Ezra Shashoua

Mr. Shashoua joined MBCP in 2007.  Previously, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Cruzan International, Inc., a Florida based publicly held spirits company which owned the Cruzan Rum brand and various manufacturing plants.  He was part of the management team that grew the long ignored Cruzan brand into a  700,000 annual case premium rum.  Cruzan was subsequently sold to The Absolut Spirits Company at a 100% premium to the stockholders.

Prior to his employment at Cruzan, he served in a similar capacity at NationsRent, Inc., a publicly held NYSE equipment rental company, and led the effort to successfully restructure and turnaround the highly leveraged company.

Mr. Shashoua had previously been at 7-Eleven, Inc. where he served in various roles of increasing responsibility over 18 years culminating in his appointment as Chief Financial Officer.  During his tenure, the company went through a leveraged buyout, reorganization and sale.  After reorganization, Mr. Shashoua was a leader of the management team that revitalized the 7-Eleven convenience store concept and increased the market value of the company by over 400%.

Mr. Shashoua started his career as an attorney at the law firm of Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal in Chicago .  He holds a B.A. from Northwestern University and a J.D. from Illinois Institute of Technology-Chicago Kent College of Law.