Partners

Val Stalowir, Executive Partner

Prior to joining Apta Capital, Val was an Executive Partner at Emigrant Capital, where he was an active board member of the firm's food and beverage investments. The portfolio included Boylan Bottling – the largest privately held super-premium soda brand, Detour – a leading marketer of high performance protein bars, Zola Açai – a leading supplier of Brazilian superfruit juices and supplements, and Robeks – one of the largest US-based smoothie chains focused on “healthier” products.

Prior to Emigrant Capital, Val ran Tomra Systems of North America, the leading supplier of beverage container recycling systems in the US. Previously, he was a General Manager of Coca-Cola internationally, and before that held senior marketing, brand management and new product development roles at Quaker Oats. Highlights include:

• At Boylan and Zola, optimized sales, marketing and new product development efforts that helped drive sales growth since investment of 400% and 800% respectively. Helped source and mentor new CEO’s for each of the portfolio companies.
• At Tomra Systems, optimized organizational capabilities and successfully led and integrated three strategic acquisitions.
• At Coca-Cola, oversaw the investment of over $200MM in capital, the building of 3 production facilities and 20 distribution centers. Grew retail sales in the geography from $5MM to over $250MM with clear market share leadership within 4 years.
• At Quaker Oats, helped integrate the acquisition of Near East Foods and then led the development and launch of 25 SKU’s that helped drive sales growth by over 300%.

Areas of Expertise:

• Guiding food and beverage brands through their accelerated growth curves
• Utilizing superior customer research and insight to help establish strong and lasting emotional connections between consumers and brands
• Multi-country, multi-segment leadership experience that included a broad spectrum of available investment budgets, from +$100MM to as low as several hundred thousand