Michael Weinstein is a beverage guy having spent 50 years in the industry. He began his career at the Pepsi-Cola Company in 1972 where he held various sales and marketing positions. From 1978-1981 he was Vice-President/Account Supervisor at Kenyon & Eckhardt Advertising in New York overseeing accounts including Coca-Cola new soft drink products and Taylor Wines. In 1981 he joined A&W Brands, a soft drink manufacturer, as VP Marketing and rose to President/Chief Operating Officer and Board member subsequent to an IPO in 1987. A&W was sold to Cadbury Schweppes in 1993, returning initial equity holders over 200x their original investment in 7 years. Between 1995 and 2000 he was CEO of the Triarc Beverage Group (TBG) which marketed multiple beverage brands including Snapple, Royal Crown, Mistic and Stewart’s. TBG had purchased Snapple from Quaker Oats for $300 Million in 1997 and was acquired by Cadbury Schweppes 3 years later for $1.5 Billion. Mike became Cadbury’s President of Global Innovation and Business Development in 2001, a position he held for 2 years before leaving to form INOV8 Beverage Group. In 2006, INOV8 launched Hydrive Energy drink which achieved distribution in 30,000 outlets and was sold in 2012 to Big Red, Inc. (which was subsequently acquired by Keurig Dr Pepper who now owns Hydrive). Since then Mike has been consulting in the beverage space and spends a lot of time doing wildlife photography.

Mike received a bachelor’s degree with honors in Economics from Lafayette College in 1970, where he was captain of the varsity swim team, and earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1972. He currently sits on the board of two private equity-owned beverage companies, Calypso Lemonade and Eska Water. Previously, he served on the Board of Directors of the H. J. Heinz Company (2006-2013), Dr Pepper Snapple (2009-2012), Bob Evans Farms (2016-2018) and Tampico Beverages (2004–2009). He teaches marketing classes at high schools in low-income areas for NFTE (Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship) and is a Section Secretary for the Harvard Business School. Weinstein was selected as Beverage Industry Executive of the Year in 1999 and was inducted into the Beverage World Hall of Fame in 2000.