Sunny Sassoon

Sunny Sassoon assumed the position of Chief Executive Officer at International Coffee & Tea, LLC in December, 1998. Mr. Sassoon was integral in the development of the company's strategic and growth plan, which took it from about 30 stores in 1998 to over 600 stores in 2007. Beginning in 2008, Mr. Sassoon changed roles to Executive Chairman, focusing on the development of the company's strategic business plan.

Mel Elias

Mel has been instrumental in the strategic positioning and dynamic expansion of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, helping lead the company's growth from 60 to over 800 stores worldwide since 1999. As President and CEO, he is now responsible for setting strategy and directing the day-to-day operations of the company's global brand and business.

Prior to joining the company, Mel was the Director of Development for the Sunvic Group, overseeing the development and operations for Tower Records and Sunvic'sThe Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf franchise in Malaysia.

Mel completed his Law studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He was admitted to the Bar of both the Middle Temple in England and the High Court of the Republic of Singapore where he practiced as an advocate and solicitor for a number of years.

John Theuer

John is responsible for all accounting, finance, treasury, IT and loss prevention functions at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. His teams are focused on being “best in class” for a private company and on partnering with various business units throughout the organization to deliver value-added business insights that drive superior financial performance.

Before joining The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf team, John was Chief Financial Officer of Panda Restaurant Group, Inc. (Panda Express) for 17 years. John was part of the senior team that grew Panda Express from 90 to over 1400 locations. He was responsible for all accounting, planning, tax and internal audit functions at Panda and led the financing and real estate strategy that helped fuel Panda Express’ growth.

Prior to joining Panda, John held management positions with Deloitte, Hilton Hotels, Acapulco Restaurants and the Walt Disney Company. John is a C.P.A. and a C.M.A. and holds a B.A. and M.B.A. from Michigan State University.

Terry Mansky

Terry is responsible for the Company's legal, human resource, real estate and global supply chain initiatives and maintains an active role in the company's overall leadership. Terry joined the company in February 2004 as its charter general counsel.

Prior to joining the Company, Terry was a partner at Johnson & Mansky where herepresented a variety of retail clients, including Krause's Furniture Inc., Wells FargoBank and International Coffee & Tea, LLC.

Terry completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Southern Californiaand received his J.D. from Loyola University School of Law, where he was a member of the Loyola Law Review in the 1978-1979 academic year.

Mark Watkins

Mark is focused on the profitable growth of the company's Domestic Operations Division through the development of our people at all levels, while creating a spirit that inspires our Team Members to deliver a Total Quality Experience for every customer in every store.

Before joining The Coffee Bean team, Mark was Senior Vice President of Operations for Rubio’s Restaurants, Inc. and had responsibility for over 200 company and franchise restaurants in the Western U.S. He implemented programs for the brand to improve customer service levels and guest scores, improve costs of goods, optimize the labor model and developed a strategic people plan to increase leadership at both the unit and multi-unit level. Mark joined Rubio’s in 1999 and progressed through a number of leadership roles. Mark began his food service career with the McDonald’s organization, working for the company’s largest Orange County, CA franchisee for over 20 years.

Mark holds a M.B.A. and B.S. in Business Management from University of Phoenix.

Bob Kaufman

Bob is responsible for domestic and international franchises, in both traditional and non-traditional locations. The company currently has over 560 franchised locations in 23 countries, and has been aggressively growing under his leadership.

Prior to joining the Company, he spent 12 years as the Senior Vice President of Business Development and Managing Director of International at Tower Records based in Sacramento, CA and Tokyo, Japan. At Tower, Bob created and grew franchise business, oversaw all international operations and was responsible for all new and non-traditional revenue initiatives, including gift cards, consumer electronics, video games, digital music, Latin music, rack jobbing and media sales.

Bob has lived in Japan, China, Taiwan, Philippines, and Spain and speaks Spanish, Chinese and Japanese. He has a B.A. in Asian Studies from University of California at Santa Barbara, and a degree in Chinese language from Peking University in Beijing.

Paul Balzer

Paul is responsible for all supply chain and manufacturing operations worldwide and the company's product development and quality assurance functions. His responsibilities include planning, procurement, manufacturing and product distribution to the company's stores located throughout the world. He is an integral part of the executive team, bringing contemporary solutions to supply chain and business issues within the Company.

Paul has nearly 30 years of experience directing all facets of supply chain operations for major multi-unit businesses including Frito-Lay, Allied Domeq units (Baskin-Robbins, Dunkin Donuts and Togos brands), and Pick Up Stix Restaurants.

Paul holds a B.S. in Business Administration with an emphasis in Production/Logistics Operations from California State University, Fresno. Paul also is a "Certified Supply Chain Professional."

Diane Kuyoomjian

Diane heads up our marketing department, category management team (beverages, food and retail products), design group and eCommerce businesses. She is responsible for brand stewardship, overall marketing strategy as well as specific programs, promotions and category plans that support segment sales (retail operations, business development, specialty sales and eCommerce).

Prior to joining the company, Diane was the Senior Vice President of Marketing at POM Wonderful, heading U.S. and international marketing. She also spent a good deal of her career in leading ad agencies including Deutsch and McCann Erickson, on premier brands such as Expedia, DIRECTV, TGI Friday's and Nestle. She began her career with Nestle USA in brand management.

Diane holds a M.B.A. from the University of Southern California and a B.A. degree in Advertising from San Jose State University.

Debbie Sassoon

Starting in 1998 as the Director of Product Development, Debbie oversaw the development of all new coffees and teas, beverages, and other related products, including food and equipment. She has been instrumental in developing many new products such as our line of tea lattes, Ice Blended® drinks, as well as several new extensions of the existing product line.

Since 2010, she has overseen new product innovation and continues to maintain responsibility for all areas that affect product integrity. She works across departments to maintain the level of quality and consistency of products offered throughout the company.

In early 1994, Debbie walked into The Coffee Bean, which started a love affair that soon led to a Franchise agreement in 1996. This finally led to a purchase agreement in 1998, which made the Sassoon family the proud owners of The Coffee Bean. Her passion for the company is as great today as it was then.

Jay Isais

Jay is responsible for selecting the best green coffee beans available from the world's finest growing regions, as well as for all coffee and tea manufacturing, for warehousing and distribution worldwide. He oversees the blending and roasting of all coffee on site at the Company's Camarillo, CA facility.

In 1984, Jay began his career with Hillside Coffee. He then held operations management and buying positions at Brother's Gourmet, Gloria Jean's, Coffee People Worldwide and Diedrich Coffee. With his breadth of coffee experience, he has developed a reputation for expertise in the industry.

Jay was a founding member of the Roasters Guild and is a volunteer instructor for the SCAA and is a certified judge for the Cup of Excellence® program run by A.C.E. Jay is also a licensed Q grader, and an APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional.

David DeCandia

David joined the company in 1997. As buyer, master blender and senior manager of tea, David is responsible for sourcing, development and internal education on tea. He travels the world to source the finest ingredients from countries such as Sri Lanka, India, Japan, China and Taiwan. He is a driving force in giving back to the origin countries in which we do business.

Prior to joining the company, David spent 13 years at Halliburton where he was involved with industry sales, service and managerial distribution.

He holds a B.S. in Business from California State University, Northridge.