Nick Benz, an 11-year veteran of Dogfish Head
Craft Brewery, has been promoted to Chief
Executive Officer.
While Founder and President Sam Calagione will
continue his daily focus on strategy, new product
innovations, off-centered collaborations and
events, Nick will expand the breadth and depth
of operational excellence at Dogfish Head in his
new role.
The loud and loveable Nick thrives behind the
scenes, guiding Dogfish Head’s growing team of
co-workers through the day-in and day-out hustle
of a growing brewery, distillery, brewpub and
inn.
“Dogfish would still be here in some iteration on some scale, still off-centered and still flying
our freak flag if it weren’t for Nick,” says Calagione. “But with Nick here, Dogfish has become
a stronger, more operationally excellent company. I’m very thankful for what Nick is
contributing to our journey.”
A former mechanical engineer, Nick graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and
Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business. He lives in Lewes with his wife and three kids.
Calagione continues as President, Founder and Chairman of the Board, and Mariah Calagione
continues as Vice President.
“Sam is the guy at Dogfish who dreams up new products and new projects,” says Nick, who was
hired in 2003 as chief financial officer and promoted to chief operations officer in 2006. “He
figures out where we’re going next, and the rest of us figure out how to get there. I’m looking
forward to bringing in even more talented co-workers on the operations side as Dogfish
continues to focus on smart, steady growth.”
Another change to the Dogfish Head management team is the departure of longtime Vice
President of Sales Adam Lambert. Adam will be departing at the end of November to pursue a
new opportunity with New Holland Brewing Company in Holland, MI.
“In his seven years with Dogfish, Adam has done a wonderful job helping us grow from a small
microbrewery to a regional brewery producing over 200,000 bbls annually,” says Calagione. “I
wish Adam much happiness and success in his next adventure in the craft brewing community.”
Dogfish Head is proud to be a family-owned brewery and intends to remain so for decades to
come. When it opened in 1995, it was the smallest commercial brewery in America. Today, it’s
the 13th largest craft brewery and employs nearly 200 talented co-workers. Since the beginning,
Dogfish has focused on off-centered ales and eats and has since evolved into dynamic related
industries such as small-batch spirits, beer-infused packaged foods, clothing, restaurants and
hospitality.
With expansion comes the need for more off-centered leadership. Besides Nick’s promotion,
Dogfish is looking for a Vice President of Business Operations who will oversee non-beverage
businesses, including our restaurants, an inn, the brewery tasting room as well as the expansion
into other non-beverage businesses yet to be determined.
“This evolution will allow us to bring more breadth of operations experience into the executive
team,” says Calagione. “My main focus will continue to be on strategy and developing and
nurturing new off-centered projects and products, and I will now be able to spend more time
with our distributor partners and beer lovers at our brewery, our hotel and on the road. I also
want to spend more time with my co-workers brewing half-barrel and two-barrel experimental
batches in Rehoboth and Milton.
“We are very focused on delivering strong growth over fast growth and that takes hard work
and focus from each of us here at Dogfish. Now there will be more of us in leadership roles to
bring that focus. "
Reporting to Nick are Vice President of Human Resources Cindy Dunson, the Vice President of
Sales position, Brewmaster Tim Hawn, newly hired Vice President of Marketing Neal Stewart
and the Vice President of Business Operations.
0 comments (click to read or post):
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment...I do moderate each comment so it may not appear immediately...and please be nice! You can also comment using Disqus (below) or even comment directly on Facebook (bottom).