
Scott Ford, Co-founder of Westrock Coffee Company, serves as Chief Executive Officer. When Scott started Westrock Coffee, the goal was to give back in a way that led to economic change in the lives of the people of Rwanda.
Evidence ten years later is a vertically integrated coffee company that impacts over one million members of smallholder farming households in more than 20 different coffee growing countries worldwide. Prior to co-founding Westrock, Scott served as President and CEO of Alltel Corporation.
Scott began his professional career as an investment banker and subsequently served as the Assistant to the Chairman at Stephens Group where his work involved traditional investment banking services, equity portfolio management, venture capital investing, and acquisitions in the media industry. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of AT&T Inc.

Joe also serves as Chairman of Westrock Group, LLC. He began his career in telecommunications at Allied Telephone Company in Little Rock, becoming Allied’s President in 1977 and subsequently the Chairman of Alltel Corporation - a provider of wireless voice and data communications services. Joe serves on the Board of Directors of Westrock Coffee Company and Westrock Asset Management. He previously served on the Board of Directors for the Dial Corporation, Duke Energy Company, Eltek, ASA, Beverly Enterprises Company, En Pro Industries, Textron Inc., and the United States Chamber of Commerce.

Prior to joining Westrock Coffee in 2013, Chris served as the company’s outside legal counsel as a partner at Kutak Rock LLP. He has also served as a legal, international business, and finance executive at Hunt Oil Company. Chris began his career as a corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions attorney at Thompson & Knight LLP and Vinson & Elkins LLP. Chris serves on the Board of Directors of Falcon Coffees Limited and Rwanda Trading Company.

Will earned a master's degree in Coffee Economics and Science from Illy Universtatá del Caffé in Trieste, Italy. He received his B.A. in Communications from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Will serves on the boards of the National Coffee Association (NCA) and the Greater Little Rock Chamber of Commerce.

Sam Ford serves as Executive Vice President of Business Analytics and Client Services at Westrock Coffee. In this role, he is responsible for leading teams across pricing, corporate marketing, business processes, service and equipment, and customer engagement. Sam has worked for Westrock Coffee since 2014 in many different capacities.
Prior to Westrock Coffee, Sam worked at Circumference Group, a privately held investment and technology firm. Sam received a bachelor of finance from Pepperdine University and studied Mandarin in Shanghai, China.

Kyle Newkirk serves as Executive Vice President of Global Innovation, Marketing, and Sales, overseeing Westrock's customer-focused insights to new products pipeline, sales to consumer-packaged goods customers, and international business development.
Prior to joining Westrock Coffee in 2012, Kyle held leadership roles in innovation, global supply chain, and sustainability at several Fortune 500 consumer packaged goods companies including The Hershey Company, General Mills, Sara Lee, and Tyson Foods. He also served as a career Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development with postings in Washington D.C., Kabul, and Bangkok where he managed post-conflict and post-disaster reconstruction projects.

Prior to joining Westrock Coffee, Elizabeth owned and served as Chief Operating Officer of SIR Research, a consumer marketing research firm in Richmond, Virginia. She previously worked as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at PBM Products, a private label consumer products company. She began her career in 1996 at Alltel Corporation.


C.J. Duvall, Jr. serves as the Executive Vice President of Human Resources for Westrock Coffee Company. C.J. has long been associated with serving community efforts across a wide spectrum of interests, from local community gardening in support of teaching students in the field of biological sciences to creating scholarship endowments to prepare students to be teachers, scientists, business leaders, and humanitarian leaders all with a focus of giving back to their community.
Prior to joining Westrock Coffee, he served as a human capital business consultant to CEOs in different industries. C.J.'s corporate background includes more than 25-years human resource management for companies such as software services company, Systematics, Inc., Alltel Information Services, Inc., and Alltel Corporation.

Prior to returning to work in our U.S. operations, Matt was the President and CEO of Westrock East Africa, Chief Operating Officer of Falcon Coffees Limited. He began is time within the Westrock Coffee family as the General Manager of Rwanda Trading Company where he oversaw its growth from a start-up coffee exporter to a respected national player that is responsible for an incremental $100 million earned by the farmers of Rwanda.

Eric Chin serves as the Chief Information Officer of Westrock Coffee Company. Eric oversees the information technology needs and helps to enable the business to effectively and proactively serve customers through the use of technology. Eric started his career in operations and logistics and has previously worked in the food and grocery, beverage distribution, sporting goods, and retail industries.
Eric has held various roles throughout his career including Chief Operating Officer at Mack’s Prairie Wings, Division Vice President at McLane Company, and State Operations Director at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits. Eric earned a master’s degree in Leadership from Baker College and received his BBA from Harding University in Searcy, AR.