Grant Newsteder, CEO
Grant studied art and sculpture at The Parsons School of Visual Arts. He formed his own graphic design and print company and soon realized that many of the techniques used in printing could be applied to chocolates, so he decided to enter the field. His talents as a sculptor allowed him to create extremely detailed molds for use in making chocolate. Grant was soon asked by other chocolate companies to create specialty molds for their clients as well. As a result, he began consulting for those companies. He traveled first to Canada to meet with a group of investors who had an interest in starting a chocolate business, and provided information, advice and hands-on assistance in setting up a location, purchasing equipment, and training personnel.
Grant traveled to Japan to consult for SGO, a company which had just set up a chocolate manufacturing facility and needed start-up assistance. He formulated production schedules and trained SGO workers to operate machinery and make molds. He helped management make contact with buyers and offered suggestions on packaging and supplies. His support allowed the facility to begin day to day operations as a full service chocolate production company.
Grant has used his extensive graphics and print experience to further improve his technique for applying edible color to custom molded chocolates. He formed Got Chocolates, Inc. in 2000 and the now publicly traded Gunther Grant, Inc., in 2002. Got Chocolates was acquired by Gunther Grant, Inc. at that time and became a part of the publicly traded entity.
Marcie Allen, President
Marcie holds a B.S. degree in Marketing/Management from CW Post College. Her 25 years of experience in the direct marketing field with companies such as Doubleday Book & Music Clubs, Reader’s Digest Association, and Bertelsmann Direct North America has given her the marketing expertise to be an effective member of the Gunther Grant team.
From 2004 to the present, Ms. Allen has sourced and marketed general merchandise to ten specialty book clubs as a Senior Buyer for Bertelsmann Direct North America (formerly Bookspan/Yes Solutions). In 2007 she was promoted to Associate Director. In this position she is merchandising for book clubs as well as merchandising and marketing for BMG Music Service and Columbia House DVD Clubs. From 2001 to 2004 Ms. Allen worked closely with Grant Newsteder at Got Chocolates, Inc. to develop products for the ad specialty market and has been involved in all areas of the Company including production, package design, catalog, website, customer service, sales and marketing.
Ellis Nash, Investor Relations
During his 40-year career, Ellis Nash has served as a securities analyst, stockbroker, portfolio manager, and hedge fund manager. He has met and personally knows more than 500 stockbrokers who are currently employed at over 75 different firms in the U.S. and overseas. He was a partner/CEO of several firms between 1974 and 2005, and has had his own investor relations (IR) firm since 1989.
Through his firm, Nash Global Media, he provides his clients with increased visibility to the Wall Street community, including stockbrokers, bankers, fund managers, investors, and other constituencies. The result of his marketing effort ultimately contributes to a company's stock price achieving fair valuation as well as enhanced liquidity for its shares. As an added benefit, a company will be able to lower its cost of capital because of the enhancement to its stock price and additional trading liquidity.
Brian Cassidy
SEC Counsel
Stewart Gelman, CPA
Audit Services, Business Tax Return Preparation, Compilation and Reviews of Financial Statements,
Individual Tax Returns, Non-Profit A-133 Annual Audits, Payroll Services, QuickBooks Pro Advisor
Additional Employees
To keep overhead down, Gunther Grant employs additional people from temporary agencies. These agencies cover all taxes, Workers Comp. Insurance and liability for each employee we hire. Because our Got Chocolates division requires no skilled labor, we are able to spend as little as 15 minutes to train even a new temporary employee what to do. This also allows us to hire more or less people depending on our work load at any specific time. At any given time we may have 2 or 20 people working on orders. We also add additional compensation to workers who tend to perform better at their specific job duties.