Charles Merinoff

Charles is a principal founder and serves as Co-Chairman of Breakthru Beverage Group.  In that role he sits on the company’s Board of Managers and Operating Committee.

Charles has worked for his family’s beverage distribution business since 1980.  In 1991, Charles was named President of Charmer Industries, the family’s Metro New York beverage business. In 1994, he led the acquisition of Sunbelt Beverage Corporation, then operating distributorships in several Eastern states. Sunbelt continued to expand, and in 1997 the wholesale companies in which the family had an interest became known as the Charmer Sunbelt Group. Charles served most recently as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Charles is very active in a number of charitable organizations. He has been a member of the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation since 1999, and currently serves as Treasurer. He also sits on the Board of Trustees of the Culinary Institute of America and is on the Board of Directors of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. In 2010, he was elected to the Board of Trustees of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health Systems and sits on the Executive Committee of Lenox Hill Hospital. Charles spearheads the annual Wine and Wishes tasting and auction, which has raised over $4 million for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Metro New York.

He has been honored by the Boys Town of Italy, the Boy Scouts of America and the UJA-Federation of New York. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin.