MEET OUR HONOREES
Clint D. Coghill
President & Chief Investment Officer, Coghill Capital Management LLC
Seth Goldman
President and TeaEO of Honest Tea
Seth Goldman is President and TeaEO of Honest Tea, the company he founded in 1998 with Professor Barry Nalebuff of the Yale School of Management. Since starting with five thermoses and an empty Snapple bottle, Honest Tea has become the best-selling brand of bottled tea in the natural foods industry. Honest Tea, along with Honest Ade and Honest Kids, is distributed through more than 30,000 outlets nationwide including Whole Foods, Sam's Club, and Target stores. In 1999 Honest Tea became the first company to market a certified organic bottled tea - today the entire product line is certified organic by the USDA. Honest Tea has initiated partnerships with a Native American community, a South African community and in 2003 Honest Tea introduced the first and only Fair Trade bottled tea. The company has been repeatedly ranked on Inc. magazine's list of the 500 fastest-growing private companies in the United States and has achieved an annual compound growth rate of 66 percent for the past ten years.
Seth is a board member of Bethesda Green, Net Impact (formerly Students for Responsible Business), the Environmental Leadership Program, and Pennsylvania Certified Organic. In 2007 he initiated efforts to create the Bethesda Green Zone, a private-public partnership that will implement and showcase sustainable practices in the Bethesda, Maryland business district, where Honest Tea is based. Seth also received the 2007 Visionary Leadership Award from the Alliance for Workplace Excellence for his efforts to pave the way to a workplace where employees can experience both professional success and personal wellness.
Marsha Ralls
President, The Ralls Collection, Inc.
Marsha Ralls is one of Washington's leading art figures, having been entrusted with the creation of some of the top private and corporate collections in the country. Her career in art began when she was awarded a coveted apprenticeship in the studio of noted American Master, Robert Rauschenberg, where she was trained as an archivist. From there she moved on to become a business consultant and development advisor with the Fay Gold Gallery in Atlanta and later Sotheby's Auction House in New York. In 1988, she founded The Ralls Collection, Inc., a private art dealership providing art consulting and curatorial services to both private and corporate collectors. Three years later, in 1991, she opened a gallery of the same name in Georgetown, where today she specializes in contemporary American paintings, photography, prints and sculpture.
As a leader in the Washington arts community Ms. Ralls conceived and acted as lecture coordinator of a special series on connoisseurship of contemporary art collection for the Smithsonian Institution's Campus on the Mall. In 2003-2004, Ralls worked with National Geographic Society's Caravan Initiative program, where she curated an international exhibition of five renowned Geographic explorer/photographer's works. In the summer of 2004 the show was exhibited at the United Nations in New York. Ms. Ralls tailors the purchase and display of artwork to her clients' personal needs and is discriminating in terms of the artists she chooses to represent, understanding that connoisseurship and commitment are of the essence.
Ms. Ralls is also an active member of her community and charitable organizations. She is a member of the Economic Club of Washington DC, Georgetown Business and Professional Association, Art Dealers Association of Greater Washington, AIPAD (Association of International Photography Dealers and recently joined the NFTE (National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship) board. She is on the Washington Capital Area board of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. In 2000 the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society named Ms. Ralls National Woman of the Year.
Ms. Ralls completed Leadership Washington in 2004, a yearlong educational program designed to foster cooperation and leadership among the top community activists in the Washington metropolitan region. In addition, she is also a member of the Washington, DC chapter of the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) and has served in various leadership roles, both in the DC Chapter and EO International. In the fall 2004, Ms. Ralls was appointed by Mayor Anthony Williams to serve on the Washington, D.C. Arts & Humanities Commission Board and traveled as part of a cultural and diplomatic mission to Beijing, Shanghai and Bangkok, Washington's sister cities. Under the new Mayor Adrian Fenty, Ralls will continue her role with the DCCA&H and serve to accomplish his vision for Washington DC to be a world class art city.
This is a very exciting time for Ms. Ralls as her travels continue and the Ralls Collection expands. She is commuting back and forth to the Middle East. Her current project is in Dubai as she is working with local business leaders introducing art concepts to this rapidly growing region.
