Beverage Marketing Corporation

Leadership

Main Content
Bellas

MICHAEL C. BELLAS

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Michael C. Bellas is founder, Chairman and CEO of Beverage Marketing Corporation, a strategic consulting and research firm specializing in the worldwide beverage industry. He has been a leading spokesman, consultant, writer, editor and speaker in the beverage community for more than 35 years.

Mr. Bellas is founder and opening-day speaker of the most significant industry conference of recent years, The Beverage Forum. He is quoted regularly and frequently in publications ranging from The Wall Street Journal and The New Times to Fortune, Forbes, Business Week and other major publications worldwide. He has also appeared on numerous television programs including 48 Hours, Moneyline, Fox News, Power Lunch, Market Wrap, This Morning's Business, CNN, BBC, Financial News Network and CNBC. He is a past Contributing Editor of Beverage World magazine and past author of the magazine's regular "Worldview" column.

Mr. Bellas has provided strategic and long range planning counsel to most of the leading beverage companies in each of the key beverage segments. He has led numerous client engagements involving new growth initiatives, market entry planning, brand development/revitalization, domestic and international marketplace assessments and sales/distribution strategy development. He also has led numerous M&A, company and brand valuation and due diligence engagements. He has extensive international experience having executed numerous assignments in Latin America, Europe and Asia. Previously, he launched his firm's annual series of definitive U.S. and international market reports on major beverage categories, as well as statistical services and the annual Beverage Marketing Directory, all of which have become industry-standard information resources. These publications have included:

  • Soft Drinks in the U.S.
  • New Age Beverages in the U.S.
  • Beer in the U.S.
  • Fruit Beverages in the U.S.
  • Bottled Water in the U.S.
  • Wine & Spirits in the U.S.
  • Hispanic Market for Beverages in the U.S.
  • Imported Beer in the U.S.
  • Specialty Beer/Microbrewery Market in the U.S.
  • Single-Serve Fruit Beverages in the U.S.
  • RTD Tea & Coffee in the U.S.
  • Milk and Dairy Alternative Beverages in the U.S.
  • Soy Beverages in the U.S.
  • Wellness and Functional Beverages in the U.S.
  • Sports Beverages in the U.S.
  • Energy Drinks in the U.S.
  • The Immediate Consumption Beverage Marketplace in the U.S.
  • Juice & Smoothie Bars in the U.S.
  • Milk & Dairy Alternative Beverages in the U.S.
  • Private Label Beverages & Contract Packing in the U.S.
  • Vending/Visicooler Market in the U.S.
  • Beverage Contract Packing in the U.S.
  • Beverage Foodservice in the U.S.
  • Beverage Packaging in the U.S.
  • E-Business in the New Beverage Marketplace
  • Multiple Beverage Marketplace in the U.S.
  • Multiple Beverage Marketplace in Canada
  • Multiple Beverage Marketplace in Asia
  • Multiple Beverage Marketplace in India
  • Multiple Beverage Marketplace in China
  • Multiple Beverage Marketplace in Latin America
  • Global Multiple Beverage Marketplace
  • Global Bottled Water Report: A Worldview
  • Global Beer Report: A Worldview
  • Global Tequila Market

Mr. Bellas has addressed several national and international trade organizations including the World Beer and Drinks Forum, the International Bottled Water Association, the Capital Roundtable, the National Beer Wholesalers Association, the International Fruit Beverage Congress, the International Beverage Industry Exposition (InterBev), the Global Bottled Water Congress and the Dairy Food Industry Supply Association.

He has spoken on various issues and written numerous articles on the multiple-beverage marketplace. These include:

