Edmund O’Keeffe

Edmund O’Keeffe has over 25 years experience in management and board roles in the food and beverage sector in both North America and Europe. He is Chairman of O’Keeffes Group, an Irish retailer with pet, furniture and wine stores. He serves on a number of boards: Bay State Milling, a leading North American flour milling and specialty grain company, Main Street Gourmet Bakery, a private equity backed US bakery focused on the instore bakery channel and BinSentry, a Canadian innovator of things solution technology provider to the grain industry. Prior board experience includes Liberte Brands, Canada’s leading organic dairy and Pineridge Bakery.

Edmund served in a variety of roles from 1994 to 2019 for Cott Corporation, the world’s largest producer of beverages on behalf of retailers, brand owners and distributors. Joining Cott in its early growth phase he progressed into positions in Product Management, Strategy, Corporate Development, Investor Relations, Communications and Strategic Planning. Most recently he was President of Cott Beverages LLC, responsible for an $80 MM 130 employee business unit that provided global R&D, product development, technical services, concentrates and sales to 67 countries. Prior to this role, Edmund served as President of Cott’s Royal Crown Cola International, a branded franchise beverage portfolio with bottlers across 64 countries.

Edmund graduated from University College Dublin with a Bachelor of Commerce and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School. He was a former Research Associate for Professor Ray Goldberg at Harvard Business School and is currently a member of Harvard University’s Private and Public, Scientific, Academic, and Consumer (PAPSAC) Food Policy Group.