Ralls has completed executive programs at Stanford, MIT and the Aspen Institute.
Ms. Ralls has two sons, Jake 14 and Nathan 13.
Stuart Weitzman
CEO and Chairman, Stuart Weitzman, LLC
As Stuart Weitzman was growing up in Long Island, NY, the family dinner conversations inevitably turned to shoes. His father, Seymour Weitzman, was also a shoe designer and manufacturer and early on he had Stuart folding tissue and packing boxes at the factory.
Stuart had always shown an artistic talent and during college he apprenticed under his father, who insisted that he learn all aspects of the shoe business-he rotated between everything from designing to selling. It is because of this early training that Stuart is one of the few designers who is also a skilled pattern maker.
It would seem Stuart was destined to become a shoe designer. His father even secretly put one of the sketches Stuart did during college into production-and it sold very well. Like any proud father, Stuart's had this "first shoe" bronzed. But after graduating from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Stuart had his eyes set on Wall Street.
However, after his father's unexpected death about a year later, Stuart and his older brother took over their father's company, Mr. Seymour. Over the years, the company underwent several changes including being sold to Caressa, Inc.-which moved production to Spain where Stuart's factories still are today. Stuart remained president of the Mr. Seymour division and the company eventually seamlessly became Stuart Weitzman, Inc. In 2005, Stuart Weitzman, Inc. partnered with Bear Sterns Merchant Bank. This partnership poses the company for major expansion-initially through the opening of retail stores worldwide and the creation of a handbag division.
Although dedicated to a variety of causes, Stuart is very passionate about the arts and breast cancer research. Each year he holds a Celebrity Breast Cancer Auction in which he asks celebrities to decorate a shoe to be auctioned off for breast cancer research. The event has grown into a global effort with separate auctions held in the U.S., Spain, Italy, Germany and Switzerland.
When not traveling to Spain to oversee production, Stuart resides in Connecticut with his wife, Jane. They are the parents of two adult daughters. Stuart has always been an avid tennis player and also frequently holds ping-pong tournaments anywhere from his factories in Spain to his showroom in New York.
Clint D. Coghill
President & Chief Investment Officer, Coghill Capital Management LLC
Seth GoldmanPresident and TeaEO of Honest Tea
Seth Goldman is President and TeaEO of Honest Tea, the company he founded in 1998 with Professor Barry Nalebuff of the Yale School of Management. Since starting with five thermoses and an empty Snapple bottle, Honest Tea has become the best-selling brand of bottled tea in the natural foods industry. Honest Tea, along with Honest Ade and Honest Kids, is distributed through more than 30,000 outlets nationwide including Whole Foods, Sam's Club, and Target stores. In 1999 Honest Tea became the first company to market a certified organic bottled tea - today the entire product line is certified organic by the USDA. Honest Tea has initiated partnerships with a Native American community, a South African community and in 2003 Honest Tea introduced the first and only Fair Trade bottled tea. The company has been repeatedly ranked on Inc. magazine's list of the 500 fastest-growing private companies in the United States and has achieved an annual compound growth rate of 66 percent for the past ten years.
Seth is a board member of Bethesda Green, Net Impact (formerly Students for Responsible Business), the Environmental Leadership Program, and Pennsylvania Certified Organic. In 2007 he initiated efforts to create the Bethesda Green Zone, a private-public partnership that will implement and showcase sustainable practices in the Bethesda, Maryland business district, where Honest Tea is based. Seth also received the 2007 Visionary Leadership Award from the Alliance for Workplace Excellence for his efforts to pave the way to a workplace where employees can experience both professional success and personal wellness.
Marsha RallsPresident, The Ralls Collection, Inc.
Marsha Ralls is one of Washington's leading art figures, having been entrusted with the creation of some of the top private and corporate collections in the country. Her career in art began when she was awarded a coveted apprenticeship in the studio of noted American Master, Robert Rauschenberg, where she was trained as an archivist. From there she moved on to become a business consultant and development advisor with the Fay Gold Gallery in Atlanta and later Sotheby's Auction House in New York. In 1988, she founded The Ralls Collection, Inc., a private art dealership providing art consulting and curatorial services to both private and corporate collectors. Three years later, in 1991, she opened a gallery of the same name in Georgetown, where today she specializes in contemporary American paintings, photography, prints and sculpture.
