Chair
Zach Olsen
Regional Account Manager, BUNN-O-Matic Corporation
With over 10 years of experience in the coffee industry, Zach has a strong passion for the business. He started his foodservice career 15 years ago as a fine dining server at a country club in East Lansing, MI.
Those early experiences in turn, helped provide an added perspective for this industry . Zach holds a Bachelors of Science in Food Industry Management from Michigan State University where he continues his involvement as a volunteer, participating in several speaking engagements throughout the year. From 2007-2015 he worked in various professional sales roles for a regional coffee roaster, spending half of those years living in Chicago. In January 2015 he started working as a Regional Account Manager for BUNN and moved back to his native state of Michigan.
Vice Chair
Janet Colley Morse
Vice President, The Dupuy Group
Janet Colley Morse represents the 4th generation of The Dupuy Group, which was founded by John Dupuy in 1936. Since the early years as a New Orleans coffee warehouse, Dupuy has expanded to 4 additional port cities including Miami, Houston, Jacksonville, FL, and Charleston, SC. With coffee still serving as the main commodity handled by Dupuy, the company has broadened its scope to include a variety of value added services including cleaning, upgrading, and blending.
Janet serves as Vice President and is one of two remaining family members, the other of which being her father, Allan Colley, who serves as President of the organization. She serves on the Logistics Committee of the Green Coffee Association, is a past President of the Southern Coffee Association, and is currently President of theGreen Coffee Association of New Orleans.
Past Chair
Brandon Jackson
Vice President in Commodities & Logistics, Brown Brothers Harriman
Brandon Jackson is a Vice President in the Commodities & Logistics group at Brown Brothers Harriman. In this role, he manages a team of lenders responsible for structuring and managing senior secured revolving credit facilities for brokers/traders/distributors of metal, energy, and agricultural commodities. His responsibilities include relationship management, deal structuring, underwriting, and credit analysis.
Brandon joined BBH in 2008 in its Investor Services division. After being admitted into the firm’s Banking and Finance Training Program, he joined the Commodities & Logistics group. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Green Coffee Association. Brandon graduated cum laude from Villanova University in 2008 with a B.S. in business administration, triple majoring in finance, marketing and international business.
Kyle Bawot
Coffee Trader, Olam Americas
Kyle Bawot is a coffee trader at Olam Americas. He attended Skidmore College, from where he holds a BA in Economics. His interest in coffee was first sparked while serving as a Peace Corps Economic Development volunteer in Northern Peru, where he was first able to learn about the coffee supply chain. Shortly after his return to the US, Kyle landed an entry level position at Olam where he quickly worked his way into a trading role.
Kyle holds both Q Grader and ICE Exchange Grader licenses and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in International Political Economy on a full scholarship at Fordham University. His passion for the industry continues to grow but his true interest lies in addressing the ongoing sustainability challenges our industry faces.
Michelle Dunaway
Green Coffee Trader, Novus Coffee Imports/Mercon Coffee Corp.
Michelle grew up in the coffee industry, starting her coffee career working during summer at a coffee mill in her native Santa Rosa de Copan, Honduras. Coming from a family with strong ties to coffee, she learned the passion for coffee from her father.
Since very young, her ambitions to be the best in the field made her work her way up to becoming the head of the Exports Department for a coffee exporting company in 2008 after graduating with a degree in Industrial Engineering from the Universidad Católica of Honduras.
After moving to the US to further her experience in the coffee industry, she worked in key positions that included importing coffee, logistics, trading, risk management and cupping. She is a licensed Q Grader and enjoys developing win-win relationships based on mutual trust.
Jonathan Gabbay
Vice President, RGC Coffee
Having officially started his coffee career over ten years ago, Jonathan extended the family tradition becoming the third generation of Gabbay coffee merchants. Starting in the coffee lab and working his way up to the trading desk, today Jonathan is Vice President of the company helping manage one of North America’s largest independent green coffee importers that services almost every major North American market.
During his career he attended numerous Canadian and US association events and today is extremely proud to be part of the NCA’s Next-Gen council with an eye on mentorship for young professionals just entering the coffee industry. Jonathan has a Finance degree from Montreal’s McGill University and has remained in the city, marrying his childhood sweetheart and working on the 4th generation of coffee professionals.
Eric Mitchell
Green Coffee Buyer, S&D Coffee and Tea
Eric Mitchell is a licensed Q Grader and Green Coffee Buyer at S&D Coffee and Tea. He attended James Madison University where he double majored in International Business-Finance and Spanish. His passion for the industry was first established while working with a small organic cooperative as a Peace Corps volunteer in Coto Brus, Costa Rica. From there he sought opportunities to learn about the industry, which led him to work with both a small exporter in Tepic, Mexico and as a volunteer on a Haitian USAID project.
Dan Pabst
Coffee and New Product Development Manager, Melitta USA
Dan Pabst is a passionate and respected coffee expert with 15 years of experience across a wide array of channels within the specialty coffee industry. Working across multiple business units, Dan supports current and potential Melitta customers by developing products and operational solutions that help create and grow a profitable coffee program.
Dan holds several certifications within the specialty coffee industry including Licensed Q-Grader: Arabica and Authorized SCA Trainer.
Dan began his career in coffee as a Barista with Mudhouse Coffee Roasters (Charlottesville, VA). He quickly grew into the role of Director of Operations, overseeing retail operations for 5 locations and was a driving force behind the transition from a Second Wave to Third Wave specialty coffee brand, setting them on course to win 2017 Micro-roaster of the Year (Roast Magazine). Prior to Melitta, Dan has worked for FRANKE USA, Ronnoco Coffee, and consulted for coffee companies in Europe and Asia.