In today’s challenging times the need for strong leadership has never been greater. Not a day goes by right now that you don’t hear about the closing of another business. Some of those businesses are relatively young while others are historic names that have been around for nearly a century. Craft distillers are no exception to these challenges. As the U.S. begins to reopen craft spirits makers will face the same hurdles as many other customer facing businesses.
Catoctin Creek Distilling Co. Co-Founder and Chief Distiller Becky Harris.
American Craft Spirits Association – ACSA is governed by a Board of Directors that is elected by the eligible voting members of the Association. To meet these challenging times ACSA has announced their 2020 member leadership team. The new team will be lead by a group of veteran craft spirits makers including Becky Harris of Catoctin Creek Distilling Co. as the President of the Board of Directors. She has served as a member of the organization’s Board of Directors since 2019. P.T. Wood of Wood’s High Mountain Distillery and Jeff Kanof of Copperworks Distilling Company have also been elected as the organization’s Vice President and Secretary/Treasurer, respectively. Together, Harris, Wood, Kanof and the current Board of Directors will work with CEO Margie A.S. Lehrman to address the key issues facing the craft distilling industry, including COVID-19 industry recovery efforts and Federal Excise Tax reform.
Wood’s High Mountain Distillery Founder P.T. Wood.
“I am honored to be chosen by my fellow board members, a group of incredible leaders within our craft distilling community, as president, and I am excited to build on ACSA’s technical and legislative leadership during such a challenging time,” said Becky Harris. “I have already worked closely with the Board of Directors as head of our COVID-19 Task Force, where we have helped the organization build exhaustive resources on sanitizer best practices, PPP and SBA loan assistance, and direct shipping, and I look forward to continuing this work as our industry recovers. I know the road ahead may be long, but I am eager to help our community of more than 2,000 craft distilleries in any and every way possible.”
“As Mayor of my hometown of Salida, Colorado, and a small business owner myself, I understand the hurdles we all face on the road to economic recovery, and I am looking forward to helping our fellow craft distillers,” added P.T. Wood.
Copperworks Distilling Company Co-Owner & VP Jeff Kanof.
“As a lawyer and the owner and operator of a craft distillery, I’m excited to utilize my legal experience and my deep understanding of the challenges we all face in the current climate to move our industry forward,” added Jeff Kanof.
ACSA will be holding its regular Board of Directors election in the coming months digitally, once the candidates have the opportunity to address the membership, which typically happens at the organizations’ Annual Convention and Trade Show and was postponed due to COVID-19. Additionally, the Board of Directors will also be appointing leadership to its governing committees. Those committees include Membership, Ethics, Convention, Education, Elections, Safety, ACSA PAC, Judging, Government Affairs, Mentorship, State Guilds, Technology, DtC and Development.
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The Board of Directors is comprised of the following people. Click any heading to sort the list by name, distillery or state.
[table “” not found /]The American Craft Spirits Association is the only national registered non-profit trade association representing the U.S. craft spirits industry.
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