San Diego-based Speakeasy Co. announced the recent appointments of Mark Tholking to chief technology officer and Cara Morrison to chief financial officer.
“We are thrilled to share the news surrounding the recent hiring of Mark Tholking and promotion of Cara Morrison,” said Josh Jacobs, co-founder and CEO of Speakeasy Co., in a press release. “Each of these leaders exemplify all that Speakeasy Co. stands for when it comes to relentless dedication to customer satisfaction and intent to revolutionize the beverage alcohol category.”
Michael Bowen, co-founder and COO notes, “Mark played a crucial role in the recent success of our Tesla Tequila initiative having developed the strategy and overall technology to truly make it possible, also helping to solve the incredibly difficult technology problem of creating a flash sale site to scale to millions of users, selling out in less than an hour. We are fortunate to now have Mark full-time supporting the business and are confident in his abilities to take Speakeasy Co. to new heights in the years ahead.”
Tholking comes to Speakeasy Co. with extensive leadership experience heading technology teams, creating innovative products over the past decade, most recently as CTO for Vessel. In addition to his experience in technology, Thokling has also worked with globally recognized CPG brands including P&G, Johnson & Johnson and ConAgra.
“We are rapidly expanding the talented Speakeasy Co. technology team to support our growing list of brand partners on our platform,” Tholking comments. “In addition, we are also constantly advancing the Speakeasy Co. platform by providing brand partners with more actionable insights with data and analytics.”
Morrison, a seasoned finance executive, most recently served as CFO of IDW Publishing, a leading media company based out of San Diego. During her decade-long tenure with the business, Morrison worked with various world-renowned brands such as Hasbro, Disney, Marvel, and ViacomCBS, in addition to supporting the growth of independent creator owned brands. Morrison began her career with KPMG, is a licensed CPA, and serves as Treasurer on the Board of Directors of Traveling Stories, a children’s literacy nonprofit.
Morrison notes, “Right now we are focusing on improving systems and adding automations to the fulfillment and reporting processes. This key investment will give our partners access to information sooner and aid in scalable efficiencies for Speakeasy Co.’s long-term success.”
Bowen continues, “Cara’s expertise will help accelerate our business into the forefront of the industry by helping drive the Speakeasy Co. retail and distribution platform to handle thousands of SKUs and partners. We also feel her time working with IDW and the amount of publishers and SKUs on their respective platform have set her for success here at Speakeasy Co.”