Gareth West – Chairman, Chief Executive officer
Mr. West helped found The Wine Bank, UK. In the role of Sales & Marketing Director he was instrumental in building the companies turnover from $1 to $25 million. During his tenure at The Wine Bank, Gareth developed many innovative award winning new brands including Simply and the Body & Soul range.
In addition, since 1999, Gareth was been involved in the entertainment and production business. As producer, enjoying success, producing five movies, including “Pitfighter”, a martial arts action movie, starring Steven Bauer (“Scarface”, “Traffic”), which was released in June 2005 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment; “Chasing Ghosts”, a thriller starring Michael Madsen (“Kill Bill”), which will be released later this year through Sony; “Unbeatable Harold”, which is currently in post-production and stars Dylan McDermott, Gladys Knight and Nicole DeHuff; “Ghost Game”, being distributed by American World Pictures and “Cult”, starring “Hustle & Flow”’s Taryn Manning.
Gareth’s ability to combine his entrepreneurial skill and experience in both the beverage and entertainment industries provides Encore Brands with many unique marketing opportunities.
Alex McKean – Chief Financial Officer
Mr. McKean has been an independent management consultant for clients such as: Charles Drew University, First California Bank, American Apparel, Color Spot Nurseries, and International Aluminum, providing services in accounting, regulatory filings, compliance, M&A and valuations. Prior to establishing his own firm, Mr. McKean was with Parson Consulting working insuch areas as: strategy, financial modeling, SEC filings, process management and Sarbanes Oxley. Major clients included: Citigroup, Arvin Meritor, KeyEnergy, Ameriquest, and Ecolab. Mr. McKean has held positions as a controller and VP finance at 24:7 Film, VP of Finance at InternetStudios.com, Director of FP&A/SVP at Franchise Mortgage AcceptanceCompany, as Corporate Accounting Manager/Treasurer of Polygram Filmed Entertainment and Assistant Treasurer/Controller for State Street Bank. Mr.McKean holds an International MBA from Thunderbird’s School of GlobalManagement and undergraduate degrees in Finance and Political Science.