The 2nd annual WYO Craft Brewers Summit will be presented in Casper on September 8th-9th, 2022 at the Ramkota hotel. Enjoy 2 days of educational seminars, a stellar trade show showcasing our most valued partners and off-site networking events to get to know the WY Craft Beer community better! We hope to see you there!

Click below to download the Full Schedule!

Speakers

Bart Watson | Chief Economist, Brewers Association

Keynote Speaker

Bart Watson, Chief Economist for the Brewers Association, is a stats geek, beer lover, and Certified Cicerone®. He holds a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, where in addition to his dissertation, he completed a comprehensive survey of Bay Area brewpubs one pint at a time. You can follow him on Twitter @BrewersStats.

Matt Stinchfield | Safety Ambassador, Brewers Association

Matt is the BA Safety Ambassador, member of the BA Safety Subcommittee, and a frequent speaker at conferences, state guilds, and webinars. He is lead instructor for the OSHA-funded Hazard Reduction Practices for Cleaning Draught Beer Lines course and the annual Brewery Safety Bootcamp at the Craft Brewers Conference. Currently, Matt is writing the book on brewery safety for Brewers Publications, shooting for release next year. In his spare time, he forages mushrooms and wrangles trout.

Julia Herz | Executive Director, American Homebrewers Association

Julia Herz is executive director of the American Homebrewers Association® (AHA)—the nation’s largest hobbyist not for profit organization for homebrewers and fermented beverages. Julia is a BJCP Certified beer judge, Advanced Cicerone®, medal-winning homebrewer, and experienced zymurgist having made beer, mead, cider, and fermented foods since 1994. Julia is the co-author of Beer Pairing: The Essential Guide from the Pairing Pros (Voyager Press, 2015) and the CraftBeer.com Beer & Food Guide. Prior to joining the AHA, Julia was the craft beer program director and publisher of CraftBeer.com for the Brewers Association, where she led the development of the Brewers Association’s Independent Craft Brewer Seal. Julia has been a guest on national media outlets including National Public Radio, Sirius/XM, CBNC Squawk Box and Closing Bell, Fox News, Good Morning America, the Food Network, and American Public Media’s Splendid Table. Julia has been at the helm of the 43-year-old membership organization since December 2021 and is available for interview or speaking opportunities to help your audiences discover the joy and ease of the hobby of homebrewing.

Corey Marshall | Strategy & Development Officer, Mill 95 Hops

Corey joined the Mill 95 team in July of 2019 and has over 20 years of experience in the beer industry. He has served as the CEO and founder of Tivoli Brewing Company and Tivoli Distributing Company, where he founded the revival of the oldest brewery in Colorado. Corey was also the Principal at Marshall Consulting Company, where he provided executive consulting in strategy, new product development, operations, and manufacturing management. He has also held leadership, strategy, and sales and marketing roles at Molson Coors Brewing Company and Ford Motor Company.

Jon Reynolds | President, BrewPlan, Inc.

Jon has over 35 years of experience working with beer, wine and craft spirits. Jon assisted Abita Brewing to successfully launch in nine states and helped City Brewery in La Crosse, Wisconsin reach annual sales of $70 million, when he was the brewery’s director of sales and marketing. Currently, Jon is president of BrewPlan, Inc., a consulting firm that provides strategic planning, marketing, sales, production forecasting/logistics, new brand launches, revenue generation and establishing distribution networks.

Audra Gaiziunas | Owner of Brewed For Her Ledger, LLC

Audra is the Owner of Brewed For Her Ledger, LLC, an Asheville NC-based management consultancy firm focused on providing financial guidance to the craft alcoholic beverage community. She currently serves as head of finance for Crooked Stave (Denver, CO) has served as a contracted CEO of Bhramari Brewing Company in Asheville, NC (2016-2020) and Tin Roof Brewing Company in Baton Rouge, LA (2016). Since her current company’s inception in 2013, over 300 breweries and brewpubs have been clients. She was previously CFO of Mother Earth Brewing in Kinston, NC and Controller of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in Milton, DE.

A graduate from Kenan-Flagler’s OneMBA program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2008), Audra possesses over a decade and a half of experience in senior leadership roles in craft brewing, manufacturing, services, non-profits and startups. She earned her undergraduate degree in accounting and business management from Loras College (Dubuque, IA) in 1997.