  • Re-Imagining The Beverage Landscape (Beverage Forum, 4/17 – Chicago, IL)
  • How We Craft Innovation and Transformation In The Digital Age (Beverage Forum, 4/16 – Chicago, IL)
  • On The Cusp Of A New Beverage Era- The Continual Shaping and Reshaping Of An Ever Evolving Marketplace (Beverage Forum, 4/15 – Chicago, IL)
  • Seeking Success In An Era of Evolution – How Changing Values And Demographics Are Altering The Beverage Landscape (Beverage Forum, 5/14 – New York, NY)
  • 20 Years Back, 20 Years Ahead – The Evolution of the Beverage World (Beverage Forum, 5/13 – New York, NY)
  • Big Data, Big Changes – Big Competitive Advantages (Beverage Forum, 5/12 – New York, NY)
  • Moving Past the Recession and Enabling Future Growth (Beverage Forum, 5/11 – New York, NY)
  • U.S. Beverage Market Update and Look Over The Horizon (WBWAO, 9/24/10
  • Entering The Post Recession Recovery And A Look Over The Horizon (Beverage Forum, 5/10 – New York, NY)
  • Beverages In A Challenging Economy: Where We Stand & Where Can We Go (Beverage Forum, 5/09 – New York, NY)
  • Creating Enduring Beverage Success (Beverage Forum, 5/08 – New York, NY)
  • The Shifting Beverage Marketplace: The Role of Packaging (The Packaging Conference, 2/08 – Las Vegas, NV)
  • North American Growth Bottled Water Growth and Segmentation (Global Bottled Water Congress, 9/07 – Mexico City, Mexico)
  • The Future of Thirst (Beverage Forum, 5/07 – New York, NY)
  • The Evolving U.S. Beverage Landscape (WBWAO, 9/12/06
  • Defining Terms – Breaking Beverage Boundaries (Beverage Forum, 5/06 – New York, NY)
  • Shifting Consumer Trends in Beverages (Capital Roundtable, 1/06 – New York, NY)
  • Shifting Consumer Soft Drink Trends (World Beer & Drinks Forum, 9/05 – Munich, Germany)
  • Pinpointing Topline Growth in a Micro-Marketing World (Beverage Forum, 4/05 – New York, NY)
  • Defining the Future . . . Change and More Change (Beverage Forum, 5/04 – New York, NY)
  • Making Strategy for a Different World & Making it Work (Beverage Forum, 5/03 – New York, NY)
  • Winning in an Era of Hyper-Competition (Beverage Forum, 5/02 – New York, NY)
  • Reinventing Competitive Advantage (Beverage Forum, 4/01 – New York, NY)
  • Reaching the Consumer, Around the World and Down the Street (Beverage Forum, 4/00 – New York, NY)
  • Bottled Water: End of a Golden Decade and Prospects for the New Millennium (International Bottled Water Association – 11/99 – New Orleans, LA
  • New Basics in a New Beverage Millennium (Beverage Forum, 5/99 – New York, NY)
  • Functional Excellence in a New Competitive Environment (Beverage Forum, 5/98 – New York, NY)
  • Positioning for Profitable Growth as A New Century Dawns (Beverage Forum, 5/97 – New York, NY)
  • The Beverage Innovation Imperative (Beverage Forum, 4/96 - New York, NY)
  • 1995 Bottled Water Update & Issues for the Future (International Bottled Water Association Conference, 10/95 - San Antonio, TX)
  • Where Are All The Beverage Industries Going? (Beverage Forum, 5/95 - New York, NY)
  • The 21st Century Beverage Industry (Beverage Forum, 5/94 - New York, NY)
  • The New Beverage Revolution - How Big & How Profitable (NewBev '93 Conference, 5/10/93 - New York, NY)
  • In the World of Beverage Distribution; The Future Has Arrived Early (Beverage Industry/Stevens Associates Distribution Conference, 11/13/91 - Chicago, IL)
  • Key Trends Facing the Beverage Industry of the 90's (Carbonated Beverage Institute, 5/23/91 - New York, NY)
  • Playing to Win in the Global Beverage Market (International Beverage Industry Exposition, 10/90 - Chicago, IL)
  • 2005 Beverage Competition - A Whole New Ball Game (Ohio Wholesale Beer & Wine Association Convention, 9/11/89 - Toledo, OH)
  • Fruit Beverage Consumption and the Competitive Environment Today and Tomorrow (International Fruit Juice Congress, 2/23/88 - Orlando, FL)
  • The Changing Competitive Nature of the U.S. Bottled Water Market: The 1990's and Beyond (International Bottled Water Association Conference, 1986)
  • Coke's Awesome Bottler Network and What It Will Look Like in the Year 2000 (Beverage Industry Magazine, May 1986)
  • Extending Beer Wholesaler Options: New Brewery Products (International Beverage Industry Exposition, 10/07/86 - Dallas, TX)
  • The Changing Beverage Consumer, Implications For Beer Wholesalers (National Beer Wholesaler Association Annual Convention, 10/16/85 - Atlanta, GA)
  • The Brewers and Their Strategies in a Market Under Siege (International Beverage Industry Exposition & Congress, 11/12/84 - Chicago, IL)
  • U.S. Soft Drink Bottler Sales & Concentration (Beverage Industry Magazine, 1983)
  • Beer Wholesaler Sales Concentration: Implications for the 1980's And Beyond (NSDA Annual Meeting & International Beverage Industry Exposition, 11/30/82 - Atlanta, GA)

