Next Glass Announces Angela Cearns of TrueTwins as Newest Board Member

CHARLOTTE, N.C.

Nov. 4, 2021

Next Glass, a leading global provider of commerce solutions, software, content, and experiences to the beverage alcohol industry, welcomes its newest board member, Angela Cearns, CEO of TrueTwins, a blockchain-based authentication platform located in Copenhagen, Denmark that develops Digital Passports proving brands' footprint and authenticity at the product level.

Along with her TrueTwins leadership experience, Cearns brings deep eCommerce technology experience from her time spent at Amazon, where she played a key role in driving the expansion of Amazon's Emerging Markets Fulfilment business. Cearns also served as the GM of Amazon Global Selling marketplace business, holding a US patent on custom product processing developed for Amazon, and headed up Product Management for the Amazon Prime Technology Platform that powers Amazon global Prime membership.

Prior to Amazon, Cearns spent close to a decade in Silicon Valley with Symantec and the Norton Antivirus brand in a number of leadership positions, including Director of Customer Retention, Worldwide eCommerce. Recently, she also served as the Chief eCommerce Officer for Pizza Hut

Digital Ventures, leading Pizza Hut International through its digital transformation from a physical restaurant franchise business to a world leader in online ordering and delivery services.

Cearns holds a Master of Software Engineering degree from the University of Colorado and an Advanced Project Management certificate from Stanford University. As a respected speaker she has shared stages internationally with former presidents and tech leaders alike on "Driving Change'' and "Digital Transformation" to audiences of over 10,000 people. Currently she is also a professor for the European Institute of eCommerce Executive Program at Churchill College, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.

"I am delighted to welcome Angela Cearns to the Next Glass Board," said Next Glass CEO, Trace Smith.  "As we formed and began to scale our Next Glass Commerce business, we sought to add a leader with deep and varied eCommerce experiences.  Angela's eCommerce expertise, developed during impressive career stops at Amazon, Pizza Hut, and Symantec, will be hugely valuable to our team."      

Emerging from ongoing economic and industry hardships caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Next Glass, which acquired three businesses in the beverage alcohol industry in 2020, continues to build its suite of services, acquiring Ollie Order in July 2021. Ollie is an omnichannel alcohol marketplace platform headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, that facilitates transactions between buyers, logistics providers and suppliers in the beverage-alcohol industry. As a result of the acquisition, Next Glass brands now operate in two distinct divisions; Next Glass Commerce combines the power of Ollie and Oznr's direct-to-consumer solutions for beverage producers to the craft technology space, while Next Glass Software, Events and Services (SES) delivers SaaS menu publishing software, live events, data and insights, and a marketing platform to serve the beverage alcohol industry through the award-winning Untappd app, Untappd for Business, LIVE!, and Beer Advocate and Hop Culture brands.

Building a team with diverse leadership experience is an important part of the Next Glass mission of becoming a valued partner to the beverage alcohol industry, from producers to retailers, as the digital and regulatory landscape continues to evolve.  Cearns' deep eCommerce experience across several verticals, including in the Food & Beverage space, will be paramount in helping the Next Glass Commerce business unit scale.

"The beverage alcohol industry is a highly regulated, traditional and complex ecosystem that is going through rapid transformation. Not only is Next Glass the leading global provider of software with in-depth knowledge of the industry, its group of companies also has the richest content and biggest audience of beer enthusiasts. I'm honored to be part of the team to help guide its digitization and integration," said Cearns.

Cearns joins Rick Fernandes, founder and former CEO of webloyalty.com, as independent members of the Next Glass Board of Directors.  Next Glass is headquartered in Charlotte, NC with offices in Wilmington, NC, Enschede, The Netherlands, and Vancouver, Canada.