Managing Director of Solberg & Hansen AS in Oslo, Norway. Board member of Nordic Barista Cup and cupper at several COE competitions. SH was founded in 1879 and has good traditions for buying only the highest quality coffees available. Solberg & Hansen AS was the first lifetime member of ACE and is the only company to have purchased coffee at every Cup of Excellence auction since the beginning.

“SH have in addition to participating on the international jury with its staff also had representatives on the Advisory Panel of ACE. I am now hoping to be able to contribute on the ACE Board.”
 

A Note about COE from Kentaro Maruyama
 

Roberto Bendaña McEwan obtained a Masters degree in Business Administration from Richmond College in London, and a bachelor degree in Business Analysis from Texas A&M University, among other studies in finance and international economic policy. Today is the Executive Secretary of the Competitiveness Commission, a public private agency dedicated to foster economic growth and development in Nicaragua, focused in cluster development and the improvement of the business climate in the country

He served as Vice Minister of Agriculture, and Director General of Agricultural Policy within the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Executive Secretary of the Nicaraguan Coffee Board, and Consul General of the Nicaraguan Embassy in London. He was also Director General for Bilateral Cooperation within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is Past President of the Specialty Coffee Association of Nicaragua (SCAN) and member of the Coffee Exporters Association, has served as the Nicaraguan representative to the International Coffee Organization. He was also general manager of Bankoffe Corporation, as well as Executive Director of Bendaña McEwan & Associates, two vertically integrated coffee firms in Nicaragua.

A Note about Cup of Excellence from Roberto Bendaña
 

Bill is Co-founder of The Coffee Tree Roasters with his father, Bill Swoope Sr. CTR started as a roaster/retailer in 1993, with currently four locations in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Coffee Tree roasters has recently received very positive publicity as the roaster-retailer of choice in the Pittsburgh area. The Coffee Tree had the immense foresight to become the first United States Lifetime Member of ACE / The Cup of Excellence Program.

A Note about Cup of Excellence from Bill Swoope
 

Arvid Nordquist H.A.B. founded in 1884 is the leading gourmet roaster in Sweden with ten percent of the market. Philippe Barreca has been acting as a consultant for restaurant school and different education centers. He has also been a jury member for events organized by the Swedish specialty coffee association.

Pioneer Member of the Swedish Chapter of SCAE. WSET - International Higher Certificate in Wines and Spirits in 2008.
 

Stephen Hurst worked as an Executive Director of Coffee Trading at Goldman Sachs for eleven years from 1985-1996. In 1996, Stephen founded Mercanta The Coffee Hunters to supply the developing Specialty Coffee market in Europe. Mercanta purchased coffee in the first Cup of Excellence Auction in Brazil in 1999 and have since established a wide network of specialty roaster customers for Cup of Excellence. Stephen is past Chairman of Alliance of Coffee Excellence and has attended well over 10 Cup of Excellence juries. In 2003, Mercanta moved to a bespoke custom designed cupping laboratory just outside of London. Mercanta now have specialty roaster customers in twenty countries, having recently opened a North American operation. To further support educational developments in coffee – Mercanta founded a separate company; London School of Coffee, in 2004 to focus on wide ranging training and educational issues. Stephen is a Board Director for the Specialty Coffee Association of Europe and ex National Coordinator for SCAE UK. Stephen has appeared on the BBC and in a Financial Times article representing ethics, sustainability, market access and traceability in the Specialty coffee sector.
 

Bontain was one of the first Pioneer Lifetime Members of the program, and Yoshi has personally participated in over 20 competitions and auctions. An avid photographer, Yoshi might be one of CoE’s most valuable storytellers - not to mention his winsome and trilingual sense of humor. Yoshi sees the bridge that is built between coffee producers and consumers with each Cup of Excellence competition and hopes to improve the systems of communication at both ends of the spectrum. “I would like to try to find and construct the system to present CoE coffee tastes and background in order to get maximum recognition from both buyers and consumers.” With a majority of CoE award-winning coffee being bought at auction by Japanese companies, Yoshi’s voice on the board will be invaluable for the future of the Cup of Excellence.
 

Café Imports has been a Cooperating Importer for the Cup of Excellence program for years and Jason has helped tremendously with promoting CoE among roasters in the US. While he does see resolving some of the issues to increase US participation as a personal goal, Jason also has vision for the broader structure and strategies of ACE: to increase awareness and marketability of ‘national winners,’ to stimulate the membership into activity and to extend the reach of CoE and ACE outside of the coffee industry: “Marketing on a global scale takes a budget that we are unlikely to have, but can the Cup of Excellence get press in gourmet food and wine journals around the globe? How about a partnership with the Slow Food Movement, or likeminded socially conscious – aesthetically inclined organizations?”
 

In 1992 founded Montana Coffee Holding Limited which started out as a small business but has grown into a multi million dollar company, a recognized brand and employs over 250 people. Montana Coffee is the Specialty Coffee Industry leader in Russia. Alexandr’s experience also includes helping set up and manage joint ventures between major US and Russian Technology companies as well as multinational consumer products and natural resource companies.

He holds an MS in Electrical Engineering from Leningrad Polytechnic Institute. And is Chairman of the Board of The Organization of Coffee Manufacturers in Russia as well as Ukon LLC a business consulting company providing legal, IT and accounting help for medium and large Russian businesses. He is involved on the Boards of RusBrand-Association of Branded Goods Manufacturers in Russia as well as having served on the Presidential Committee in charge of the development of Russian Safety Standards for Coffee Production and Coffee as a Product. Aleksandr has been a feature in the Wall Street Journal, CBS News and Russian Business Publications as a business success story.

A Note about Cup of Excellence from Aleksandr Malchik