Michael C. Schaefer

Mike Schaefer has over forty years of worldwide senior management experience in large corporate environments and with privately owned companies, mostly in the container industry. He was born and raised in Lima, Peru, and speaks fluent Spanish.

In recent years, Schaefer has been engaged as a consultant to several family-owned businesses in packaging, re-cycling and manufacturing, on matters of company structure, business strategies, and family ownership transitions.

Schaefer was an equity holder and Managing Director of Demptos Packaging, a privately owned importer of glass packaging for the wine and spirits industries. Its major customers include Constellation Brands (the largest United States winery group), Makars Mark, Jack Daniels, Skyy Vodka, Jim Beam Spirits Group, Joseph Phelps Winery, J. Heitz Winery, and Glenn Ellen Vineyards.

He was Executive Vice President, Marketing and Sales, of Anchor Glass (glass container manufacturer) and Chief Executive Officer of Vitro Packaging (glass container importer), both owned by Vitro S.A., Monterrey, Mexico (one of the “twelve apostles” of Mexico). Anchor Glass clients included: Snapple, Nestle Company, Arizona Tea, Nantucket Nectar, Jim Beam Wine Group, Allied Domecq Wine Group, Seagrams, Bacardi, Hunt Wessen Foods, Best Foods (Hellmans), Campbell Foods, Sam Adams Brewing, Coors, Rolling Rock Brewing, Heinz Company, Kraft General Foods, and J.M. Smuckers. Vitro Packaging clients included: Coca Cola International, Maybelline Cosmetics, Avon, Geyser Peak Winery, Crystal Hot Sauces, Buena Vista Winery, Bogle Winery, Stewarts Root Beer, Kendell Jackson Winery, Revlon and Foster Wine Group.

As Weyerhaeuser Corporation Vice President, Marketing and Sales, Schaefer regularly traveled to the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Korea, and supervised his foreign-national marketing directors in Europe and Asia, servicing major clients including Dole, Chiquita Brands, Sunkist Growers, Toyota, Sony, Sanyo, Kikkoman International, C. Itoh Trading Company, Sumitomo Trading Company, Mitsubishi Trading Company, The Government of China, and corrugated box manufacturers in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Korea, Columbia, Ecuador, and Peru.

For Thyssen Bornamiza, an international privately-owned corporation headquartered in Monaco, Schaefer served as Executive Vice President, Marketing and Sales, and as Chief Executive Officer of its United States units – Northwest Glass in Seattle and Madera Glass in California. Major customers included: Ste. Michelle Vineyards, Tree Top Apple Juice, Ocean Spray, Sebastiani Vineyards, Heilman Brewing, Korbel Champagne Cellars, Heubline Wine Group, Rodney Strong Vineyards, Molson Brewing, and The Wine Group (major multi-label wine group).

In sales and marketing management positions at Owens Illinois (the largest glass manufacturer in the world), he was responsible for major customers including: Coca Cola USA, Shasta Beverages, Gerber Foods, Del Monte Foods, Anheuser Busch, Miller Brewing, Pepsi Cola USA, Dr. Pepper/7 Up USA, Kikkoman (soy sauces), Beechnut Foods, McIlhenney (hot sauces), Heublein Spirits, Bronco Winery, Gallo, Robert Mondavi, Abbott Labs, Anchor Steam Beer, Beringer Winery, and Sutter Home Winery.

After graduation from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Sciences degree in International Economics, Schaefer began his business career at Dole Fruit Company in Honduras and traveled extensively to Costa Rica, Ecuador and Nicaragua on various assignments for that company.