With deep roots in the beverage business, the people and capital of First Beverage are 100% committed to the beverage industry — like no other financial firm in the country.

Our executive team and strategic partners have extensive knowledge of the beverage industry, family businesses, banking and capital raising and real estate acquisitions and finance. We take an integrated, comprehensive approach to every situation, bringing the best and most valuable resources to every customer relationship.

William S. Anderson
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, First Beverage Group

Having grown up in the beverage business, working in his family's beer distributorships, Bill founded First Beverage in 2005 in response to the industry's need for a dedicated, long-term capital partner. Today, the company owns more than two million square feet of beverage distribution warehouse space across the country and provides a broad range of financial services for the beverage industry.

Prior to founding First Beverage, Bill was executive vice president of Topa Equities, Ltd., a diversified holding company and beer distributor group based in Los Angeles, and the former president of Topa Properties, Ltd. Prior to joining Topa, he was an attorney with O'Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles.

Bill sits on the Board of Directors of Topa Equities, Ltd.; 1st Century National Bank, a Los Angeles bank which serves family-owned and closely held businesses; and Acacia Research Corporation, a public company that develops, acquires, and licenses patented technologies. He also sits on the Advisory Board of Lineage Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on partnering with family-controlled and owner-managed businesses. He is a former Board member of New Belgium Brewing Company (the makers of Fat Tire Ale). Bill writes an occasional financial column for Beverage World, a leading beverage industry trade magazine.

Bill received a B.A. from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine and a J.D. from the UCLA School of Law.

John Cornish
Chief Operating Officer, First Beverage Group
Vice Chairman, First Beverage Realty Partners

John Cornish is the chief operating officer of First Beverage Group and president of First Beverage Realty Partners. His responsibilities include overseeing the company's management and operations. In addition to his role at First Beverage, John also oversees the operations of New Urban Builders, a real estate developer of in-fill mixed-use products in northern California.

John's previous management experience was as director of Capstone Advisors' Northern California office where he was responsible for making equity and mezzanine investments in land development, entitlement, and home-building ventures as well as for the office's real estate financial advisory services, asset management and direct lending. Prior to Capstone Advisors, John was a Director with DB Real Estate, a division of the Deutsche Bank Group, where he was primarily responsible for business development in the Northern California region along with the oversight of asset management for the entire DB Real Estate development portfolio. John also served as COO of The Braemar Group, a real estate development company based in Los Angeles, where he oversaw the operations and management of the company and was directly responsible for all debt and equity relationships. He was also Western regional manager for Lomas Realty USA, where his responsibilities included acquisition, development and disposition of all property in the Western United States.

John received his bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Oklahoma.

Robert Klugman
Senior Advisor, First Beverage Group

Rob joined First Beverage's Industry Advisory Council in 2007 after holding senior roles at Coors and Molson Coors for well over two decades. He is widely recognized as one of the country's leading authorities on the beer business and especially on distributor-related issues.

Following a stint in advertising in Chicago, Rob joined Coors as director of marketing in 1979. After heading up a number of functions at Coors, in 1993 Rob became responsible for the company's strategic direction, both domestic and global, as well as for M&A. At the same time, he founded a distributor network function, which had the mandate of directing the evolution of the company's U.S. wholesaler landscape and which drove significant vertical and horizontal consolidation of the network. He oversaw this function until shortly before his retirement from Molson Coors, as chief global strategy officer, in 2005. He continued to consult to Molson Coors through the MillerCoors merger in mid-2007. (He led, on behalf of both prospective partners, transitional work on distributor matters for the proposed venture.) Rob continues to consult to various parties in the beer business, primarily on distributor matters.

During his tenure at Coors, Rob became very knowledgeable about wholesaler economics and practices and quite familiar with many individual wholesaler owners. He will, as he has over the past two years, serve the joint venture through his general insights on industry developments and specific thinking on investment opportunities. Rob has facilitated several investments in the past and is expected to continue to do so.

Rob graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College and was elected Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his M.B.A. from Harvard and was named a Woodrow Wilson fellow. He lives in Denver.

Sean O. McLaren
Managing Director, First Beverage Financial
Managing Director, First Beverage Group

Sean joined First Beverage in April 2009 with over 12 years of corporate and investment banking experience primarily in the beverage and franchise industries. He was most recently managing director, growth markets for GE Capital Franchise Finance and was responsible for growing GE's debt investment platform in the beverage industry. He is one of the preeminent beverage bankers in the United States and brings a deep knowledge of the industry and of beverage operator economics. In his role at First Beverage, Sean provides a wide array of financial services to the leading operators in the beverage industry and draws on his vast experience in providing capital solutions to beverage companies.

During his career in banking, Sean has originated and closed over $1.5B of new loan volume, and he maintains a broad network of beverage relationships which play a key role in sourcing real estate investment opportunities for First Beverage. His previous beverage, franchise, and banking experience includes positions as vice president & senior debt specialist of beverage finance with Bank of America; associate, capital markets structured leasing group with SunTrust Equitable Securities; and assistant vice president, corporate and investment banking with the franchise and distributor finance group of SunTrust Bank.

