Paul M. Keating, JR - Owner/President/CEO
Paul Keating is owner/president of Elite Brands and is responsible
for the vision and direction of worldwide sales, marketing, and distribution to
the military resale markets.
Prior to founding Elite, Mr. Keating served as vice president of sales and
marketing for Military Sales and Marketing Company where he was influential in
creating the infrastructure and sales team that succeeded in taking the company
worldwide. At Elite, Mr. Keating has built a leadership team of highly
experienced, top resale personnel from throughout the military resale industry.
Mr. Keating and Elite Brands are members of the American Logistics Association
(ALA). He has been an active member of ALA's Commissary Council representing
small business interests for nine consecutive years.
Paul Keating holds a BS in Business Administration from Bryant College.
Gregory D. Sheldon - Vice President of Operations
Greg Sheldon joined Elite in 2000 as Vice President of Information Technology.
Prior to joining Elite, he served as hotel manager at the Boston Copley
Marriott, a 1,200 room convention hotel. Mr. Sheldon worked with Marriott
International for over 15 years and held positions in all areas of hotel
management in both the US and Japan.
As Vice President of Information Technology, Mr. Sheldon was instrumental
in procuring and building the network and server infrastructure currently in
place at Elite. Mr. Sheldon has worked closely with vendors to build the
ordering and customer management systems that have been critical to Elite's
yearly double-digit growth since 2000.
As the current Vice President of Operations, Mr. Sheldon is directly
responsible for ensuring that cost effective operations and infrastructure are
in place to support the daily flow of business.
Mr. Sheldon holds a BSBA with concentration in Finance from Boston University.
John M. Whouley - Vice President of Finance
 John Whouley
joined Elite in 2000 as Vice President of Finance. Prior to working in the
military resale industry, he spent 14 years employed by Coastal Oil
Corporation, an international wholesaler of oil and natural gas primarily as
corporate controller.
Mr. Whouley has extensive experience working with government contracting
officers and contracting agencies including Central Contractor Registration
(CCR) and On-Line Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA). He has
developed cutting-edge financial operating systems at Elite, fully automating
electronic data interchange (EDI) with business trading partners that
accurately and efficiently process purchase orders, deliveries, delivery ticket
invoices (DTI), electronic payments (EFT) and price transmissions. He is
responsible for maintaining strong relationships with Elite's banking and
investment providers, vendor partners and distributor network to achieve the
overall financial objectives of the company.
Mr. Whouley holds a BS in Finance from Bentley College and an MBA from Boston
College.
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Keith A. Smith - Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing
 Keith
Smith joined Elite in January of 2006 and has worked in the Military resale
system since 1981. Prior to joining Elite, Mr. Smith worked for a worldwide
military broker and held numerous positions including VP of Sales. During Mr.
Smith's time in the resale system he worked extensively with Commissary
Headquarter and Region management, and has traveled extensively in overseas
markets to fully develop export sales. He has also developed business in both
the AAFES and NEXCOM Exchange systems, and is a member of the ALA Exchange
Council.
Currently, Mr. Smith's primary focus is on the field
execution of all distribution and promotional objectives. He ensures sales
efforts are coordinated between the Elite Regional Managers and store sales
representatives to ensure timely and successful sales events.
Mr. Smith is a graduate of Western Washington University with a BA in
Communications.
Dustin Whitney - Vice President of Marketing
 Dustin Whitney
has worked in the military resale market for the past seven years. He has
worked and managed brands throughout his career. His current role is to develop
and promote Elite's various product lines.
Mr. Whitney is an active community volunteer. He currently is involved with
several scholarship efforts, a local mentoring program and Prevent Blindess MA.
He holds a BS degree in Marketing from Boston College's Carroll School of
Management
Milton E. Ackerman Jr. - Vice President of Customer Sales
Milt Ackerman joined Elite in 2002 following 25-plus years with Nabisco.
During his career with Nabisco, he was responsible for establishing
customer-specific marketing and sales plans and managing the DSD military sales
organization.
Currently, Mr. Ackerman's position as the Vice President of Customer Sales for
Elite includes managing DeCA headquarters, as well as conducting category
specific reviews, presenting monthly promotions, and establishing plan-o-grams
for an ever-changing customer. In addition to these responsibilities, he also
manages all Exchange AAFES and NEXCOM sales channels.
Mr. Ackerman is President Emeritus for the Hampton Roads Chapter of the
American Logistics Assocation (ALA) and serves on various National
ALA working groups and the local YMCA Board of Directors. He is a graduate of
Syracuse University.
Robert E. Denecke - National Sales Manager
Rob Denecke joined the Elite Sales team in 2003 and is responsible for
field sales in the domestic market and direct oversight of the European
commissary market. Mr. Denecke is also directly involved with all DeCA test
sets and coordinating Elite's reset team for the continental US.
Mr. Denecke was previously the Regional Sales manager for Paul Keating Jr. at
Military Sales and Marketing and was responsible for the Eastern Region,
Headquarters Presentations and managing DeCA Europe.
Mr. Denecke has been involved in the commissary resale system since 1990 and is
a graduate of Bryant College with a Bachelors in Business Administration
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