Executive Team

Ron Graves, Chief Executive Officer and Board Director
Prior to Pinkberry, Ron was a General Partner at Maveron, where he invested in and managed early stage companies for ten years. He has more than 20 years of experience in start-up operations and marketing. Ron began his career as an officer in the United States Air Force, where he served as an instructor and F-16 fighter pilot. He is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

Michael Don, Chief Financial Officer
Michael Don recently served as CFO and COO of Popcornopolis, LLC. Prior to that, Mike was the CFO and CEO for Whitehall Jewelers, LLC. and held a variety of finance and executive positions at Fred Meyer, Inc. now a division of the Kroger Company. Mike began his career in public accounting at Peat, Marwick, Mitchell and Co. and is a Certified Public Accountant. He received a Bachelor's degree from Pomona College.

Mark Friedman, Senior Vice President Business Development and General Counsel
For five years, Mark served as the Senior Vice President and General Counsel for the American Golf Corporation and managed the company’s business development activities. Prior to that, Mark worked in various senior counsel capacities for Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) and British Petroleum (BP). Mark received his law degree from the University of Southern California.

Laura Jakobsen, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Design
Laura Jakobsen heads up our Product Innovation, Design and Marketing disciplines. Before coming to Pinkberry, Mrs.Jakobsen spent her career in consumer insight, integrated marketing and brand strategies, as well as product innovation and design for the following leading companies – Hornall Anderson Design, Landor Associates and Ogilvy. During her career she has worked at an executive level guiding new strategies and embedding in Fortune 100 companies of all sectors from technology services, consumer packaged goods and retailers to set up new infrastructures and processes to get performing consumer-centered ideas to market.

Board of Directors

Howard Schultz, Board Director
Mr. Schultz is the Chairman of Starbucks Coffee Company and the co-founder of the venture capital firm, Maveron.

Dan Levitan, Board Director
Mr. Levitan is the co-founder and managing partner of the venture capital firm, Maveron.

Michael Casey, Board Director
Mr. Casey spent ten years at Starbucks Coffee Company as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer. Michael currently serves on the board of directors for Lululemon Athletica, Inc. and Nasdaq.

Ted Philip, Board Director
Mr. Philip is a Managing General Partner of the Highland Consumer Fund. Mr. Philip was one of the founding members of Lycos, serving at various times as the President, CFO and COO, and has over twenty years of experience with industry consumer brands such as The Walt Disney Company, Miramax and Hasbro.

Betsy McLaughlin, Board Director
McLaughlin has served as CEO of Hot Topic Inc. Under McLaughlin’s leadership, Hot Topic grew from 190 stores in 1993 to more than 800 stores in 50 states and Puerto Rico. McLaughlin’s career highlights at Hot Topic Inc. included being named to Forbes “200 Hot Companies” and Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work for”, #1 on Forbes list of “Most Trustworthy Retailers” and named by Fast Company as one of the “Most Innovative Companies”. She served as a director on the Hot Topic board for 12 years, and up through January 2011, was on the board at Noodles & Co. McLaughlin has a B.A. degree in Economics from the University of California at Irvine and is a member of the Board of Visitors for the UCLA Anderson School.

Shelly Hwang, Co-Founder and Board Director
Shelly was inspired by the Italian gelato experience and America’s love for ice-cream to develop the unique Pinkberry recipe that has revolutionized the frozen yogurt category. Shelly is involved in product development and remains deeply committed to uncompromising quality.

Ron Graves, Chief Executive Officer and Board Director
See Executive Team.