Audra is a frequent speaker at craft beverage conferences, including NanoCon, the Brewers Association’s Craft Brewers Conference, and various state brewers’ guild annual meetings. She currently sits on the Brewers Association’s Finance Committee, writes for the Brewers Association’s The New Brewer and is a nanobrewing columnist for Brew Your Own Magazine. She also teaches multiple courses through the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College’s Craft Beverage Institute of the Southeast, and through CDFI Mountain BizWorks.

Patrice M. Palmer | Beverage Business Institute & Colorado State University

Patrice M. Palmer (they/them/their pronouns) calls the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Detroit, Michigan home. Patrice is the inaugural Assistant Dean and the Director of Justice, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Initiatives for the College of Business at Colorado State University. Patrice is also the former DEI Specialist for New Belgium Brewing and currently sits as a senior external advisor for the company. Patrice has been recognized in various ways for their breadth and depth of knowledge in the DEI industry. In 2022 Patrice was named one of 10 United States Top Voices in Racial Equity by Linkedin.

Brynn Keenan | Founder, Grist Analytics

Brynn is a biochemist by training and fermentation scientist by trade. Her experience in brewing QC includes building micro, sensory, and analytical programs for Left Hand Brewing and Inland Island Yeast Laboratories. Brynn started Grist Analytics to bring big brewery QC tools to craft by making data entry, visualization, and analysis easy. She now helps breweries across the world turn production data into actionable information. Brynn is passionate about good beer, rock climbing, and building community.

Matthew Peetz | Founder & Yeast Whisperer, Propagate Lab

In 2018, after passionately working for more than a decade in and around the brewing industry, along with being a home brewer for years, Matthew Peetz decided to open Propagate Lab in Golden, CO with a focus on customer service, honest pricing, and an unbeatable quality product. 

From working at the Brewing Science Institute to doing Bio-Fuel research at GEVO, Inc., Matthew has propagated yeast from both a home brewing scale all the way up to a seven-figure scale – working with proprietary yeast strains and cultivating yeast production at scales unheard of in the craft brewing industry.

With a background in fermentation and biology, and a Masters degree with an emphasis on Cell Biology, Matthew’s extensive resume makes him and his team uniquely qualified to provide you with the highest quality yeast without the markups used by larger facilities. 

Ruth Martin | Quality Director, Black Tooth Brewing Co.

Ruth has been working at Black Tooth Brewing Company in the role of quality director since September 2015.  She began her career in the brewing industry in 1996 with Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico CA, working in both the Quality and Research and Development departments over the span of 19 years.  Ruth has an M.S. degree in Dietetics and Food Sciences, a B.S. in Nutrition and Food Administration with a minor in Chemistry.  Ruth is a member of both the Master Brewers Association of the Americas and the American Society of Brewing Chemists.

Luke Anderson | Sales Executive, HUB International Insurance

Luke has been a Sales Executive for HUB International Insurance based in Cody Wyoming, for the last 15 years.  He is a Certified Insurance Counselor and a Certified Risk Manager with The National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research.  He is also an Accredited Advisor in Insurance from the Insurance Institute of America.  While he has an affinity and a particular base of knowledge for the hospitality industry, he believes in taking a wholistic approach to the insurance industry.  “Everything in our world is connected in some way.  I believe we should understand what is going on in our industry on a global level so we can better service and educate our local community.”  His insurance background would support this by holding various positions with insurance carriers such as Agribusiness Underwriter, Commercial Underwriter, & Territory Manager.  Eventually moving to his current insurance agency position that has included roles and responsibilities from outside sales, to regional leadership, to ownership.                          

Like many, he worked in the Hospitality Industry throughout High School and College.  When he started in the Insurance Industry he kind of naturally gravitated towards specializing in hospitality insurance.  Through his varied work experience somehow always ended up working with hospitality clients….. and he liked it.  He works hard to make the insurance interesting and relatable.

Brian Connely | Supervisor of Natrona County Weed and Pest Control District

Brian has been with the Natrona County Weed and Pest Control District for 22 years. He has a BS in Zoology from UWYO and a multi-cultural background, having lived in Brazil, Libya, Indonesia and Singapore. Controlling invasive species is a calling and he has a proven capacity to “tell a good story”. He is passionate about this planet and is sure it’s the best one he’s ever seen.

Thank you to our wonderful Sponsors who make this event possible!