First Beverage Group has broadened responsibilities of Joth Ricci, naming him to post of coo with greater day-to-day involvement in overseeing its portfolio cos Activate and Thomas Kemper and building its newly launched bev-incubator fund and Beverage Intelligence Group consulting unit. Joth, who came in as managing dir of operations following departure from prexy/ceo post at Jones Soda, also brings hands-on distribution experience from earlier tenure at Columbia Distributing, for "unique understanding of the importance of distribution strategies, retail execution and brand development," said First Beverage founder/ceo Bill Anderson in announcing move.