Big news at Stone? Maybe
Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 1:34 pm
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/11/greg-koc ... g-ceo.html
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/new ... -chairman/
Stone Brewing co-founder Greg Koch is stepping down as CEO, assuming the new title of executive chairman.
“I’m getting bumped upstairs, so to speak,” the 51-year-old Koch said in a video the brewery released Friday afternoon.
Koch, who founded the company with Steve Wagner, will continue in his current post until Stone hires his replacement. That person will step into some large, colorful shoes. Koch has been this brewery’s freewheeling, energetic and sometimes abrasive face for its entire 19-year history. While not a brewer — Wagner was Stone’s first brewmaster, a job currently held by industry veteran Mitch Steele — Koch is credited with helping to build what is now the nation’s ninth largest craft brewery.
Employing more than 1,100 employees and operating two brewery-bistros and a network of tasting rooms, Escondido-based Stone is on track to sell more than 300,000 barrels of beer this year.
News of Koch’s resignation came at the end of a frantic week in California craft beer. On Thursday, MillerCoors announced that is acquiring San Diego’s Saint Archer Brewery. On Wednesday, Holland’s Heineken revealed that has bought a half share of Petaluma’s Lagunitas Brewing, the sixth largest American craft brewery.
On Friday, a two-day California Craft Beer summit opened in Sacramento. The keynote speaker: Koch.
In recent years, Koch has displayed some restlessness. In February 2014, he embarked on a four-month sabbatical that took him around the world. In January, he began talking to Wagner about leaving the CEO position and taking on a new role.
Koch’s impact on the company, though, has remained strong. Weeks after ending his sabbatical, he announced the company’s most ambitious plan: a brewery and restaurant in Berlin, becoming the first American craft brewery to operate an independent brewery in Europe. In October, he announced plans for an even larger operation Richmond, Va.
Stone Berlin is set to open next spring. The Virginia brewery should be producing beer by mid-2016; an opening date has not been set for its bistro.
In Friday’s video and news release, Koch was vague about the scope of his new duties. He pledged to work closely on the Berlin and Richmond expansions, but noted that he had entered the craft beer trade in the 1990s.
“The skill sets needed for this position,” he said, “have changed.”
Stone is expected to soon post the requirements for its CEO position.
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/new ... -chairman/
Stone Brewing co-founder Greg Koch is stepping down as CEO, assuming the new title of executive chairman.
“I’m getting bumped upstairs, so to speak,” the 51-year-old Koch said in a video the brewery released Friday afternoon.
Koch, who founded the company with Steve Wagner, will continue in his current post until Stone hires his replacement. That person will step into some large, colorful shoes. Koch has been this brewery’s freewheeling, energetic and sometimes abrasive face for its entire 19-year history. While not a brewer — Wagner was Stone’s first brewmaster, a job currently held by industry veteran Mitch Steele — Koch is credited with helping to build what is now the nation’s ninth largest craft brewery.
Employing more than 1,100 employees and operating two brewery-bistros and a network of tasting rooms, Escondido-based Stone is on track to sell more than 300,000 barrels of beer this year.
News of Koch’s resignation came at the end of a frantic week in California craft beer. On Thursday, MillerCoors announced that is acquiring San Diego’s Saint Archer Brewery. On Wednesday, Holland’s Heineken revealed that has bought a half share of Petaluma’s Lagunitas Brewing, the sixth largest American craft brewery.
On Friday, a two-day California Craft Beer summit opened in Sacramento. The keynote speaker: Koch.
In recent years, Koch has displayed some restlessness. In February 2014, he embarked on a four-month sabbatical that took him around the world. In January, he began talking to Wagner about leaving the CEO position and taking on a new role.
Koch’s impact on the company, though, has remained strong. Weeks after ending his sabbatical, he announced the company’s most ambitious plan: a brewery and restaurant in Berlin, becoming the first American craft brewery to operate an independent brewery in Europe. In October, he announced plans for an even larger operation Richmond, Va.
Stone Berlin is set to open next spring. The Virginia brewery should be producing beer by mid-2016; an opening date has not been set for its bistro.
In Friday’s video and news release, Koch was vague about the scope of his new duties. He pledged to work closely on the Berlin and Richmond expansions, but noted that he had entered the craft beer trade in the 1990s.
“The skill sets needed for this position,” he said, “have changed.”
Stone is expected to soon post the requirements for its CEO position.
