USA – Next Glass, a provider of software to the beverage alcohol industry, has made key additions to its executive team to grow the company’s technology and finance capabilities and expand its geographic footprint.
Next Glass has appointed Alison Hawkins as the company’s new Chief Financial Officer, Chris Herron joining as Chief Technology Officer, and Tom Maneschijn as Vice President of European Operations.
Coupled with an investment from Providence Strategic Growth in March, the company said that these new executive hires position its consumer-facing platform, Untappd for growth and global expansion as restaurants, bars and breweries begin to reopen.
Next Glass said that these hires will enable the company to scale its technological capabilities and offering, build out financial analysis and accounting capabilities required for rapid growth as well as to establish a formal presence in Europe, an area in which the company has experienced substantial growth in recent years.
Next Glass’s Chief Technology Officer, Chris Herron, joins the company after previous engineering leadership roles at Audible and, most recently, TripAdvisor, where he led software engineering and was a member of the leadership team for TripAdvisor Restaurants.
In his new role, Herron will be responsible for all technology under the Next Glass umbrella, including the Untappd app, Untappd for Business, Untappd Marketplace, and BeerAdvocate.
The company explained that Herron’s initial objectives will include growing the company’s engineering team, preparing systems and processes to enable rapid growth, and leading integration efforts for add-on acquisitions. Herron will be based in Boston.
Alison Hawkins joins the Untappd team in Charlotte, as CFO and will be responsible for the Company’s finance and accounting teams, assisting in due diligence of acquisition candidates, and leading the financial integrations of add-on acquisitions.
In Europe, which represents the company’s second largest market outside of the US, both in terms of users of its Untappd and BeerAdvocate platforms and customers of its Untappd for Business product, Next Glass has brought in Tom Maneschijn to serve as Untappd’s Vice President of European Operations.
As Next Glass continues to grow its global presence, the company noted that a need developed for an on-the-ground team in Europe with depth and breadth of experience in the brewing industry.
Maneschijn will be based in Enschede, The Netherlands and will be responsible for all company operations in Europe. The company said that Maneschijn’s immediate responsibilities will include building out a Europe-based team, leading development of strategic partnerships, and pursuing other opportunities for growth.
He will also evaluate fit of acquisition opportunities from the perspective of the European beverage alcohol market.
In April the company also announced that Kurt Taylor, founder of Next Glass stepped down as Next Glass’ CEO, and Trace Smith took over the role.
Liked this article? Subscribe to Food Business Africa News, our regular email newsletters with the latest news insights from Africa and the World’s food and agro industry. SUBSCRIBE HERE