Mr. Bellas is a past Contributing Editor of Beverage World Magazine and authored the regular "Worldview" column. Following is a list of the articles authored by Mr. Bellas for the magazine:

  • Convulsions Everywhere, June 1992
  • Get Your Share of Stomach, August 1992
  • Six Keys to Success, October 1992
  • Distribution & Merchandising: The Next Big Cost-Cutting Challenge, December 1992
  • Going Global, But Where?, February 1993
  • Beverage Prospects in Eastern Europe, April 1993
  • The Biggest Market of Them All, June 1993
  • China: Great Walls to Climb, August 1993
  • A Continental Opportunity, October 1993
  • Tectonic Shifts, December 1993
  • Where Will The Next Big One Come From? Anywhere!, February 1994
  • Look Out: Here Comes Snapple!, April 1994
  • Partnership: Key to International Success, June 1994
  • Private Label: Passing Storm or Wave of the Future, August 1994
  • New Pressures on Beverage Pricing, October 1994
  • Immediate Gratification, December 1994
  • The Era Of Change Has Only Begun!, January/February 1995
  • Coping with Higher Packaging Prices, March/April 1995
  • Success, Failure and the Difference, May/June 1995
  • The Challenge of Creativity, July/August 1995
  • The Beverage Industry: Bellwether of maturing global marketplace, Sept./Oct. 1995
  • Information: The New Core Competency, November/December 1995
  • What's the Value of a Creative Idea Today? Far Greater than ever Before!, January/February 1996
  • The Challenge of Innovation, March/April 1996
  • Four Key Steps in Building a Successful Innovative Company, May/June 1996
  • Will Nutraceuticals Fulfill their Global Promise?, July/August 1996
  • Soft Drinks: Worldwide Beverage Powerhouse, September/October 1996
  • The Changing Role of Beverage Packaging, November/December 1996
  • Coca-Cola's Surge enters the High-Energy Sweepstakes, January/February 1997
  • The Giants Show their Muscle, March/April 1997
  • Look Who's Going Global Now!, May/June 1997
  • A New Approach, July/August 1997
  • ERP: The Global Giants' New Managing Tool, September/October 1997
  • A New Report on the Worldwide Beer Market, November/December 1997
  • Coping with the Asian Surprise, January/February 1998
  • De-Massification: a Tectonic Shift in World Business and Industry, March/April 1998
  • Fundamental Changes, May/June 1998
  • Functional Excellence, July/August 1998
  • Rising Waters, September/October 1998
  • Africa Emerges, November/December 1998
  • What's a Four-Letter Word for Juggernaut?, January/February 1999
  • Upping the Ante in Soft Drinks, March/April 1999
  • The Era of the Internet, May/June 1999
  • Facing Product Recall: Four Critically Important Moves, July/August 1999
  • And Now --- Customer-Specific Marketing, September/October 1999
  • Building Brand Value: The 4-Level Hierarchy of Product Benefits, Nov/Dec 1999
  • A Weapon for the Marketing Wars, January/February 2000
  • The Big, Wonderful World of Beverage Packaging, March/April 2000
  • The New Consumer: Informed, Demanding, Ubiquitous, May/June 2000
  • Beverage Marketing in the Era of the New Consumer. July/August 2000
  • Management's Role in the Era of the New Consumer, September/October 2000
  • The Innovation Imperative: Now More Crucial than Ever, November/December 2000
  • The Innovation Imperative: Reinventing the Company, January/February 2001
  • The Innovation Imperative: Making it Happen, March/April 2001
  • Beer vs. CSDs: Routes to Concentration, May/June 2001
  • New Strategies in the Struggle for Competitive Advantage, July/August 2001
  • New Corporate Strategies: In Pursuit of Competitive Advantage, Sept./Oct. 2001
  • Pursuing Corporate Advantage: The Models to Come, November/December 2001
  • Beverages that Deliver More than Refreshment, March/April 2002
  • Getting Your Share, June 2002
  • An Era of New Challenges, September 2002
  • The Bottled Water Surge, December 2002
  • Pricing: A New Paradigm, February 2003
  • Increasing Cash Flow Through Revenue Management, March 2003
  • Making Strategy for a Different World, June 2003
  • It's All in the Execution, September 2003
  • The Road to (Brand) Evolution, October 2003
  • A Bold, New Move, March 2004
  • For the Health of It, May 2004
  • The Customer is Always Right, September 2004
  • The New Packaging Marketing Revolution, October 2004
  • Beverage Innovation: A Three Ring Circus, February 2005
  • Ingredients for Growth May Be Found Inside CSDs, March 2005
  • Micro-Marketing in the World of Beverages, May 2005
  • With Micro-Marketing Comes Narrowcasting, June 2005
  • In Distribution, One Size Fits Few, August 2005
  • The Three I's: Innovation, Information & Inspiration, September 2005
  • The Wide World of Sports Allows Beverages to Compete, February 2006
  • Multitaskers: Try a Hybrid Beverage, March 2006
  • Defining Terms and Keeping Score, May 2006
  • Motivational Need States and How We Need To Think, June 2006

