BERKELEY, Calif., U.S. — Bellwether Coffee, makers of the first-of-its-kind zero-emissions commercial coffee roaster and integrated Coffee Marketplace, today announced the addition of veteran technology chief financial officer Paul Yee to the team.
“Paul’s successes and experience in helping lead high-growth companies like Stitch Fix, Method and Peet’s will be invaluable to Bellwether,” said Nathan Gilliland, chief executive officer of Bellwether. “We’re proud of our success over the past quarter in particular, in the face of many unknowns in the market, and look forward to benefiting from Paul’s strategic guidance and consumer-centric approach as we continue to scale and grow.”
With more than 20 years of experience helping build top-tier, global brands, Mr. Yee excels at working within industry-shaping, growth-driven companies. Most recently, Paul was the chief financial officer at Stitch Fix, where he led the $137MM initial public offering of the technology-powered apparel retailer. Prior, Paul was CFO of Method Products, which was acquired by SC Johnson, and spent more than 6 years at Peet’s Coffee, most recently as the vice president of finance and investor relations. Paul helped see Peet’s Coffee through an acquisition by a private investment group for $1B in 2012 as well.
Bellwether Coffee just reported its strongest quarter in Q2 with more than 100% growth over prior year in new roaster installs. With the pandemic driving changes across the country and hitting the food and beverage industry disproportionately hard, Bellwether has seen success as a result of the added revenue streams the roaster can provide to customers via wholesale, retail, and e-commerce opportunities. Current customers of Bellwether, like Unravel Coffee in Denver, CO, have seen 400% growth in e-commerce bagged coffee sales from mid-March to mid-May.
“I’m inspired by Bellwether’s mission to make coffee roasting more accessible and sustainable for the environment and our communities,” said Paul Yee. “I’m excited to be joining the team and driving growth as we continue the company on the trajectory of reaching more customers, from large brands to small neighborhood coffee shops, giving them ownership of their coffee roasting programs.”
As chief financial officer at Bellwether, Yee will lead all finance functions and specific operational functions. He’ll provide coaching and mentoring to relevant team members as Bellwether iterates on its product and identifies new sales channels. Yee has a Master of Business Administration degree and Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University. He is a certified running coach with Road Runners Club of America and resides with his family in the East Bay.
