. A graduate of Parsons College, Mr. Russell is a member of the Naval War College Foundation and a former board member of the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis.

SCOTT RICKETTS, Director – Mr. Ricketts has been a director since September 2008. Mr. Ricketts is the President and owner of RC Industries, Inc. whose primary holding is Mid's Pasta Sauces, located in Navarre, Ohio. Mid's is a high-end food manufacturing company specializing in premium Italian pasta sauces. Mid's products can be found in 2300 stores in 15 states. Mr. Ricketts began his career at the Amster Kirtz Company, an Ohio-based distributor of candy, beverage and food products, where he rose to the position of sales manager. In 1979, Scott left Amster Kirtz to purchase Ewing Sales, a small, Northeast Ohio food brokerage company. Over the next eighteen years, he built Ewing into a $100 million (sales) company handling lines from, among others, Procter & Gamble, Hunt-Wesson, Newman's Own, Fisher Nut and Cadbury. In 1997, he sold Ewing to a Detroit-based brokerage firm and purchased Mid's. Mr. Ricketts is the recipient of many regional and national food industry awards and has been a tireless fundraiser for charitable organizations throughout Ohio. He is also a former board member of the Canton Chapter of the American Heart Association and has sat on the Professional Football Hall of Fame Committee. He attended Kent State University and currently serves on the university's Athletic Board.

© 2009-2010 New Leaf Brands® All Rights Reserved. Updated on 04/15/2010
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