Beer Marketer's Insights - Longtime Thought Leader Paul Departs as Brewers Assn Trims 6 Jobs in Broader Restructuring

The Brewers Association cut 6 jobs equaling 11% of its workforce as part of an internal reorg that went into effect yesterday, President & CEO Bob Pease wrote to members late Thurs. Move aims to "maximize support to our members, realize greater efficiencies, adapt to rapidly evolving industry dynamics, and set up the association and its incoming CEO for success in 2025," according to the note. Recall, Bob will retire next yr after more than 32 yrs with the org. But the search for his successor is still ongoing. Among the departures this wk is longtime thought leader, Paul Gatza, who most recently served as Senior VP of the Professional Brewing Division. Paul's been with the BA for decades, maintaining a connection to the org's homebrewing roots and championing the importance of independence. For many years, his engaging and entertaining presentations tapped into the pulse of craft beer and the craft beer biz, always telling it like it is. He was the org's leading number cruncher before it brought on economist Bart Watson and was a crucial sounding board for our work covering the space and counting craft bbls.Restructuring reduces # of CEO direct reports to 5 roles: VP of Events & Sales, Lacey Gautier (hired last mo) VP of Ops, Dan Goloback VP of Mktg & Comms, Ann Obenchain VP of Gov't Affairs, Marc Sorini VP of Strategy & Membership, Bart Watson Dr. J Jackson-Beckham will also assume new role of Member Resources Director, with those 6 employees joining the CEO as part of a new BA sr mgmt team to chart org's "future path in 2025," Bob noted. With Bob Pease and Nancy Johnson retiring and Paul&#39;s exit, among others, that's a lotta institutional knowledge going out the door at BA by end of this yr."Today's decision is sad and challenging," wrote Bob, but as BA's structure evolves "I am dedicated to setting up the association and our incoming CEO for success in 2025." The BA is "grateful for the passion and commitment these employees have had to our mission, members, and the industry as a whole, and we did not make these decisions lightly," he added. "We are working with all affected individuals to help them navigate this transition, providing severance, healthcare, and career placement services."Of course, move comes at challenging time for broader craft category that's lately seen its share of cost cutting. And after laying off 23% of its staff back toward the start of the pandemic, the BA is still struggling to recover from Covid's balance sheet impacts. Last yr's revenue declined 2% to $22.9 mil, but org netted just $190K operationally, down 77% from prior yr's $840.5K.

Longtime Thought Leader Paul Departs as Brewers Assn Trims 6 Jobs in Broader Restructuring

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