Kona Blue’s Management Team

Thomas D. McCloskey, Chairman

Thomas McCloskey has spent most of his career involved with eco-friendly projects. He has served as general partner in more than 50 partnerships and has been involved in a diverse variety of business activities. He is Chairman and CEO of Cornerstone Holdings, LLC (Kona Blue's primary investor), and McCloskey and Company, whose mission is to develop projects and businesses responsibly, steward the land, and leave a positive, lasting legacy. McCloskey and Company's activities in Hawaii include the Northshore Nursery and Kealia Kai, an environmentally sensitive community on the island of Kaua'i.

In the development community, McCloskey has been formally recognized as an environmentally concerned steward of the land and has served on planning councils on the Mainland. As the former Chairman of Horizon Organic Dairy (NASDAQ: HCOW), the world's largest organic dairy company, McCloskey is an advocate for sustainable organic agriculture. Mr. McCloskey volunteers with the Leadership Kaua'i Board of Directors, the Advisory Council of University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business, and the Gigot Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, where he has lectured on business ethics.

Through his affiliation with Palmer Communications, Palmer Wireless (N PWIR), and now Cornerstone Holdings, he has been involved with high-level strategic development of technology companies and wireless communications markets for the past 20 years. Cornerstone Holdings, LLC, is based in Aspen and Broomfield, Colorado, with activities in real estate development, venture capital, and portfolio management.

McCloskey received his BA from the University of Notre Dame in 1968 and, in 1972, received an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

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Michael Wink, Chief Executive Officer

Michael Wink joined Kona Blue as its CEO in October 2005. His responsibilities include overseeing the company's operations, sales, marketing, distribution, and finance. He also is responsible for setting a long-term strategy for Kona Blue's growth. Wink brings five years of national growth company experience to the position.

Prior to being hired by Kona Blue, Wink worked as a principal for BV-Cornerstone Ventures, LP, based in Broomfield, Colorado. In this position he was involved with deploying and managing a $100 million venture capital fund, leading the fund's investment in several growth communications companies, including Speakeasy, Inc., and Clear Technology. His experience includes generating and analyzing investment opportunities in private companies as well as working with growth stage companies to plan and execute strategy and tactics.

Wink earned dual Bachelor's degrees in accounting, and engineering and management at Clarkson University, as well as a master of business administration at the University of Colorado, Leeds School of Business and a juris doctor at the University of Colorado Law School.

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Neil Anthony Sims, President/Co-Founder

Neil Anthony Sims is a marine biologist who has dedicated his professional and educational life to the sea. Sims is the President and co-founder of Kona Blue and Vice-President/Research Director for Black Pearls, Inc., Kona Blue's original parent company. Based at the Natural Energy Laboratory (NELHA), a state-funded ocean science and technology park in Kailua-Kona, Black Pearls was involved in pearl oyster hatchery and pearl farm development work; Kona Blue later spun off as a separate limited liability company.

Prior to co-founding Kona Blue and Black Pearls, Sims served in several research and consulting capacities around the globe. He specialized in feasibility, operation, development and environmental impact of pearl farms and hatcheries in the South Pacific, Middle East and Australia. Since 1993, Sims has been a principal investigator or co-principal investigator on more than 30 federal or state research grants and contracts, worth over $4.2 million.

Since 1988, Sims has published dozens of papers and reports on offshore cage culture and pearl oysters. He graduated with a B.S. in Marine Biology from James Cook University of North Queensland, Townsville, Australia in 1980. He then went on to earn a M.S. in Zoology from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia in 1990.

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Matt Confer, Chief Financial Officer

Matt Confer joined Kona Blue in 2007 and brings years of experience building accounting and finance organizations in high-growth companies. His responsibilities include all aspects of risk management, corporate compliance and governance, accounting and financial planning and analysis.

Prior to Kona Blue, Confer worked as the VP of Finance for ZoomSystems, an automated retail company based in San Francisco, raising over $100 million in equity and debt in just four years. Prior to ZoomSystems, Matt served as principal for The Arbelos Group, Inc. assisting early stage start ups with business formation, financial modeling, and fund-raising strategy. He also served as Director of Operations and Business Analyst for several Internet-based professional service companies including MarketScience, ClearKey Solutions, and Startups.com.

Confer received his Juris Doctor and MBA degrees from the University of San Francisco and his BA from Ohio Wesleyan University.

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Kelly Coleman, Vice President of Marketing

Kelly Coleman is responsible for the marketing function at Kona Blue, where she develops and implements strategies to build brand awareness and drive sales, as well as managing corporate public relations and media communications.

She brings 23 years of integrated food marketing experience to Kona Blue. In 1984, Coleman began an advertising agency career with a boutique food marketing agency in San Francisco, Anderson/Rothstein, Inc., working on blue chip client brands such as Dole Pineapple and Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing. Over the next 20 years, she worked with numerous clients large and small, from Del Monte to Oregon Chai, at other food agencies in San Francisco—Shore, Young and Tomi, and Lewis & Partners—and at her own agencies, Stower Coleman Associates and Coleman Communications. Coleman has helped commodity board clients expand their product categories and usage, and has helped define, establish and build brands in the retail and foodservice industries. She has extensive experience in the seafood industry, having worked with the British Columbia Salmon Farmers Association, Clear Springs Foods, Kent SeaTech, Ore-Cal Corporation and the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.

Coleman has an Associate's degree in Journalism from Burlington Country Community College in New Jersey, and also studied Mass Communications at Boston University.

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Federico Rotman, Hatchery Manager/Senior Biologist

Federico Rotman has been an integral member in the development of Kona Blue since its inception in 2001. He has been key in the development of Kona Blue's hatchery technology, and is involved in all aspects of Kona Blue's operations that relate to the biology of Kona Kampachi® , both in the hatchery and offshore.

Prior to earning his master's degree from the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Rotman worked on a number of different marine-related projects with organizations including the Smithsonian Institution, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, the Aquaculture Center of the Florida Keys, Mote Marine Laboratory, and GreatBay Aquaculture.

Rotman's professional experience combines an extensive scientific background and an in-depth familiarity with a diverse list of cultured species, including Kona Kampachi® (Seriola rivoliana), cobia (Rachycentron canadum), mutton snapper (Lutjanus analis), grouper (various spp.), flatfish (various spp.), Hawaiian deep-water snapper (various spp.), ornamental reef fish (various spp.), and others.

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Joseph Laughlin, Offshore Manager

Joseph Laughlin joined Kona Blue in 2006, and has made countless contributions to the company's efforts to innovate, design, and fabricate harvest, feeding and grow-out systems for open ocean aquaculture pens under strong current and adverse open ocean conditions. Joe heads up a team of 15 diving technicians and 3 maintenance crew, and supervises all aspects of maintenance, harvesting, and keeping Kona Kampachi® healthy and flourishing at Kona Blue's offshore grow-out site.

Laughlin came to Kona Blue with eight years' experience as a marine scientist and manager, including positions as a Coral Reef Research Specialist at the Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, Scientific Diver, and Dive Master at the University of Hawaii. In these research-based positions, Laughlin conducted diver surveys and ecological assessments of marine ecosystems.

Laughlin has a BA degree in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Hawaii at Hilo.

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