Sean received his bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Notre Dame and his M.B.A. with a concentration in finance and accounting from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

John O'Connor
Managing Director, First Beverage Financial

John O'Connor is Managing Director of First Beverage Financial and joined the company after having spent 14 years with Anheuser-Busch.

Prior to joining First Beverage, John was most recently Vice President, Wholesaler System Development at Anheuser-Busch, a role in which he focused specifically on wholesaler mergers and acquisitions.

While at Anheuser-Busch, John closed over 20 mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures of Anheuser-Busch wholesalers. John served as lead negotiator and managed due diligence and all technical resources necessary to close transactions including legal, environmental, engineering, tax and accounting. Additionally, he was responsible for leading a team of M&A specialists that during his tenure completed over 300 evaluations of third-party ownership changes of privately-held wholesalers. He also managed equity investments in six wholesalers generating over $750M in sales and led a team of consultants offering warehouse facility design and operations analysis services. John's extensive expertise in wholesaler M&A brings significant value to First Beverage and its clients.

John received his B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Missouri and his M.B.A. with a concentration in finance from St. Louis University. Prior to joining Anheuser-Busch, John held several finance and planning-related positions with McDonnell Douglas.

Ian D. Marksbury
Vice-President, Director of Acquisitions and Development, First Beverage Realty Partners

Ian has more than 20 years of experience in real estate acquisitions, development and asset management. Prior to joining First Beverage Capital, he was president of Eastfire Holding Company, an international real estate investment firm. He held the position of senior asset manager, Western Region, for First Industrial Realty Trust, one of the nation's largest owners and operators of industrial property. Previously, he served as regional marketing director of Dynamic Builders, Inc., a specialist in build-to-suit design and construction, with responsibility for ground-up development. He also was associate vice president and director of acquisitions for Realty Income, Inc., which acquires and manages single-tenant properties across the country.

Ian is a graduate of Pepperdine University, with degrees in business administration and economics. He is a licensed real estate broker in California and in 1986 joined the American Industrial Real Estate Association. He has also served as president of the San Diego Road Runners running club.

Mai Lai
Director of Finance, First Beverage Realty Partners

Prior to joining First Beverage, Mai was a director for Weintraub Financial Services, a real estate development company based in Malibu, California. In that capacity she analyzed and structured financing opportunities, acquisitions and entitlements. She was actively involved in over 40 acquisition and disposition transactions with a total value of over $500 million, including a 48-story mixed-use and residential condominium tower in downtown Los Angeles, a 250-room five-star resort in Malibu, a one-million square foot mixed-use project in Woodland Hills and a 1.5 million square foot retail power center in Palm Springs.

Previously, Mai was an investment banker with SG Cowen in San Francisco as well as with Merrill Lynch & Co. and Sanford C. Bernstein in Chicago.

Mai holds a B.A. from Wellesley College, an M.B.A. from the University of Southern California and an M.A. in psychology from the University of Santa Monica.

Michael S. Wong
Managing Partner, First Beverage Capital
Managing Director, First Beverage Group

Michael joined First Beverage in 2009 as managing partner, bringing with him more than 12 years of private equity experience. Prior to joining First Beverage, he was a principal at Leonard Green & Partners, a private equity firm with $9 billion of equity capital under management. Michael evaluated and oversaw investments in a wide variety of industries. Over the last few years, he was responsible for leading the firm's media, communications and entertainment effort. In addition to sourcing deals, Michael was also responsible for managing portfolio companies and executing transactions. Prior to Leonard Green, Michael was a senior financial analyst with The Blackstone Group's private equity division. Prior to Blackstone, he was a financial analyst, first at Salomon Brothers and later at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corporation.

Michael currently serves on the Board of Directors of AsianMedia Group LLC, a leading broadcaster of Asian language programming in the United States. Michael is a former Board member of Intercontinental Art, Inc., leading supplier of wall décor, and Werner Holdings, leading manufacturer of climbing products.

Michael holds a B.A. in business economics, with honors, from the University of California, Los Angeles and was elected Phi Beta Kappa.

Joth Ricci
Managing Director/Operations, First Beverage Capital
Managing Director, First Beverage Group

Joth Ricci joined First Beverage Capital in April 2010, immediately following his departure from Jones Soda Company, a publicly-traded beverage company known for its unique marketing, flavor and product portfolio. He was hired as Jones Soda's COO and promoted to President and CEO, and managed business in the US, Canada and other international markets. While at Jones Soda Joth launched several new beverage products and successfully restructured the company's marketing, sales and operations functions. He led the company to significant financial and productivity improvement, and directed the company through a process of strategic options evaluation prior to his departure.

Previous to Jones Soda, Joth was the General Manager of Columbia Distributing Company in the Pacific Northwest, a position he earned after serving in several senior management positions across the beer, wine and non-alcoholic business platforms. He was involved in all aspects of the business including brand management, service policy, human resources, acquisitions, strategic ventures, chain development and new business. Joth also spent nearly a decade in various sales and marketing management positions outside of the beverage industry with McNeil Consumer Healthcare/Johnson & Johnson. Joth brings significant sales, marketing and distribution expertise to his role as managing director of operations, and will leverage his experience to develop and manage the operations and strategies of First Beverage's portfolio companies.

Joth is a graduate of Oregon State University with a B.S. in business education.