As a leader in the Washington arts community Ms. Ralls conceived and acted as lecture coordinator of a special series on connoisseurship of contemporary art collection for the Smithsonian Institution's Campus on the Mall. In 2003-2004, Ralls worked with National Geographic Society's Caravan Initiative program, where she curated an international exhibition of five renowned Geographic explorer/photographer's works. In the summer of 2004 the show was exhibited at the United Nations in New York. Ms. Ralls tailors the purchase and display of artwork to her clients' personal needs and is discriminating in terms of the artists she chooses to represent, understanding that connoisseurship and commitment are of the essence.
Ms. Ralls is also an active member of her community and charitable organizations. She is a member of the Economic Club of Washington DC, Georgetown Business and Professional Association, Art Dealers Association of Greater Washington, AIPAD (Association of International Photography Dealers and recently joined the NFTE (National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship) board. She is on the Washington Capital Area board of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. In 2000 the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society named Ms. Ralls National Woman of the Year.
Ms. Ralls completed Leadership Washington in 2004, a yearlong educational program designed to foster cooperation and leadership among the top community activists in the Washington metropolitan region. In addition, she is also a member of the Washington, DC chapter of the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) and has served in various leadership roles, both in the DC Chapter and EO International. In the fall 2004, Ms. Ralls was appointed by Mayor Anthony Williams to serve on the Washington, D.C. Arts & Humanities Commission Board and traveled as part of a cultural and diplomatic mission to Beijing, Shanghai and Bangkok, Washington's sister cities. Under the new Mayor Adrian Fenty, Ralls will continue her role with the DCCA&H and serve to accomplish his vision for Washington DC to be a world class art city.
This is a very exciting time for Ms. Ralls as her travels continue and the Ralls Collection expands. She is commuting back and forth to the Middle East. Her current project is in Dubai as she is working with local business leaders introducing art concepts to this rapidly growing region.
Ralls has completed executive programs at Stanford, MIT and the Aspen Institute.
Ms. Ralls has two sons, Jake 14 and Nathan 13.
Stuart WeitzmanCEO and Chairman, Stuart Weitzman, LLC
As Stuart Weitzman was growing up in Long Island, NY, the family dinner conversations inevitably turned to shoes. His father, Seymour Weitzman, was also a shoe designer and manufacturer and early on he had Stuart folding tissue and packing boxes at the factory.
Stuart had always shown an artistic talent and during college he apprenticed under his father, who insisted that he learn all aspects of the shoe business-he rotated between everything from designing to selling. It is because of this early training that Stuart is one of the few designers who is also a skilled pattern maker.
It would seem Stuart was destined to become a shoe designer. His father even secretly put one of the sketches Stuart did during college into production-and it sold very well. Like any proud father, Stuart's had this "first shoe" bronzed. But after graduating from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Stuart had his eyes set on Wall Street.
However, after his father's unexpected death about a year later, Stuart and his older brother took over their father's company, Mr. Seymour. Over the years, the company underwent several changes including being sold to Caressa, Inc.-which moved production to Spain where Stuart's factories still are today. Stuart remained president of the Mr. Seymour division and the company eventually seamlessly became Stuart Weitzman, Inc. In 2005, Stuart Weitzman, Inc. partnered with Bear Sterns Merchant Bank. This partnership poses the company for major expansion-initially through the opening of retail stores worldwide and the creation of a handbag division.
Although dedicated to a variety of causes, Stuart is very passionate about the arts and breast cancer research. Each year he holds a Celebrity Breast Cancer Auction in which he asks celebrities to decorate a shoe to be auctioned off for breast cancer research. The event has grown into a global effort with separate auctions held in the U.S., Spain, Italy, Germany and Switzerland.
When not traveling to Spain to oversee production, Stuart resides in Connecticut with his wife, Jane. They are the parents of two adult daughters. Stuart has always been an avid tennis player and also frequently holds ping-pong tournaments anywhere from his factories in Spain to his showroom in New York.