Yerba Madre has named Steve Lesnard as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 20, 2026, signaling an aggressive pivot toward distribution expansion and brand-building for the RTD yerba mate category leader. Lesnard, who had already been serving on the company's board of directors, succeeds Ben Mand, who led a multi-year operational overhaul that repositioned the brand for scale — including a full supply-chain rebuild, a shift from self-distribution to regional wholesaler partnerships, and the brand's relaunch from Guayakí to Yerba Madre.
The Route-to-Market Reset
Mand's tenure was defined by infrastructure. He restructured co-manufacturing relationships, dismantled a largely self-distribution model, and handed off route-to-market execution to regional distributor networks — the operational groundwork that gives Lesnard a credible platform for volume acceleration. Mand will remain as a board advisor, ensuring continuity through the leadership transition. That shift from self-distribution to third-party wholesaler coverage is consequential: it aligns Yerba Madre with the three-tier system at scale and removes the margin drag and logistical complexity that self-distribution imposes on emerging beverage brands trying to grow SKU placement across off-premise chains and natural grocery planograms.
With the company now present in over 45,000 retail doors across the U.S. and Canada — spanning conventional grocery, natural channel, and convenience — Lesnard's immediate mandate is driving depletions against that existing footprint while pursuing new account development. The brand's organic, Regenerative Organic Certified mate is sourced directly from 257 Indigenous and farmer families across Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, a supply-chain story with growing resonance in premium functional beverage segments where ingredient provenance commands shelf space and retail support.
Lesnard's Commercial Pedigree
Lesnard's background is consumer-facing rather than operations-heavy, which tracks with Yerba Madre's stated priorities: brand awareness and consumer acquisition. At Nike, he was central to the development of Women's, Running, and Olympics category strategies and helped commercialize innovations including Nike React and the Vaporfly. He later served as Chief Marketing Officer and head of product creation at The North Face, Chief Brand Officer at Sephora, and President at Godiva — a roster of premium, mission-adjacent consumer brands where authenticity and commercial scale coexisted.
"Steve has sat with us in the boardroom, he knows this business, and he believes in why we exist," said Emily White, Chairman of the Board. "He has spent his career building brands people love — and scaling them while preserving their authenticity."
For the non-alc and functional beverage segment, the appointment reflects a broader pattern: brands that have survived the early distribution grind now need executives who can drive trial, earn end-cap placement, and convert category-curious shoppers into loyal on-premise and off-premise consumers.
Board Strengthened for Scale
Yerba Madre also added Scott Miller to its board of directors. Miller is co-founder and CEO of YESLY Water and brings beverage-specific distribution depth from prior roles at Essentia, Keurig Dr Pepper, and Tampico — brands with meaningful wholesaler network complexity. His addition gives the board direct insight into RTD supply-chain strategy and distributor relationship management at a moment when Yerba Madre is actively expanding its regional partner coverage.
The yerba mate category remains underpenetrated relative to other functional energy platforms, but the competitive window is narrowing as larger energy and hydration brands experiment with botanical caffeine positioning. Yerba Madre's 30-year sourcing relationships, first-mover regenerative certifications, and now-rationalized distribution infrastructure put it in a defensible position — provided the new CEO can convert brand equity into measurable depletion velocity across its existing 45,000-door network.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
