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'''Seth Goldman''' is an American businessman. He is the president and CEO of [[Honest Tea]], which he co-founded in 1998 with his former business school professor, [[Barry Nalebuff]].


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==Early life and early career==
Goldman was born in 1965 or 1966 and was raised in [[Wellesley, Massachusetts]].<ref name="Kronenberg">{{cite news |last=Kronenberg |first=Jerry |date=2007-10-28 |title=All he needed to know about biz he learned from Red Sox |newspaper=[[Boston Herald]] }}</ref> His father is the economist [[Marshall Goldman]] and his mother is a professor of Chinese history at [[Boston College]].<ref name="Kronenberg"/><ref name="1990-09-03">{{cite news |date=1990-09-03 |title=Julie Farkas Wed To Seth Goldman |url=http://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/03/style/julie-farkas-wed-to-seth-goldman.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |accessdate=2015-05-18 |archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6Ybt000s0 |archivedate=2015-05-18 }}</ref> Goldman attended [[Harvard University]], where he studied government affairs.<ref name="Kronenberg"/> At Harvard, he was a [[student athlete]], competing in [[cross country running]] and [[track and field]].<ref name="Knight">{{cite news |last=Knight |first=Rebecca |date=2007-11-14 |title=Brewing a stronger startup |url=http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/853fb74a-91fb-11dc-8981-0000779fd2ac.html |newspaper=[[Financial Times]] |accessdate=2015-05-18 }}</ref> After graduating from Harvard in 1997, he taught English for a year in Russia and at a Beijing university.<ref name="Mirabella">Mirabella, Lorraine. (1999-05-05). "Md. tea in a bottle ready to go places" (pages [http://www.webcitation.org/6YbsAGhml 1] and [http://www.webcitation.org/6YbsAgwmM 2]). ''[[The Baltimore Sun]]''. Archived from the original (pages [http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1999-05-05/business/9905050051_1_honest-tea-seth-goldman-nalebuff 1] and [http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1999-05-05/business/9905050051_1_honest-tea-seth-goldman-nalebuff/2 2]) on 2015-05-18. Retrieved 2015-05-18.</ref> Afterwards, he worked on [[Michael Dukakis]]' [[United States presidential election, 1988|presidential campaign in 1988]]. He then served for three years as a deputy [[press secretary]] for Dukakis' [[running mate]], [[United States Senator]] [[Lloyd Bentsen]] of Texas.<ref name="Kronenberg"/><ref name="Mirabella"/> According to the ''[[Boston Herald]]'', he exited the political arena and enrolled in the [[Yale School of Management]] after determining that "private enterprise could promote the public good".<ref name="Kronenberg"/>

Goldman was a volunteer for [[Americorps]].<ref name="Hyman">{{cite news |last=Hyman |first=Julie |date=1998-09-14 |title=Honest Tea Company Fills Niche with Natural Low-Cal Alternative |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-56776275.html |newspaper=[[The Washington Times]] |accessdate=2015-05-18 |archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6YbsKG4z3 |archivedate=2015-05-18 }}</ref> He interned for the [[United States Department of State]].<ref name="Mirabella"/> Goldman married Julie Farkas in 1990, whom he met at a cooperative school in [[Moscow]] where they both taught English.<ref name="1990-09-03"/>

After graduating from the [[Yale School of Management]] in 1995, he worked at the mutual fund company [[Calvert Investments]], which concentrates on socially conscious investments.<ref name="Howard">{{cite news |last=Howard |first=Theresa |date=2009-03-29 |title=Honest Tea stays true to its roots as it grows |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2009-03-29-honest-tea-grows_N.htm |newspaper=[[USA Today]] |accessdate=2015-05-18 |archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6YbsBGkpf |archivedate=2015-05-18 }}</ref> He served as a vice president for the company.<ref name="Mirabella"/>

==Honest Tea==
Goldman co-founded [[Honest Tea]] at the end of January 1998. He first conceived of a low-calorie beverage company as an [[Master of Business Administration|MBA]] student at the [[Yale School of Management]] in 1995.<ref name="Hyman"/>
After doing a [[case study]] about [[Coca-Cola]] vs. [[Pepsi]] for a competitive strategies class,<ref name="Mirabella"/> Goldman discovered "many high-calorie, sugary drinks and many no-calorie bottled waters on the market" but few beverages in the middle.<ref name="Hyman"/> Though at the time, he pondered concocting a low-calorie, flavorful beverage, he did not execute the idea until three years later on a trip to [[New York City]]. He trotted around [[Central Park]] with a friend and ate together at a restaurant afterwards. They looked at the menu and found none of the drinks pleasing. Goldman emailed [[Barry Nalebuff]], his former Yale professor, asking him if the low-calorie beverage idea still was sound. Nablebuff mentored Goldman and together they decided to create a new tea. Nalebuff provided most of the $500,000 in seed funding, while Goldman contributed a smaller amount after fundraising from his friends and family.<ref name="Hyman"/> Nablebuff came up with the name "Honest Tea", which sounds like "honesty".<ref name="Birchall">{{cite news |last=Birchall |first=Jonathan |date=2009-06-10 |title=Tea and synergy |url=http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/ff91273a-550f-11de-b5d4-00144feabdc0.html |newspaper=[[Financial Times]] |accessdate=2015-05-18 }}</ref> Goldman built an office in the guest bedroom of his home, which he shared with his wife and three small children.<ref name="Mirabella"/>

Coca-Cola paid $43 million to buy 40% of Honest Tea with the choice of purchasing the entire company in 2011. Several organic aficionados disapproved of the sale to Coca-Cola because Goldman was required to purchase several dozen contracts from independent distributors that aided in growing Honest Tea.<ref name="Howard"/>

In 2013, Goldman coauthored a graphic book with his Honest Tea co-founder Barry Nalebuff, detailing their experiences founding and running the company.<ref name="Olson">{{cite news |last=Olson |first=Elizabeth |date=2013-03-12 |title=Honest Tea Creates a Business Guide as a Comic Book |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/business/media/honest-tea-develops-a-business-guide-as-a-comic-book.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |accessdate=2015-05-18 |archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/6YbtnIsl8 |archivedate=2015-05-18 }}</ref> Jason Abbruzzese reviewed the book for the ''[[Financial Times]]'', writing, "The narrative is at its best when balancing the personalities of the founders: Goldman's socially conscious side and Nalebuff's economic expertise."<ref name="Abbruzzese">{{cite news |last=Abbruzzese |first=Jason |date=2013-08-21 |title='Mission in a Bottle' by Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3c445ac2-09c9-11e3-ad07-00144feabdc0.html |newspaper=[[Financial Times]] |accessdate=2015-05-18 }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME = Goldman, Seth
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = American businessman
| DATE OF BIRTH =
| PLACE OF BIRTH =
| DATE OF DEATH =
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldman, Seth}}
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:Yale University alumni]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American beverage industry businesspeople]]

Revision as of 15:48, 18 May 2015