Tierra Nueva Names Coke-veteran Ahmet Bozer to Board of Directors

Tierra Nueva Fine Cocoa, LLC, a Miami-based coffee technology and manufacturing company, announces world-renowned business growth leader Ahmet Bozer has joined Tierra Nueva’s Board of Directors, and will take an active role executing the company’s strategic plan alongside newly appointed CEO David Burke. Bozer was executive vice president (EVP) of The Coca-Cola Company until his retirement in March 2016, serving as the president of Coca-Cola International, where he was responsible for all units outside North America.

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Ahmet Bozer has joined the Board of Directors of Tierra Nueva. (Photo: Business Wire)

Ahmet Bozer has joined the Board of Directors of Tierra Nueva. (Photo: Business Wire)

Bozer joined The Coca-Cola Company in 1990 as a financial control manager in Atlanta, and moved to his native Turkey in 1992 as region finance manager. He joined the Coca-Cola Bottlers of Turkey in 1994 as finance director, and was named managing director in 1998. In 2000, Bozer rejoined The Coca-Cola Company as president of its Eurasia Division. During his time there, his responsibilities expanded from nine to 90 countries as president of the Eurasia and Africa Group, including Africa, India, Russia, the Middle East and Eurasia.

Bozer has led various business councils during his career, including U.S.-Brazil, U.S.-Pakistan and U.S.-Turkey business councils, and he is a founding member of The Coca-Cola Turkey Life Plus Foundation. He is committed to a variety of initiatives around youth development, and currently serves as president of the American Turkish Friendship Council, is a board member at the Turkish Philanthropy Foundation in New York, and holds various advisory board membership positions at Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business, where he acquired a master’s degree in business information systems.

“The traditional global coffee industry as we know it is ripe for disruption,” commented Bozer. “I am genuinely excited to take a leadership position in a firm like Tierra Nueva, which is clearly poised to initiate major industry changes by introducing new ingredients, new products and new product lines never before seen or imagined.”

“Ahmet’s expansive international experience, his reputation as an industry change agent and his vast global network of business associates and colleagues will play a major role in our strategic plan to redefine the coffee industry in accelerated fashion,” declared Christopher Ramonetti, Chairman of the Board of Tierra Nueva and managing partner and CEO of ProspEquity Partners, (PEP), an emerging private equity firm which has purchased a majority stake in Tierra Nueva.

TIERRA NUEVA SUCCESSFULLY USES 100 PERCENT OF COFFEE BEAN,
POTENTIALLY SET TO DISRUPT GLOBAL COFFEE MARKET

Tierra Nueva has successfully expanded into whole bean coffee processing, which has resulted in a variety of exciting products using 100 percent of the coffee bean. Whereby most companies try to squeeze more out of each bean to maximize output, Tierra Nueva redeveloped the process to use the whole bean – no waste. This process enables a proprietary 12-month shelf-stable coffee concentrate that can be used as a branded ingredient for a variety of large-scale applications, including frozen desserts, bakery, confectionery and ready-to-drink products.

The company has the potential to immediately disrupt the growing $74-billion global coffee market with its proven and scaled manufacturing and distribution process.

Tierra Nueva has product tested, piloted and nationally launched various formats for branded and privately labeled Coffee Thins™, Coffee Spreads and coffee ingredient products. It employs more than 80 at its 42,000-square-foot SQF3, kosher and Halal-certified facility in Miami. The coffee company was founded in 2009 as a chocolate manufacturing, packaging and distribution company in the U.S. Tierra Nueva pivoted to coffee in 2012 and has partnered with PEP to launch a coffee revolution that will rapidly scale Tierra Nueva’s worldwide market penetration.

“These are not just products,” Ramonetti said. “Tierra Nueva has created a coffee experience. No other company in the world has created an edible coffee product category like this, especially one that is environmentally responsible and has true global potential.”

PEP ECOSYSTEM EXPERTISE CREATES EXPANSION OPPORTUNITIES
FOR COMPANIES LIKE TIERRA NUEVA AND OTHER COMMUNITY-CONSCIOUS BUSINESSES

PEP utilizes its ecosystem of expertise and access to aggressively scale proven product or service offerings toward a major exit through initial public offering or strategic acquisition. It works intimately with family offices and other independent sponsor limited partners to identify and invest in growth equity in direct investment opportunities, generally between $3 million and $30 million.

The ecosystem allows PEP to source more and better deals through its team of portfolio companies, academic advisors and accelerators, and strategic partners. PEP leadership can identify and seize upon opportunities worthy of investment without ever placing a single bid.

“It’s about creating goodwill in the community, recognizing and capitalizing on people’s strengths, putting owners and leadership on a better path to next level growth, employing disruptive technology and leveraging our vast network of products, services, suppliers and channels for the greater good,” Ramonetti said. “In fact, the power of a positive community reputation is one of the major drivers of top-line growth. By focusing on shared beliefs, companies positively viewed within their communities attract and retain top-tier talent, are able to forge important relationships with civic leaders, thought leaders and the public.”

For further information regarding current investment opportunities, please contact PEP at info@prospequitypartners.com, and for more information on Tierra Nueva, please visit http://coffeethins.com/story/.