Mr. Bellas was born into the beverage industry; his family established and operated two multi-beverage alcoholic distributorships in Ohio. A graduate of Yale University, he holds the Juris Doctor degree from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Columbia University, where he was a McKinsey Scholar. Before establishing Beverage Marketing Corporation in 1972, Mr. Bellas was a Staff Consultant and Project Manager for Cresap, McCormick and Paget, New York-based management consultants.

Read full bio »

 
Brian Sudano

Brian Sudano

Managing Partner

Brian Sudano is Managing Partner of Beverage Marketing Corporation and BMC Strategic Associates. Mr. Sudano's experience covers nearly the entire beverage industry, from energy drinks to wine, with special expertise in beverage alcohol by virtue of varied industry experience and broad range of projects. Mr. Sudano manages several major clients, providing on-going strategic and market advise, while leading projects in strategic planning, market entry analysis and planning, sales/distribution, business modeling, brand repositioning and international opportunity assessment. Mr. Sudano is regularly quoted in the leading global business publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, Forbes and The Economist. He has spoken at many beverage industry events, and is a contributing editor at Beverage World magazine.

Before joining, BMC, Mr. Sudano was with Constellation Brands, a leading US beverage alcohol company, where he held the position of VP Business Processes responsible for creating a corporate operations and consulting function to service Constellation's wine, spirits and beer businesses. This group was responsible for guiding improvement in business performance across all areas of the Corporation. While in this role, Mr. Sudano lead the due diligence and transition efforts for entering the premium wine business and provided corporate oversight for the integration and transition of the Black Velvet distillery and brands. Other activities included oversight of business risk management and covering issues such as promotional effectiveness to performance metrics.

Prior to Constellation Brands, Mr. Sudano was with Joseph E. Seagram & Sons for 10 years. At Seagram, he held various positions including leading efforts in business development, mergers and acquisitions, strategic planning, and finance. Mr. Sudano identified and negotiated several strategic alliances and business transitions resulting in significantly improved business performance. Mr. Sudano lead Seagram's entry into beer business, organizational realignments and business integration and expansion strategies, etc. Within Finance, he held several positions including CFO for a business unit.

Mr. Sudano received an MBA from Rutgers Graduate School of Management, a magna cum laude and honors graduate from Delaware Valley College receiving a BS and a New Jersey CPA.

