Menu
© All Rights Reserved Sojo Industries 2024
Barak Bar-Cohen has over 25 years of experience building and scaling businesses in the telecommunication, digital media and beverage industries both in the U.S. and abroad.
Barak is the former Chief Operating Officer of Bai Brands, a healthy antioxidant infused beverage company based in Princeton, NJ which was acquired by Dr. Pepper Snapple Group (now KDP) for $1.7 billion. While at Bai, Barak built one of the largest variety packing operations in the enhanced water industry, developing and implementing automated robotic solutions that supported exponential growth in the club, grocery and online channels. These automated lines supported production levels of millions of cases per month and are still in use to this day.
Prior to this role, Barak held several executive leadership roles at Piksel, a global provider of IPTV enterprise software solutions responsible for over 750 employees across 20 offices worldwide, as President and Chief Operating Officer for Narrowstep, a TV over the internet software platform company based in London and in Senior Management roles at RCN Corporation, a leading provider of bundled communication services to residential customers which was later sold to private equity group Abry Partners for over $1.2 billion.
Barak received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with Honors from Brandeis University and earned an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
Steve Rubin is a seasoned executive with over 30 years of experience in logistics, freight transportation, and process engineering and has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of several companies in the container shipping and intermodal space.
Steve served as CEO and President of ITS ConGlobal, North America’s largest intermodal terminal services support company, which he sold on behalf of the Carlyle Group to AMP Capital for over $500 million in 2017. Prior to that role, Steve was the CEO and President of Horizon Lines, the largest U.S.-based container shipping company serving domestic trade lanes, which he sold for $607 million to Matson Lines (NYSE: MATX) and Pasha Group.
Steve graduated from The University of Pennsylvania and The Wharton School of Business with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science in Economics degree and earned an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business.
Josh Schwartz-Dodek is a skilled robotics and mechanical engineer working in the industrial automation and robotics industries with a focus in the Automotive and Food & Beverage industries.
Prior to this role, Josh worked as a Manufacturing and Controls Development Engineer at Tesla where he was a member of the Tesla robotics team for Core Automation Engineering, focusing on the startup of new production lines and the development of robotics tools and standards for Tesla operations worldwide. At Tesla, Josh specialized in application development and optimization for machine vision, clinching, grinding, spotweld, self-piercing rivet, dispense, and handling and was a contributing member of both the Tesla Robot Standards Committee and Tesla Robot Vision Standards Committee. Josh and his team supported the commissioning and startup for both the Tesla Model Y and Model Y Legacy launches and upgrades.
Mr. Schwartz-Dodek holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University where he graduated Magna Cum Laude.
Dustin is a seasoned legal and administrative executive with over 10 years experience solving complex capital formation, tax management, risk assessment and corporate structure challenges for national mid-size companies.
Most recently, Dustin was a partner at Royer Cooper Cohen Braufeld where he managed the international and tax management group for one of the most prestigious regional law firms in the United States. In his role, Dustin managed and advised middle market companies on capital raising, mergers and acquisitions, tax planning, risk mitigation and cross-border transactions. In 2022, Dustin was named to the list of Best Lawyers and has been a member of the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Rising Stars list since 2017.
Dustin holds a J.D. degree from Georgia State University College of Law, an LL.M Taxation Certificate from New York University School of Law, a B.A. from Montclair State University and is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.
Tom Parker has over 20 years experience as an accounting and finance executive with industry expertise in the consumer-packaged goods, food, and beverage industries. Prior to joining Sojo, most recently Tom served as Controller at Mananalu, an early-stage bottled water company focused on sustainability through the use of aluminum bottles.
Tom also served as Controller at Bai Brands, a healthy antioxidant infused beverage company based in Princeton, NJ which was acquired by Dr. Pepper Snapple Group (now NYSE: KDP) for $1.7 billion. While at Bai, Tom instrumental in developing accounting policies and procedures and driving several ERP and accounting software platform implementations to drive accurate and timely financial information.
Tom also served as Chief Financial Officer of Stuffed Puffs, the first commercially available marshmallow product filled with real chocolate.
Tom graduated Cum Laude from Virginia Tech University with a Bachelor of Science in Business, Accounting and Information Systems and is a Certified Public Accountant in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York.
Ken Dee has over 25 years of experience in the assembly and supply chain management of primary and secondary packaging in the consumer packaged goods industry.
From 2015 to 2018, he was the Director of Cost Management responsible for all cost of goods sold items as well as the company’s automated packaging initiative. Bai Brands was sold to Dr. Pepper Snapple Group (Now KDP) in 2017 for $1.7 billion. Prior to this role, Ken was a senior National Account Manager for Pratt Industries, the largest privately held manufacturer of recycled corrugated paper and packaging company in the world.
Ken holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University.
Julie Perryman has over 8 years of experience managing supply chain functions within the beverage industry, including planning, co-packer and variety pack production, quality assurance, logistics, regulatory, procurement and inventory control.
Most recently, Julie worked for Keurig Dr. Pepper (KDP), overseeing variety pack planning and production within the emerging brands category where she was responsible for the production of more than 70 variety pack SKUs and a total volume of over 13 million packs per year. Prior to this, Julie was responsible for procurement, raw material and production planning at four co-packing sites for Bai Brands, which was acquired by KDP (formerly Dr. Pepper Snapple Group) for $1.7 billion in 2017.
Julie graduated from La Salle University with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature.
Ryan Homeny has over 10 years experience in warehousing, logistics, manufacturing, transportation, and supply chain operations of beverage manufacturing and distribution facilities.
In his most recent role, Ryan managed Purchasing and Procurement for Allen Flavors Inc., an innovative specialty flavor house based in South Plainfield, NJ. Prior to this role, Ryan was the Warehouse Operations Manager at Bai Brands which sold to Dr. Pepper Snapple Group (Now KDP) for $1.7 billion. From 2012 to 2015, Ryan managed all production planning of the Aseptic Production Line at Sunny Delight Beverage Company based in Dayton, NJ for some of the top beverage brands in the world.
Ryan attended Coastal Carolina University for Professional Golf Management before transitioning into the beverage supply chain operations field.
