A company which won a lucrative contract in July 2022 to dispose of 7,402 pallets of personal hygiene products that included hand sanitizer containing a high concentration of ethyl alcohol, and some contaminated with methanol, was founded six months earlier in Wyoming and was led by a professional chef.
4e Brands Northamerica LLC filed for dissolution on Feb. 2, 2022, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Laredo Division. 4e informed the court that after an exhaustive search, company officials selected Latitude Liquids to dispose of its “inventory” of recalled hand sanitizer by recycling some of the product and destroying the rest.
On its internet website, Latitude Liquids claimed to be “an organization experienced in the ethanol- based hand sanitizer and recycling markets, which gives us a unique perspective... We have created relationships that allow us to solve your hand sanitizer situation.”
“Latitude Liquids LLC” was formed Jan. 14, 2022, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, records from the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office show. The company “was set up by a registered agent service” and no officers or directors were listed. The company was declared “inactive: administratively dissolved” on March 11, 2025; a tax delinquency notice was dated Jan. 2, 2024.
Latitude’s website includes no telephone number. At one time, inquiries could be submitted to the company only by submitting a form on the company’s website. At the bottom of the webpage is a Latitude Liquids logo and these words: “Designed by The Chef Firm.”
Latitude said it was located in Laredo, Texas, but its “depacking” and recycling facilities were in Mexico.
Southwest Ledger checked records of the Oklahoma Secretary of State on Thursday and found no fewer than 36 companies with names that include “Latitude.” None is or was named Latitude Liquids, and the most recent of them was established in 2021, a year before Latitude Liquids was created in Wyoming.
Searches of records of the Texas Secretary of State and of the Texas Comptroller show that Latitude Liquids “has not made the proper filings” with either agency “and is not legally authorized to conduct business in Texas.”
The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality believes LL has gone out of business, public information officer Skyler McElhaney told the Ledger.
Latitude Liquids’ 6 principal figures
Linkedln has biographical information on six individuals listed as principals in Latitude Liquids: Michael McGovern Jr., Hunter Mobley, Eduardo Aguirre, Shanterea Martin, Sarah Courtright, and Mike Ruffing.
•McGovern wrote that he has been Latitude’s executive director of operations since January 2022 and is based in Bentonville, Arkansas.
His bio lists his other titles as “CEC” (certified executive chef) and “CHE” (certified hospitality educator). He wrote that he has “over 28 years of culinary experience in almost every facet of the food industry” from roles at Commander’s Palace, Compass Group, “as an adjunct instructor at Northwest Arkansas Community College,” and The Culinary Institute of America, in New York, where, he said, he graduated “on the Dean’s List.”
McGovern reported that he was the executive chef with Compass Group “(the largest contract food service company in the world),” became a private executive chef for a sorority house, then returned to Compass Group with Levy Restaurants in May 2019 “as the executive sous chef.”
•Ruffing is identified on Linkedln as a co-founder of Latitude Liquids. He previously listed his address simply as “United States,” but now he claims Laredo, Texas.
His profile describes him as “serial entrepreneur, Professional Something, and always looking for our next venture.” He says his skills include business, management, and marketing. Under education he listed Los Fresnos High School, Texas.
•Courtright wrote that she is an environmental sales specialist for Latitude Liquids.
She claims she earned an MBA degree from the Mc-Combs School of Business at the University of Texas in Austin and lives in the Longview-Marshall area.
Courtright wrote that she is “skilled in business planning, operations management, freight, Microsoft Word, and sales.” Other skills she listed include public relations, conflict resolution, business planning, freight communication, and business analysis.
•Mobley, of Kerrville, Texas, wrote on Linkedln that he has been with Latitude Liquids full-time and has been “vital in helping build relationships and assets for DataFlow LLC, our data company based in Bentonville, Arkansas.”
When the coronavirus pandemic “showed itself and began spreading worldwide, our team felt we needed to do something to help so we saw an opportunity in the ethanol business,” Mobley related. “We started supplying ethanol nationwide to assist in [the] manufacture of hand sanitizer, which was in such high demand... We had to find a way to recycle and dispose of the surplus created by the demand.
Latitude Liquids “solves that problem in the most eco-friendly process we have learned along the way.”
Mobley claims to have an MBA degree from the McCombs School of Business at UTA. He wrote that his skills include supply chain management, sales management, and “deal closure.”
•Aguirre says he was Latitude’s vice president of sales and marketing, but became the vice president of sales and marketing for Dynamic Logistic Solutions in April.
He said he has “10+ years of sales experience” and is a sales representative “with a demonstrated history of working in the marketing, technology and advertising industry.” Aguirre wrote that he is skilled in technical support, sales, customer satisfaction, training, supervising and account management.
He said he received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Isabel Herrera de Obaldia Professional School in Panama in 2006, and a degree from Universidad National de Panama in 2010, in maritime business administration, business administration and management.
Aguirre wrote in Linkedln that he received four licenses/certificates in 2019: Hubspot Inbound Sales certificate, Google digital sales certification, SEO Fundamentals, and Hubspot sales software certification.
•Martin wrote that she has been employed as a sales specialist with Latitude Liquids since July 2022, and has worked for Jackson Hewitt Tax Service for 10Vi years.
Martin said she is a graduate of Macon State College and earned a bachelor’s degree in public administration and management. She said she is from Union City, Georgia, and lives in Atlanta.
“I have several years in the finance/tax industry,” she wrote in her profile on Linkedln. “I’m currently in the transportation business as an independent nationwide dispatcher looking to network with people from all walks of life, whether it’s career wise, travel wise or making connections for any various reasons.”