Read full bio »

 
Robert Chapman

Robert Chapman

Chief Financial Officer

Robert Chapman is the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Beverage Marketing Corporation. He has been associated with BMC since 1978, when he joined the company as controller. Prior to joining BMC he worked as a staff and senior accountant at regional accounting firms. He is also President and Chief Operating Officer of KMC Corporation. A magna cum laude graduate of the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Chapman became a certified public accountant in 1978.

He is a member of the American Institute and the Ohio Society of Public Accountants, Past Chairman of the Franciscan University Board of Advisors, Chairman of the JB Green Team, Chairman of the Community Improvement Corporation, and a member of the Foundation Board of the Trinity Health System. He is a resident of Steubenville, Ohio where he lives with his wife, Sharon, and is the father of two sons, Robert Jr. and Matthew.

Read full bio »

 
Gary Hemphill

Gary Hemphill

Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, BMC Research

Gary A. Hemphill is Managing Director and COO, Research at Beverage Marketing Corporation. In that role, he directs the company's extensive information products and services, consisting of a comprehensive North American beverage database, Market Reports, Directories, State Tracking Services and customized information consulting projects.

Mr. Hemphill has worked to develop and manage two beverage databases: DrinkTell™, the only comprehensive U.S. beverage database; and the All-Channel Database, the only detailed channel analysis beverage database. In addition, he has created and maintained proprietary beverage industry information systems for clients in the U.S. and Canada -- helping to provide clients with the overall insights they need to make their strategic, planning and marketing decisions that are critical to their success.

Beverage Marketing publishes more than 30 industry-standard Market Reports and directories that cover the multiple beverage markets. The company's wide range of respected U.S. reports cover soft drinks, bottled water, milk, beer, fruit beverages, New Age and functional beverages, wine, spirits, beverage packaging and more. In addition, the company publishes a select group of international reports targeting key growth markets. He has also worked to create a Canadian bottled water tracking service.

Mr. Hemphill has more than 25 years experience in the beverage industry. Previously, he served as editor of the trade publication Beverage Industry and he also directed new product publicity for the Pepsi-Cola Company where he contributed to a range of assignments. Previous to those positions, Mr. Hemphill held various newspaper writing and editing positions.

Mr. Hemphill is widely quoted in the press and has often been interviewed on both TV and radio on issues of critical importance to the beverage industry. He has spoken at a range of conferences, conventions and industry events including InterBev, the Beverage Forum, the NAMA (vending) trade show, the FMI convention, World Juice, the International Dairy Show and many others.

Mr. Hemphill holds a bachelors degree in journalism from The Ohio State University and resides in New York City.

Read full bio »

 
Jose Martinez-Robles

Jose Martinez-Robles

Senior Vice President, BMC Strategic Associates/Managing Director Latin America

Mr. Martinez-Robles joined Beverage Marketing in March of 2006 with several years of experience in the beverage industry, as well as management consulting and financial advisory services. Mr. Martinez-Robles' experience since joining Beverage Marketing encompasses a number of projects aimed at identifying key strategic issues, market and brand opportunities as well developing value creation strategies. Clients include leading global and regional beverage companies as well as private equity firms.

Assignments have included competitive analysis, consumer and market trends analysis, market entry strategies and financial assessment, among others. He has also contributed to client's strategic decision making through recommendations on trends within the U.S. Hispanic markets. He is also responsible for the firm's Latin American consulting practice.

Prior to joining Beverage Marketing, Mr. Martinez-Robles occupied several senior positions at InBev (formerly Interbrew), the world's largest beer company: Area Director-Americas Global Market Development, where he was responsible for a number of leading European beer brands in the US as well as market development activities for the U.S., Mexico and Central America: Managing Director, Business Development for InBev USA and Vice President at Labatt Breweries of Canada where he was responsible for Labatt-Interbrew's relationship with FEMSA (Mexico's second largest brewer) as well as business development activities for the Americas.

Prior to InBev, Mr. Martinez-Robles was Managing Partner at EQUITUM, a financial and strategic advisory firm in Mexico City, where he provided advisory services to clients within the beverage, transportation and real estate sectors. Prior to this position, he was a Director at N M Rothschild & Sons, where over the course of 9 years he provided merger, strategic and restructuring advisory services to major corporations and governments throughout Latin America. He also worked during three years as management consultant with McKinsey & Company within the chemicals, telecommunications and oil and gas sectors.

