Marc Bushala

Marc Bushala is a Chicago-based serial entrepreneur, brand builder, and investor best known for creating premium spirits brands. He earned a B.S. in Marketing from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. His early career was in real estate and property services: from 1989 to 2004 he founded and ran National Facilities Group, a database-management company serving Fortune 1000 commercial property portfolios (sold in 2004), and between 1990 and 1994 he oversaw the development, marketing, and leasing of some of the first modern office buildings in Central and Eastern Europe.

In the 1990s and 2000s Bushala built businesses in media and marketing. He co-founded Atomic Entertainment Group / United Entertainment Co. (1994–2000) with Sir Bob Geldof, which owned Poland's and Romania's first native-language music-television channel ("Atomic TV") along with publications and entertainment venues, before its sale in 1999–2000. He then co-created The Radiate Group (2000–2009), a marketing-services holding company that completed 30-plus acquisitions across multiple continents and reached consolidated revenues of nearly $500 million.

Bushala is most recognized for co-founding Angel's Share Brands with legendary master distiller Lincoln Henderson, creating the port-barrel-finished bourbon Angel's Envy, named "Best Spirit in the World" by Spirit Journal in 2013 and acquired by Bacardi in March 2015. He subsequently founded Spirits Investment Partners (SIP) to incubate and elevate early-stage spirit brands, partnering with musician Bob Dylan to launch Heaven's Door Whiskey, and later developing brands under Playboy Spirits (Rare Hare, 3Hares tequila, Play Hard Seltzers).

Today Bushala operates through Liquid Asset Brands—a product/brand development and investment platform for new spirits brands—and serves as Managing Partner of MAB Capital Management and Rock Gate Partners, a firm investing in distressed real estate and early-stage businesses, including adaptive-reuse projects in Chicago.

• Invests in and incubates early-stage spirits and premium beverage brands, applying an operator's playbook: distinctive brand identity, packaging, storytelling, and celebrity/founder partnerships.
• Core conviction, in his own words: *"people don't want to drink more, they want to drink better."* — a premiumization thesis emphasizing quality over volume.
• Builds brands designed for global scale and eventual strategic exit (the Angel's Envy → Bacardi outcome is the template).
• Through Rock Gate Partners, also participates in distressed real estate and select early-stage businesses, reflecting a broader value-creation and turnaround orientation.
• Values authentic partnerships and cultural resonance (e.g., collaborations with Bob Dylan and Sir Bob Geldof) as a way to differentiate consumer brands.