Roland W. Veit : Chairman
Born and raised in Switzerland, Roland Veit started his coffee career in 1972 when he joined Nestle's world headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland as a commodities buyer. In 1974 he was transferred to Nestle USA and one year later to Nestle South Africa, gradually specializing in green coffee purchasing. At the end of 1978 he left Nestle to join a commodities trading firm in Johannesburg where he started a coffee and tea trading department; this is where he got his first exposure to specialty coffees.
In 1980 he returned to the United States to join Sprague & Rhodes, New York, as a coffee trader. Six years later, in early 1986 he co-founded Paragon Coffee Trading Company and in 1992 became the company's principal owner and chairman.
Since then he has helped develop the specialty coffee (gourmet) sector in North America from it's early stages and has served three years (1989-92) on the Board of Directors of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) and from 1993 to 1999 he was on SCAA's International Relations Committee of which the last three years as it's Chairman.
Roland Veit has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Green Coffee Association of New York (GCA) since 1998 and was elected Chairman in September 2000. He also serves as a quality and technical arbitrator for the GCA as well as the SCAA.
Michael Silberstein : Vice President
Bob Briante : Senior Trader
Bob's history in coffee trading is distinguished and spans nearly 50 years.
1956/64 J.Aron - NY
1964/88 Sprague & Rhodes - NY
1988 to Present Paragon Coffee Trading
1965 to Present Official Grader/Classifier (NCA-Armed Services)
1959 to Present Official Arbitrator - Green Coffee Association of New York
1972 to Present Official Grader/Classifier - New York Coffee Exchange
Stephen Bauer : Trader
Steve started his career in coffee by owning espresso bars and carts in Colorado. He made a move to Kenya and spent over a year learning the intricacies of green coffee sensory evaluation, preparation and exportation. Upon moving back to the US he worked in production with a specialty roaster and later as an agent for one of the largest African exporters. He has been with Paragon since 1999.