Mr. Martinez-Robles, a Mexican national and US resident, holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BS in Chemical Engineering from Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico City).

Read full bio »

 
Charlene Harvey

Charlene Harvey

Director of Sales and Marketing, BMC Research

Charlene Harvey is Director, Sales & Marketing for Beverage Marketing's Research Group. In this role, she works with Beverage Marketing clients and prospective clients to help them determine which of Beverage Marketing's 30+ market reports, databases, custom research or strategic and tactical consulting services can best help them meet their needs in a timely, cost effective manner. Ms. Harvey regularly acts as a liaison between clients and the various functional groups within BMC to ensure the right BMC team members are involved in any given project. Her understanding of client “wish-lists” and ability to match those against existing BMC products vs. the need for custom research or consulting services have resulted in the development of a number of BMC products including BMCDataDirect™ and BMC's All-Channel Beverage Database™ which was initially developed as a custom project.

Ms. Harvey also oversees development of the company's collateral materials and advertising. She is active in reaching out to industry participants through the development of relationships and alliances with trade associations and participation in various industry trade shows and events. Over the years, Ms. Harvey filled a number of roles at BMC including project director of electronic services. In that position she was charged with working with programmers to develop feature sets and design of BMC products that would utilize the latest technology but be streamlined and easy for non-technical users to manipulate. A number of these BMC products continue to be widely used, including BMCDataDirect, BMC's CD products and the downloadable internet version of the Beverage Marketing Directory. Ms. Harvey has also been responsible for reaching out to industry professionals through the introduction of vehicles such as BMC Weekly StatLine, the industry's first free electronic newsletter and more recently, BMC Monthly SnackLine. She also spearheaded development of the company's earliest website. In past years she was also involved in the company's press relations activities.

Prior to joining Beverage Marketing, Ms. Harvey worked as a marketing and public relations consultant for GCI Corporate and Financial, the corporate and financial public relations subsidiary of Grey Advertising. As an account executive and later, account supervisor, she helped clients with their internal and external communication vehicles as well as crisis communication strategies. She also developed marketing materials, wrote position papers, by-lined articles and client newsletters and developed marketing and press strategies and campaigns for the agency's clients. This position honed her ability quickly analyze diverse client issues and needs and develop solutions tailored to their budgets and timeframes. This experience proved invaluable in enabling her to assist BMC clients and prospects at all levels in developing workable solutions to their issues.

Ms. Harvey has also worked with a number of start-up companies, helping them to develop business plans and marketing strategies, tactics and collateral materials. As a result, she has a keen understanding of the challenges faced by businesses in varying stages of development and the ways Beverage Marketing can help them. Early in her career, Ms. Harvey worked for SCM Corporation where she held the position of International Finance Analyst. She also worked in the financial policy department at the international conglomerate's corporate headquarters in New York City.

Ms. Harvey graduated magna cum laude from St. John's University with a bachelor of science degree in Communications and a minor in business administration.

Read full bio »

 
Andrew Standardi III

Andrew Standardi III

Director of Operations

Andrew Standardi III is the Director of Operations for Beverage Marketing Corporation. His duties include being the Editor and Researcher for The Beverage Marketing Directory, Director of Sales and Marketing for the Ohio Operations, writer for The Beverage Forum, and numbers analyst for the Statistical Tracking Services Division.

Prior to joining Beverage Marketing Corporation fulltime in 1995, his start in the beverage business occurred the day after he graduated from high school in the summer of 1991 where he worked seasonally for two years at Beverage Marketing Corporation. He also worked for one year seasonally while in college for Iron City Distributing Company in their warehouse learning the beverage distribution business.

Mr. Standardi is a 1995 graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville with a B.S. of Business Administration – Marketing and a 1997 graduate again from Franciscan University of Steubenville with a Masters of Business Administration. He also serves on the Career Services Advisory Committee at Eastern Gateway Community College in Steubenville, Ohio.

Read full bio »