The Team - L.A. Libations

Meet the team

OUR FOUNDERS

Danny Stepper

CEO & Co-Founder

Danny Stepper

Danny Stepper is a brand creator, beverage entrepreneur and film producer with 20 years of creating value with blue-chip organizations including The Coca-Cola Company, Disney, and Relativity Media. Stepper is currently the CEO and Co-Founder of L.A. Libations and CEO and Founder of Globestepper Media.

L.A. Libations is the preeminent entrepreneurial beverage company in North America. As the Emerging Brand Category Captain of record at Walmart, Kroger, Walgreens, and 7-Eleven, they are an emerging brand incubator specializing in brand creation and incubation. L.A. Libations owns 9 companies, grounded in health and wellness, in emerging categories such as Aloe Vera, Turmeric, Probiotics, Plant Based Protein, Keto shakes and better-for-you chelada.

Stepper started his career and spent 9 years in the Coca-Cola System where he played various roles in sales, marketing, and brand management. Stepper made a name for himself at Coke by trailblazing relationships with the world’s largest retailers (specifically Costco, Wal-Mart & Target), creating dynamic teams, and building brands while bringing innovation, entrepreneurialism, and creativity to a 100+-year-old business.

Recruited out of The Coca-Cola Company in 2003 by Oscar winning Film Producer Lawrence Bender (Pulp Fiction, Goodwill Hunting, An Inconvenient Truth), Stepper produced the Disney Trilogy “Goal!” Stepper financed the projects through CPG companies, a Hollywood first. These landmark deals were with global powerhouses; Adidas, FIFA & The Coca-Cola Company. To date Goal! Is the largest brand & entertainment integration deal in the history of Hollywood and Madison Ave.

Danny Stepper is a film producer through his production company Globestepper Media, Stepper is currently producing 3 films in 2018, The Beautiful Game, a comedy called “Accidentes” with Tucker Tooley and “Sweet Spot” with Ron Shelton, the famed director of “Bull Durham”, “Tin Cup” and “White Men Can’t Jump.”

Stepper holds an MBA from Pepperdine University, a BA from Westmont College in Santa Barbara as well as international degrees from Collegio Magisterio (Spain) and Instituto De Lingua Espanol (Costa Rica). Danny is bi-lingual in English and Spanish. Stepper is currently on the Board of Advisors at Westmont College in Santa Barbara.

Stepper lives in Manhattan Beach, California with his wife Tara and their three children, Annika, Sawyer & Kaia.

Dino Sarti

Co-Founder

Dino Sarti

Dino Sarti is the chief executive officer of L.A. Aloe, LLC, makers of Aloe Gloe, and the co-founder of L.A. Libations, the premier national beverage development and sales organization specializing in super premium beverage brands in early phase development.

Dino’s professional background includes 20 years of experience in the beverage industry from operations to customer management and brand development. His sales management experience covers every channel of trade and virtually every chain retailer nationwide. He acquired knowledge of complex distribution systems while managing a direct store delivery sales force for Coca-Cola in Southern California. Dino then went on to develop channel specific selling strategies as an account executive for Coca-Cola calling on national retailers.

After completing an MBA at Pepperdine, Dino caught the entrepreneurial bug and joined Icelandic Glacial water as vice president of national sales where he played a key role in securing an investment from Anheuser-Busch and then rolling the brand out across the A-B national network.

Dino’s tenure in emerging brands revealed a void in the market – early phase brands lack a portfolio approach and do not have the economies of scale to afford or justify a dedicated national team. In addition, large and established companies lack the processes and capabilities for incubating emerging, growth oriented brands. This void in the market and associated opportunities gave birth to the idea of L.A. Libations, a brand developer, and incubator. The L.A. Libations model proved highly successful.

L.A. Libations is the category captain for emerging beverages at some of the nation’s largest retailers. In that role, L.A. Libations is both a broker of insights and provider of solutions related to emerging trends in the beverage landscape.

In his current role as CEO of L.A. Aloe, Dino is leading the development the first brand created within the L.A. Libations incubator as grows across the Coca-Cola distribution network in the U.S. This involves building best in class sales, marketing and operations team.

Dino is a Southern California guy raised in La Crescenta where he met and began dating his wife, Nancy Sarti, in high school. Dino and Nancy reside in the San Gabriel Valley with their two children, Lauren and Dean.

Dino attended USC where he received his Bachelor of Science at the Marshall School of Business and later an MBA at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business. Dino spends his free time with his family and is also an avid runner and cycling enthusiast. He is a former president of the Pasadena Triathlon Club and a member of YPO and is also a 5 time Ironman Finisher.

Pat Bolden

Co-Founder & Partner

Pat Bolden

Patrick Bolden is a business expert with 24 years of beverage experience. Alcohol, non-alcohol, traditional, non-traditional, on and off-premise are many aspects of the beverage industry that are familiar to Pat. Pat is the Co-Founder and President of L.A. Libations.

After a short stint playing professional basketball, Pat began in beverage by working for 7up / Rc Bottling in 1993. He worked in a variety of different roles there from field sales to operations to national accounts. After 7 years he transitioned to the Coca Cola Company into their trade development department and called on national accounts such as BP ampm, Target, Walmart and Sam’s Club. In 2005, Pat took on a National Account Manager role at Heineken USA. Learning the ins and outs and legalities of the alcoholic beverage industry was challenging but rewarding. This experience allowed Pat to be much better-rounded within the beverage channel but also understand how to create a new approach to being innovative and disruptive.

In 2009 Pat, Danny and Dino started this organization to position “better for you and healthy alternative” products in mainstream retail accounts. Pat’s strength is his deep nationwide retail relationships. He has always said “providing value is the key to true partnership.”

Innovation and incubation continue to be the phases of beverage brands where Pat’s experience shines. His passion to integrate beverages that are centered on health and wellness into mainstream outlets is what drives him to trail blaze in this industry and his results speak for themselves.

He is a business professional that maintains a proven track record of delivering profitable volume increases, successful product & brand portfolio introductions and coordination of sales execution.

Growing up in Inglewood CA, in the shadows of the Fabulous Forum, Pat was a Los Angeles Laker fan. Pat played basketball at California State Northridge University and received his degree in Business Management. He resides in Dallas TX and has two boys, Parker and Piercen.

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